I Heard Animals' Voices novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: Five Days

Tierney's POV

I had written eleven items, and I read them in order.

"Items one to three are the gate, the chuff and the goose," I said. "You know them. You were there."

"Yes."

"Item four. Every animal in this zoo has looked at me, at some point, like it felt sorry for me."

"Yes."

"The flamingo did it twice."

"The flamingo," said Derrick, "has no discretion."

I turned the page so hard it tore.

"Item five. You never once asked me what I said to Mabel."

"I didn't have to ask."

"That is the whole problem with item five."

I put the pad down on my knee.

"Here's the real one," I said. "Five days. I walked around this zoo for five days thinking I was the only person in it who could hear anything, and I talked to you like a girl talks to a boy who can't hear her."

"Every time I almost told you, you said something about me that nobody had ever said," said Derrick. "I couldn't stop you."

"That's not an excuse."

"No," said Derrick. "It isn't."

"You let me embarrass myself for five days."

"Yes."

"And then you walked me home and said 'You're eighteen' like a fire alarm."

"That," said Derrick, "I'd like to explain."

"Don't. I know what it was."

I looked at the water.

"It was you being decent about a girl who said, out loud, in a pool, that she thinks about your hand every night."

"I'm so sorry," he said, and his voice cracked in the middle, which I had never heard.

I waited for the rest of my anger to arrive.

It was mostly there already, and I had expected it to feel better.

← Chapter 13 · All chapters · Chapter 15 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend