Chapter 10: Healing the Wings of A Fragile, Broken Thing

The hiking path was empty, and I felt a little better going on this walk with Cooper. He kept a steady pace beside me on the opposite side of the creek kicking a stone along his path.

I looked over to the creek and stopped when I heard a desperate chirping sound. My heart stopped when I lurched forward to get a better look. A baby bird was hopping and splashing around the bank of the creek with an injured wing. My heart dropped and I sprinted over to the poor baby. I knelt on the muddied sand and scooped it up in my arms.

"You poor thing. Here. Let me help you." I whispered to it, caressing the broken wing, trying to determine the severity of the injury. It was crooked, and the feathers were wilting. A tear formed in my eye, and I willed it to stay in my duct.

With one hand I held the baby bird, and lifted the other above the water, commanding a few droplets out of the creek. They floated above the small bird, and misted it a little bit. I let a few spheres drop onto its wing, whistling the tune of the wind. With a few gruesome twitches, the wing started to heal itself.

I commanded the water droplets to cascade onto the wing in line, healing the baby bird to full capacity.

The creature shook out its feathers and fluttered a bit before it got the hang of flying. Eventually the bird was comfortable enough and soared out of my hands with gracefulness that put the queen to shame.

I knew that Cooper was watching me, I could feel his stare burning into my soul. I took my sweet time getting up, dusting myself off, and turning around to face him. I had two things on my mind when my gaze captured his, and one of them made me want to crawl back into my cave for the rest of my days.

"My class starts soon, maybe we should head back." I cleared my throat before I grabbed my bag that I had dropped on the ground, and slung it over my shoulder.

"I'll walk you back to the garden then, Oakley." He placed his hand on my lower back and led me onto the path towards the greenhouse.

It was silent, and I couldn't help but feel the tension that hung thick in the air. I don't know if it was awkward, or sexual, but I didn't like it.

This was the thing I feared most. Allowing Cooper into my life was going to bring out feelings that I would usually push deep inside of my soul. It made no sense to me, and my head hurt trying to form answers.

I felt comfortable around him, even knowing his reputation, he made me feel at ease, and I wasn't about to allow myself to settle into this routine. I slept on cave floors for goddess sake, I could handle weaseling my way out of this situation.

"Will you come with me to a party tomorrow night?" The question spurted from his mouth as we neared the lavender patch once again.

"What?" I pretended like I didn't hear the question, in hopes that maybe he'd drop it. I didn't wanna go to a party with him.

There would be more of a chance I'd get arrowed, and I was not in the mood to play those games.

"A party, there's one tomorrow night. I want to know. Will you go with me? As a friend, I need a wingwoman, the guys aren't cutting it anymore" I felt a weird twist in my heart, but I gathered what he was saying, and a stupid, but workable idea hit me.

If I kept him entertained with other women, he'd spend less time with me. Being his wingwoman meant that he would still think we were friends, but without spending too much time with each other. A smile emerged onto my face, and I nodded my head.

"Yeah, I'll be your wingwoman, Coop. I have to get to the greenhouse before class starts, So, I'll see you tomorrow night." I gave him a small side hug before I skipped off.

Professor Eldritch was watering a few of the cherry tomato plants when I barged into the greenhouse. She jumped a bit of water splashed around her, getting a few droplets on her glasses in the process.

"Oh, Oakley dear! You scared me." She gasped, taking her glasses off and wiping off the small amount of water with vigor.

"Sorry, Professor Eldritch, I'm just trying to get through today unscathed." I let out a small sigh, and went over to grab the hose from her.

"I'll take over for a bit before class." I told her, ushering her towards the door. I wanted to be alone for just a bit, to clear my head of anything involving Coop.

I walked around and watered the rest of the tomato plants before going over to turn off the hose. Eldritch gave a whistle when students began entering the greenhouse. I sat the hose down next to the plants, eager to distract myself once again.

To my dismay, the day did drag on, in the worst way possible. Eldritch's class wasn't too bad, but the rest of my classes were either long lectures, or presenting projects. None of which I was excited to participate in.

I had just left the last class I had for that day when I bumped into Coop again. He was with a group of guys chatting, when they all paused at our collision.

"Oh, hey, sorry Oakley. Didn't see ya there." His voice was bright and cheery, like always, and it was frustrating that I kept smiling when I heard his voice.

"It's okay, good to see ya again, Coop." I said as I brushed myself off. He caught me off guard when he wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his side.

"What?" I tried to squeak out.

"Did you wanna come with us to the café? We're all headed there right now." Why did he have to be so enthusiastic about inviting me to places? He had friends, plenty of them. Why couldn't he ask them?

"Oh, no thank you. I was just going to head to the library to get some work done. I'll see you tomorrow though, okay?" I was internally upset that I had so much work to do tonight, but it was good, I would be able to keep some distance from him for a little bit longer.

"Oh, no problem little nymph, I'll see you tomorrow. Get some sleep, yeah?" His eyes were sincere when he spoke, and that made my heart melt just a little bit.

With Coop, and his friends out of sight, I made my way to the library to get some work done. The quicker I graduated, The faster I can get to the Northern Regions, where my work can truly begin.