Embrace (The Gryphon Series) by Stacey Rourke

shrugged one too many times during this proclamation.  My attempt at casualness landed closer to a newly developed twitch.
    “Okay.”  Keni relented.  She dropped my hand and turned back toward the mirror.  “I guess I just imagined your sad puppy eyes earl ier when I said I was leaving.”
    My squish covered hands dropped to my sides as I glared at her reflection.  “I did not have sad puppy eyes.”
    Peanut butter dribbled down her neck as she cocked her head to the side and gazed up at me from under raised eyebrows.  “Dude, seriously.  I thought you were gonna, like, latch on to my ankle and make me drag you across the floor until I agreed to stay here and talk you through whatever Condu-drama you concocted in that head of yours.”
    I ripped the hand towel off the edge of the sink, and wiped my hands with vigor.  “Oh, what- ever !  I did not.  And I didn’t concoct anything.  I friggin’ purred at a guy at work today and kinda wanted someone to tell me I wasn’t a total freak.”  I punctuated my sentence by whipping the hand towel into the sink.
    Keni’s eyes widened.  “You purred at a guy?  Really?  Why?”
    “Because he scratched me behind the ears, and I liked it.”
    “Huh?”
      I threw my hands in the air.  “Geez, Keni!  I don’t know why!  One minute I’m taking his order and admiring his swoon-worthy accent. The next I’m purring like a cat in heat.”  I took a deep breath to clear my head and plopped down on the edge of the bathtub.  “He totally heard it, too.  Which makes it that much more mortifying.”
    “Look on the bright side, now he knows you like him.”  Keni said with a lift of her dainty shoulder.
    I snorted a humorless laugh.  “That little piece of info won’t do anybody any good.”
    Her flaxen eyebrows drew in.  “Why?”
    I kept my eyes cast down at the floor.  The pattern on the ceramic tiles looked like grey rain clouds.  As the conversation had somehow turned to my love life, that seemed fitting.  “Because dating isn’t an option for me anymore.”
    “Cee, it doesn’t have to be that way.”  She pleaded.
    “Yes.  It does.”
    Her voice dropped to a whisper.  “Was your break up with Alec really that bad?”
    I opened my mouth to spout the same story I had recited time and time again.  I was falling for him.  He broke my heart by telling me he didn’t feel the same. But the bitterness of those lies soured on my tongue.  I couldn’t bring myself to spit them out even one last time.  Instead, I clamped my lips together and nodded at the floor. 
    Kendall fell silent for a moment.  She crossed her arms on the back of the folding chair and rested her chin on them.  “Can I ask you something?”
    “Sure.  My life is a very lame open book.”
    “You’re an empathe.  How did you not know Gabe and Alaina were in love?”
    My head snapped up.  “What?”  Hello, random topic lane change .
    “All you had to do was tune in for a half a sec and you totally would’ve known.”
    “But…uh…I…” I wanted to be indignant that I was the wronged party, but had no good argument.  She was absolutely right.
      “But nothin’.  It’s true.”  Her fluffy white towel dress started to slip and she readjusted it.  “One little pe ek would’ve told you everything.  But you haven’t linked into any of us for a super long time.  And I think I know why.”
    “Do tell, oh, wise-one.”  I laid the sarcasm on heavy to hide my worry that she might actually be on to something.
    “You’ve been dealing with so much of your own crap lately that you were scared of taking on anybody else’s.”  My jaw fell slack, my mouth formed a perfect O.  When did my little sister become so insightful?  It was deeply disturbing.  Like the world had suddenly spun off its axis.  “I just think that you’ve been going about this all wrong.  You’ve been so worried about facing other people’s problems that you didn’t realize