Thorne swallowed hard as his eyes scanned the front of the bookshop. The large bay window that usually housed Kate's enchanting window displays had been boarded up with sheets of plywood and large letters spray painted in orange neon onto the wood itself indicated the name of the bookstore. When his gaze fell onto tiny pebbles of broken glass that someone must have missed while sweeping, a wave of bright anger crashed into him and he clenched his left hand into a fist so tight his knuckles turned white.
Kate tugged on his elbow. "Come on."
She led him through the front door and when they stepped inside, he had to let out a slow breath. Nothing inside the bookshop looked different except that there were two large sheets of blue tarp hanging over the opening to the bay window, creating a curtain to hide the evidence of destruction. Thorne tore his eyes away from the blue tarp to scan the rest of the shop.
"They didn't touch anything else," Kate said, reading his mind.
He nodded and finally looked at her. The red around her eyes was gone, but there was still a flush in her cheeks and some little wisps of hair stuck to the side of her face, no doubt held there by the earlier tears that had dried.
When Thorne had led Kate out of the school, they had walked to his car and he drove them down the street to get her a coffee and some tissues. They wandered around aimlessly while Kate calmed down and he found comfort in focusing on the task of driving, not letting his mind wander to the Rampion or whatever was left of it. They had gone to the park and walked around the lake, not saying much and not really wanting to either. Finally, Kate had suggested they go to the bookshop so that Thorne could see the damage for himself and collect the pieces. She didn't look him in the eye when she had suggested it.
Thorne turned his head towards the tarps again. "Is it—is it bad?"
Kate didn't answer. Instead, she walked over and reached for the slit in the middle, pulling back one of the plastic sheets and stepping aside. He took a deep breath before stepping forward and when his eyes finally fell upon the scene, his heart lurched to his throat.
The books that had been lined up so carefully on the shelf that Kate had made to resemble a cresting wave were scattered everywhere. Some of the books had lost their dust jackets while others lay at odd angles, their spines clearly broken. Some of them had even lost their pages and in the mess of loose paper, Thorne could make out a couple of dirty, incomplete footprints.
His heart raced when he began to realize that not all the sheets of white had come from books, but that they were the Rampion's sails, crushed and torn, and ironically still strung together by the fishing wire that he had painstakingly stitched them with all those weeks ago. He stepped closer, finally steeling himself to peek over the edge of the crashing wave bookshelf and he let out an audible gasp as a pile of splintered wood came into view.
When Kate had told him that the Rampion was smashed, Thorne secretly hoped that the damage wasn't that bad. Maybe someone had thrown a rock at it and possibly caved in the hull. Maybe Kate wasn't familiar with model ships and how Thorne could have mended it. He had still been holding out hope that things weren't as bad as Kate's tears had made them out to be, but as Thorne's eyes roamed the scene and snagged on every piece of broken wood, he realized that Kate's tears had been entirely appropriate.
He inched forward.
A glint of metal caught his attention and he fell onto his knees to fish out the Rampion's motor which looked like it had been damaged along with the ship. He wrapped his fingers around the bent metal and broken plastic. He had hoped that even if all had been lost, he could at least have reused the motor to rebuild the ship, but whoever had smashed the window, had completely finished the job with the Rampion. He swallowed hard, sifting through the broken pieces of the schooner and his breath hitched when he found what he had been looking for. His splinted hand hovered above a six inch piece of thick wood, painted in glossy black with gold lettering that spelled out the words The Rampion. A large crack ran through the letter M, slicing it into two and Thorne picked up the wood gingerly, willing it not to break in half like it was threatening to do.
When he stood up to leave the alcove, his head knocked into a couple of the stars hanging from the ceiling, the only thing in the window display that had remained unscathed. In his frustration, he grabbed a handful and yanked them down.
Kate gasped in surprise and Thorne hung his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean—" he sighed. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay."
Thorne looked down at his hands, three silver stars hung by their ribbons in his clenched fist. "No, it's not. I'll help you clean all of this up."
Kate nodded and went into the back room to find a trash can while Thorne dumped his backpack onto the front counter and carefully placed the Rampion's motor and the splintered plank into his bag. He returned to the alcove and pulled down the blue tarps, carefully folding them up while Kate wheeled out a large trash bin.
