I ran down the street until I caught up to him and placed a hand gently on his back before coming to walk beside him.
"Still drinking your butterbeer?" I teased, gesturing to the pint in his hand.
He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and started to ask but I cut him off.
"Don't ask. It's too difficult to explain." I laughed.
We walked in comfortable silence then, my hands in my jeans pockets. I wondered where my sister was right now, what she was doing. Knowing her, she'd probably already figured way out of Oz and was back home in Kansas. But good riddance, I didn't need her here anyway. She was my twin but I had conflicting feelings - there were times I loved her like a sister and other times, I just wanted her to disappear.
"So where are you headed after this?" Jack asked, his accent soft but audible in the bustling market.
I shrugged and kicked a rock away with my shoe.
"I'm not sure. Dorothy and I had planned to go see the Wizard of Oz to get back home but..." I said, trailing off.
Jack's gray eyes watched me as he listened.
"But?" he asked.
"But I don't know if I want to go back there... Me and my sister were given up by our birth mother. A couple adopted us but Dorothy was the golden child, the good one. I was just the black sheep that no one wanted... It never felt like home to me there..." I confessed, avoiding his gaze.
A beat of silence passed between us before he spoke up.
"Then, don't. Stay here with us in Oz," he offered.
Tilting my head to the side, I glanced at him.
"You? Maybe. Tip?" I said and cringed, "Definitely not,"
Jack laughed, his gray eyes sparkling.
"She is a bit on edge right now." he admitted, his Welsh-sounding accent clipping the word 'bit'.
"Besides, I...don't think you should leave," he said nervously, stumbling over his words.
I grinned at his adorableness.
"I'll think about it." I told him softly.
He smiled in response before we stopped at a store nearby. Glancing up, I read the large gold lettering above us.
Duke's Herbals & Apothecary.
We'd found it.