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My heart skittered as I followed his gaze to the upstairsBut the curtains were drawn; noA flash of white" He cleared his throat "Sorry I’reat at stress"
Ian suddenlyhim with a dull thud
"Oof," he wheezed
"Sorry, Rowan," I said This was not an isolated incident Startled Addie equaled flailing Addie Once, during a particularly intense cineoers with popcorn Now I had my snacks doled out toin a self-satisfied smile "Why are you so juain I couldn’t shake the feeling that ere being watched "Can we get out of here? This place creeps me out"
Ian shook his head "The s back there are too high I need you to come with me so I can lift you up"
Instinct told et us out of there, but reason told et it over with Also, I liked the fact that he was asking me for help It felt pre-Cubby "Let’s just ed me around back The back laas carefully maintained, with a wall of well-ta a low shrieking noise "I think it’s that one," he said, pointing to a large
"Let’s check" He knelt down so I could climb onto his shoulders, then wobbled to a stand I leaned in, careful not to touch the spotless"Impressive," I said "You found the Red Room on the first try"
"I did? What does it look like?" He bobbed around happily, and I had to grab his hair to keep fro off
"It looksred" Heavy red drapes drooped down to the oxblood carpet, tufted sofas and chairs rounding out the re hues of red Even the portrait over thean arlare and e was lare is really bad over here"
Ianhis balance quickly This ti as reat"
"Addie, thank you so reat of you!" The excitement in his voice narrowed the chashtly to the s underneath me immediately stopped, and his shoulders tensed My opinion still mattered to him "And?"
"They were incredible," I said simply "Really, really incredible You’re meant to write about music"
He squeezed my ankle "Thanks, Addie Thattime, but at first it was nice to keep it secret, because it was less pressure And then this su, clunky silence filled the air, and I suddenly felt desperate to keep the ca I missed the easy parts of our friendship
"Ian, ht Maybe I should tell Mom" The words ran out of my mouth faster than I could catch them Oh, no Why had I just said that?