Thorne rolled up his sleeves. "Do you know who did this?"
Kate shook her head. "We have a security camera in the front, but all we could see was a dark figure with a hoodie pulled over their face. It's hard to see much of anything else." She began to pick up the scattered books, piling them up next to her.
Thorne furrowed his brow, not understanding why anyone would get a kick out of something like this. "Do you think someone from school did this?" He handed her three books and she took them from him.
"I don't know. The police think so."
He handed her two more books. "What did they say?"
Kate sighed. "That it was probably someone playing a prank. Since nothing was taken, it will be harder for them to catch who did it. Honestly, it doesn't sound promising."
He frowned. He just couldn't understand why someone would do something like this. He didn't think he'd ever understand that sort of disregard for others.
Kate's sigh brought him back from his thoughts. "I'm really, really sorry about this."
"Hey." Thorne set aside the books in his hand and reached over to pull her into a hug. "It's not your fault. You shouldn't be sorry. It's that…that…punk who should be sorry."
A guttural laugh rumbled against his shoulder and Kate pulled away to look at him. "Stars! How old are you? Eighteen or eighty?"
He scrunched up his nose at her and pushed her away playfully, but she held onto his hand, holding it tight. He knew she still felt bad about everything, but he didn't want to hear her apologize anymore—not for something that wasn't her fault. Not for someone else's actions. He gave her hand a squeeze and hoped he could relay all of his thoughts into it. She seemed to have understood because she nodded and resumed her book stacking.
When all the scattered books had been picked up, Thorne scanned the platform of the bay window one more time and his heart ached to see all that was left was broken pieces of wood.
Kate picked up a stack of books and pressed it into his arms. "Why don't you start organizing these so I can catalog them. I'll go find a broom."
Thorne nodded and began carrying the books to the front counter where he could stack them in alphabetical order. He had to make multiple trips but was done when Kate came back with a broom and dustpan. She began to sweep up the debris and gingerly eased the broken pieces into the trash bin. Thorne appreciated how gentle she was being with the Rampion, even now.
He lingered by the counter until she finished sweeping and came over to help when she began taking down the silver stars they had hung weeks ago. They worked in silence and Thorne thought about how ironic it was that having the Rampion in the window display prompted him to begin sketching new designs and how he spent a great amount of his time wondering how he could make those modifications and now there was no Rampion to make changes to. He wasn't exactly sure what the universe was trying to tell him. He was already convinced that he was the unluckiest guy in the world.
Tugging the stars down from the ceiling, Thorne couldn't help but be reminded of Cress's hair pin that was still tucked into the front pocket of his jeans.
"Cress was the very first person I showed the Rampion to," he said as he unpinned another star from the ceiling.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I ran into her at the lake. It was the first time we talked."
Kate gave him a sympathetic smile.
He let out a snort when his thoughts wandered off and he realized how silly he was being.
She raised a quizzical eyebrow at him.
"Sometimes I wonder…if it was destiny that brought Cress and I together."
Thorne looked at Kate while she pondered this. After a moment's thought, she smirked. "I'm pretty sure it was the Rampion."
He let out another snort and continued to pull down the hanging stars one by one.
Thorne sat on top of his bed, his back leaning against the polished walnut headboard, his English homework spread out in front of him. He chewed on the end of his pencil while he flipped through his school issued copy of A Midsummer's Night Dream. He groaned when he realized how much more of the play he had left to read.
Setting the book aside, he leaned forward for a great big stretch, working out the crick in his neck. When he righted himself, he leaned back against his pillow and decided he deserved a much needed break. He reached for his phone, wondering if he had missed any messages from Kate. She had dreaded visiting her dad over the weekend along with her stepmother, but from the lack of frantic text messages, he figured she was faring better than she claimed she would. He was glad Kate wasn't miserable, but if he were being perfectly honest, the lack of messages made him feel a bit lonely.
Out of habit, he reached over to his nightstand and grabbed Cress's hairpin, propping himself onto his arm to twist the pin in his hand. He still had it, not being able to scrounge up the courage to give her a call and return it. He began to think that maybe he liked having the hairpin. It was a piece of her that he could keep close, but he knew he couldn't keep it forever. He needed to return it, but more importantly, he needed to have a conversation with her. He sighed as he fell back onto his bed, landing with a bounce and a huff.
Laying on his bed, he tugged at his shirt, knowing that he was delaying the inevitable. He needed to talk to her and he couldn't put it off any longer. He needed to tell Cress that he still had feelings for her. He knew it was a risk of course, that there was every possibility that she would break his heart again, but every time he was near her or just even thinking about her, he felt a bubbling warmth inside of his chest and he knew that it meant something. He had to tell her. He had to tell her every thing he never got a chance to and let her take what she wanted of it.
He turned his head and looked over at his phone, wondering if he would be able to send mind waves out to Cress. Maybe she could be the one to call him and then he'd be forced to be brave. He furrowed his brow and concentrated, mentally picturing Cress picking up her phone and dialing his number.
Thorne's phone buzzed and he jumped.
"Aces!"
He grabbed his phone—heart pounding—and wondered if he really did will her to call him. When he looked down, he let out a bark of laughter. It was two text messages from Kate.
Sunday 5:32 P.M. Freedom! Free from the clutches of evil Camilla. On my way home!
Sunday 5:33 P.M. I think her English accent is fake.
Thorne sat up, barely enough to type out a reply, congratulating her on surviving the long weekend and inviting her over if she was feeling up for it. He pressed send and sank back down onto his bed. He cushioned his hands behind his head and watched the walnut blades of his fan as it spun lazily, slicing through the golden streaks of the late afternoon sun that splattered on the ceiling.
After every third rotation, the balsa wood model plane that hung by his desk—the very first one he ever built—swayed. He found it quite hypnotizing and completely lost track of time until he heard a soft knock on his door. He lifted his head just high enough to see his mom poke her head into his room with a smile so sly, he wondered what she was up to.
"Hey mom, what's up?"
"There's a girl here to see you."
Thorne sat up. "A girl?" He furrowed his brows, wondering how Kate could have made it home so quickly.
"Should I send her in?"
"Uh…yeah. S-sure." He threw a quick glance around his room, hoping there were no dirty clothes strewn about. He was glad he had tidied up that morning.
Elena withdrew her head from the doorway and Thorne could hear his mom say, "It's the first door on your left."
"Thank you, Mrs. Thorne," replied the voice and Thorne's heart began to pound because it wasn't Kate he heard.
Time seemed to have slowed down to an agonizing pace and yet it also felt like only a second had gone by before there was another soft knock on his door.
He panicked.
The knock came again. This time, a little louder.
Thorne cleared his throat. "Come—come in." He gulped as the door was pushed open and Cress stepped into his room.
She looked at him and smiled. "Hi," she said as her lips turned up into a dimpled grin.
Thorne looked at her, wide-eyed and speechless.
Cress's eyes shifted to his feet and back up to his face again. "Is this a bad time? I wasn't—I thought—"
"No—no." Thorne finally realized he was still sitting on his bed and shot up. "Don't go." Realizing he must have sounded desperate, he took a step forward and much more gently, he said, "I mean…you don't have to leave."
Cress nodded. Finally tearing her eyes away from him. She gave her surroundings a once over. "So…this is your room?" Her dimpled smiled returned.
"Yeah." His eyes followed her gaze and he silently groaned when he realized she was inspecting the balsa wood model airplane built by an eager eight year old.
She stepped closer to take a look and even standing on her tip-toes, her fingertips barely grazed the triplane's wings. She studied the model until something beyond it caught her eye and she took the couple of steps towards Thorne's desk and the large world map, studded with pins on the wall behind it.
She turned to him, eyes gleaming. "What do those pins mean?"
Thorne took a tentative step closer. "Umm, well…the green pins are all the places I've been. And the red ones are all the places I want to go."
Cress continued to study the map and then let out a giggle. "The Sahara?!"
Thorne chuckled nervously. "The views of the night sky are suppose to be breathtaking…and it would be cool to see a camel."
Cress let out one of her tinkling laughs and reached over to trace a finger to a select few red pins—from a tiny town in northern Africa called Farahfrah, to Paris, and then making a large arc to Beijing. "Your taste certainly is varied," she teased.
He chuckled. "I want to see the whole world."
"It looks like you've got a great start already," she said, nodding to the map. A third of the pins were already green. She gave him a wink and turned her attention back to the map and slowly, slowly down to his desk. She let out a small gasp, her hand instinctively jumping towards her mouth.
Though she hardly made a sound, Thorne winced, knowing exactly how she felt and a hundred times worst. Sitting on top of his desk was the only thing he had left of the Rampion, a broken motor and a splintered piece of wood. He watched as Cress ran a finger along the golden script now scarred with nicks and a large crack down the middle.
"Do you know who did this?" she asked, her eyes on the piece of wood, ironically still glossy with polish.
Thorne sighed. "No."
"I heard about it in second period. When I didn't see you or Kate after school I thought it was probably pretty bad but…I'm so, so sorry, Thorne." She looked up at him then and he had to look away because her bright blue eyes were beginning to pool with tears and while he had been able to keep it together when Kate had cried over the Rampion, he knew he wouldn't be so strong if he saw Cress shed a tear for the ship.
"It's okay," he assured her.
He could see her head shake out of the corner of his eye, her golden hair swaying back and forth. She swiped at her eyes. "It's not okay."
"It's going to be okay," he tried to assure her, tried to assure himself.
Thorne heard her take a breath and looked up just as her eyes darted to the books on his bed and snagged on something glimmering. "Is that my hairpin?"
Thorne blushed, bending over to pick it up. He gave it a twist in his fingers almost out of habit before holding it out to her. "Yeah…I found it at the park."
Cress took it from him.
"I meant to give it back to you on Thursday, but…" He rubbed the back of his neck.
Cress looked down and twirled the hairpin in her own hand. They stayed silent, watching the rhinestones catch the sunlight filtering through the room until Thorne broke the stillness.
"Cress, what are you doing here?"
She looked up surprised. "Oh, I…well… I brought you something." She held out what looked to be a shoebox wrapped in paper that Thorne noticed for the first time. "Take it," she insisted when he didn't move.
He reached out and took the box from her. He couldn't even begin to guess what it was and why it had a ribbon attached to the top, but he was surprised when it felt heavier than he expected. Slowly, he lifted the lid and peered in.
His eyebrows raised.
Cress watched him apprehensively as he pulled out the object to examine it. "Cinder told me which one to get. I—I had to order it, but Mr. Erland at the model shop was really nice. I told him it was for you and he tracked it down for me." She smiled when he finally looked at her.
"You got me a motor?" he asked in disbelief.
She nodded. "I hope it's good. Cinder insisted it was the right one and Mr. Erland seemed to think so too. Do you—is it okay?"
Thorne set the empty box onto his bed and turned the motor around in his hands. Cress had bought him a new motor. One to replace the broken one. She had consulted Cinder and special ordered it from Mr. Erland at the model store. And she had done all of that for him. His face grew warm. "It's perfect."
She looked relieved and leaned against his desk, grinning. "Oh good."
Thorne returned the motor to the box and placed it on his nightstand. "Now I just have to wait until my hand heals."
"Well, I could help you. I mean…you'd have to tell me what to do, but I could help you until your hand gets better…and even after. If—if you wanted." She was standing straight now, no longer leaning against the desk with the usual air of ease around her. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and bit her lip.
"You want to help me…rebuild the Rampion?" Thorne asked, making sure he heard her correctly.
"Yes. I mean—well…" Her eyes landed on every spot in his bedroom except for him. "I'm not very good at this," she confessed.
Thorne furrowed his eyebrows. He wondered if he had missed something in their conversation. She opened her mouth and closed it again. She was starting to look frustrated, like her words weren't matching up with what she was trying to say.
He took a step towards her and her eyes landed on a spot on his chest. "I miss—I miss spending time with you. After the date and the kiss and…what you said…I thought I was doing us a favor. I thought I was doing the right thing. Except it hadn't been the right thing. I realized that I had messed up, but then you were with Kate and I was with Kinney and I was too afraid to admit I had made a mistake."
Thorne's ears burned. "Kate and I aren't together. We never were—not like that."
She nodded, still not looking at him. "I know, but she works at a bookstore and she's so good at calculus and you two—" she paused. "I messed up and I didn't think I deserved a second chance."
Thorne took a small step towards her, almost afraid to make any quick movements.
"You deserve better, not someone who was so stubborn or blind that she couldn't see the real thing when it was standing in front of her." She swallowed, still avoiding his gaze. "I used to think that great, epic romances only existed in the movies or books, that nothing like that could ever happen in real life. I've had a lot of time to think about it and I've realized that if…"
Pulse pounding in his ears, he took another step towards her.
"…if we want one, we have to make them ourselves."
Thorne swallowed. "Do you—do you want one?"
The corner of her mouth ticked up a fraction.
"With me?"
She let out a nervous laugh and nodded, finally looking up to meet his eyes. Her face was flush with a pink that matched her homecoming dress and the roses he had gotten her weeks ago. And just like that, all of the tension and unease that Thorne had been carrying around for the past month evaporated with an exhale.
"Cress?" Thorne swallowed.
"Yes?"
Fueled by her confession, he felt brave and heroic and knew he had to make a move. She had said that they needed to make their great, epic romance and he was determined to do so. "I'm going to kiss you now." He took one long stride forward, closing the space between them and she was so surprised that she took a step back, bumping her legs against his desk.
She let out one of her tinkling laughs, relief washing over her face and he grinned. She braced herself, her hands against his chest and he brought his uninjured hand up to cup her face. She leaned into his touch and closed her eyes instinctively.
Thorne let himself savor the moment and his gaze traced her face, landing on one freckle to the next, while the scent of roses hung in the air around them. Cress tilted her head back to bring her lips closer to his and he had to smile and oblige her. He brushed his lips softly against hers and felt his whole body tingle. She nipped at his lower lip and he laughed against her lips.
She pulled away and giggled. "Sorry."
Feeling bold, he grinned at her. "It's okay, I should have just done this."
Cress gasped in delight when Thorne picked her up by the waist and set her on the edge of his desk. His pulse quickened when she grabbed onto his t-shirt again and he moved his left hand up to cradle the back of her head as he pressed his lips against hers in a deep kiss. He felt Cress's knees pressed against his hips and they broke apart only long enough to swallow a breath of air before crashing into each other again.
Cress rested her arms on his shoulders and entwined her fingers in his hair while his hand that was still on her waist traced soft swirls against the thin fabric of her shirt. He heard a soft moan that could have come from either one of them. He was dizzy with euphoria and when his lungs burned for air, they finally broke apart.
"Thorne." She said his name with a breathless sigh of content and he gave her lips a tender kiss that made her smile.
Ever so gently, he ran the pad of his thumb across her lips, now a deep pink after their heated kiss and he smiled when she gave his finger a small peck. His mind was racing and his heart was pounding as he ran his thumb up her jawline to catch a lock of her hair and twirled it around her finger. He leaned down to press a kiss into that golden curl, then held out his arm to help her down from his desk.
She let out a soft laugh when she took his hand and slid off of the ledge, straightening her shirt and her hair that had been mussed up by his fingers. She stood on her tippy toes to fix the damage that she had caused to his hair and he couldn't help the goofy grin that was plastered on his face. She raised an eyebrow at him when he couldn't stop staring at her and he blushed.
Was this it? Did he have to ask her to be his girlfriend and make it official? In his mind, that kiss had been confirmation enough. He opened his mouth and closed it again.
Cress looked at him amused.
Thorne cleared his throat, but before he could say anything, there was a knock on his bedroom door and his mom poked her head in, starling the both of them. His face turned bright red, glad that his mom hadn't shown up five minutes earlier.
"Cress, would you like to stay for dinner? We're having chili rellenos." Elena asked, smiling sweetly at the two of them.
Cress turned to look at Thorne. He could have died with embarrassment, but he didn't want her to leave. "It's really good," he offered, giving her a nod. "You should stay."
Cress grinned and took his hand, squeezing it. "I'd love to."
AN: Thank you to the amazing zissa for beta'ing this chapter for me and thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has read and enjoyed this fic, shared it with friends, and left reviews and words of encouragement. I hope you liked this last installment of The Schooner. I'm more than a little sad to be leaving my precious shy!Thorne, but he's in good hands now and I'm sure he'll be very happy. Also, isn't my new cover art absolutely wonderful? Big thanks to the beautiful and talented shanlightyear on Tumblr for capturing this perfect Cresswell moment.
