Студопедия
Случайная страница | ТОМ-1 | ТОМ-2 | ТОМ-3
АвтомобилиАстрономияБиологияГеографияДом и садДругие языкиДругоеИнформатика
ИсторияКультураЛитератураЛогикаМатематикаМедицинаМеталлургияМеханика
ОбразованиеОхрана трудаПедагогикаПолитикаПравоПсихологияРелигияРиторика
СоциологияСпортСтроительствоТехнологияТуризмФизикаФилософияФинансы
ХимияЧерчениеЭкологияЭкономикаЭлектроника

Chapter Fifteen. Life had been going pretty well up until the last couple of days

Читайте также:
  1. A chapter-by-chapter commentary on the major difficulties of the text and the cultural and historical facts that may be unknown to Russian-speaking readers.
  2. A new chapter
  3. Answer the questions to the chapters.
  4. Beginning of Chapter 7 of Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar, the Book Natalie Was Reading at the Beginning of This Novel
  5. Chapter 1 ...in which we are introduced to Winnie-the-Pooh and some bees, and the stories begin
  6. Chapter 1 Aidan
  7. Chapter 1 Marxism

Rocco

 

Life had been going pretty well up until the last couple of days. I was supposed to spend the night with Alyssa Thursday night, but that didn’t work out. At the last minute, Leah’s mom had to go out of town for work. She needed Leah to come home and watch her younger brother since the normal babysitter wasn’t available until Saturday. Tyler already had plans he couldn’t change so he was unable to go with her. Alyssa, being the sweetheart that she is, went because she didn’t want Leah to be alone. Normally this wouldn’t have bothered me. I’m not the kind of guy who has to have his girlfriend around him all the time, nor would I get pissed if she had to change plans suddenly to help out a friend. The problem was that yesterday was my dad’s birthday. I was sort of hoping this year would finally be the year I wouldn’t dwell on it. No such luck. Maybe if I had told Alyssa she would have stayed with me, but I didn’t want her to feel like she had to pick between me and her best friend. I could get through this like I had every other year.

The worst part about all of this is I can remember that day like it was yesterday. Dad and I were just coming off the lake.

“Dad, wasn’t that the biggest fish you ever saw?” I asked him excitedly as I watched him pull our boat out of the water.

“Sure was,” he told me proudly grinning ear to ear. Looking back on it, the fish really wasn’t that big, but Dad would have never told me otherwise. “We’ll have to show Mom the picture.”

“I bet she never saw a fish that big in her life!” I babbled still smiling. “What kind of fish was it again?”

“It was a pike,” he said for about the tenth time. He was never impatient with me. We didn’t get to see each other very often with his work schedule being so crazy, but on his days off, he always spent time with me.

“Oh, right. A pike. Can we come back here again? Maybe next time you’ll catch one. It sucks that you didn’t catch anything,” I chatted away.

He chuckled at me. “Sure, we can come back the next time I have off and the weather is nice like this. Buddy, I wouldn’t care if you caught every fish in the lake and I didn’t catch any,” he said handing my tackle box and fishing rod to me from the boat. I took them from him as he rumpled my hair. “Just make sure you don’t say sucks in front of your mom, okay? I’ll get in trouble.”

“Okay, Dad. Where are we going now? Can we go out to lunch?” I asked.

“Good idea. Where do you want to go?” he asked.

“Look who we have here,” a disturbing voice said. I turned in the direction it came from and saw a man holding a gun facing us. I remember thinking he wasn’t a police officer like my dad. Everyone was screaming around us and people were running away. The rest happened so quickly. My dad never even had a chance to say anything to him. “I lost my daughter because of you, so I’m going to take your son,” he yelled. Dad grabbed me and pulled me behind him and the boat blocking my view of the man. Then I heard the loud bang that still haunts me to this day. My dad slumped over our boat. He clutched his chest as he slid to the ground.

“DAD!” I screamed as I saw the color red everywhere. “Dad, are you okay?” I panicked. I fell on top of him. “Dad? Dad?” It felt like forever before he answered.

“I love you, Rocco,” was the last thing he said. Someone ripped me away as strangers surrounded him. I never saw my dad again. I squeezed my eyes closed pushing the horrible memory away.

The guys tried to help out. Thursday night we went to our usual bar in Madison. We forgot that it was usually busy with college students from both our school as well as the other university a few miles down the road because of the football game. They should have forced me to go home at halftime. Right before the third quarter started, Ryan, Carrie, and a few of their friends came in sitting at the table directly behind us.

It didn’t take long for Carrie to spot me and come over to our table starting her bullshit. “Hey, Handsome. Already done with that pathetic, little girl of yours?” She just walked in the door, yet she already reeked of booze. Even as drunk as I was, I could smell it on her.

When I went to turn around to tell her to fuck off, Carrie plopped herself in my lap and draped her arm around my neck. I immediately stood up and she stumbled to the floor. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” I screamed backing up away from her.

Ryan came over and got right in my face. “Who the fuck do you think you are, you piece of shit?” He shoved me back toward the table. Good thing for him, Shane was there to catch my arm before I punched him. By that time, Ryan’s friends were already grabbing at him, trying to drag him in the direction of the front door. Just before they made it to the waiting area of the restaurant side of the place, he shouted, “I cannot wait to get Alyssa in bed and screw her like the tramp she is.” This time Logan, Troy, and a couple other people I didn’t know had to help Shane hold me back.

“Let me go!” I hollered at them. “He doesn’t get to talk about my girl like that.” I tried fighting them off, but it was no use. There were just too many hands on me.

“Calm the fuck down, Rocco,” Shane yelled directly in my face. He’s had to do this more times than I care to admit. They managed to get me back in the chair, except I was anything but calm.

“Aww. Don’t worry, Rocco. You’ll be over her and in my bed before you know it,” Carrie said before running out after the losers she came in with.

“Holy shit, that girl is insane!” Logan said from behind me. “Doesn’t she see how close he was to knocking her ass out?” He paused briefly before adding, “This would have been so much worse if Alyssa was sitting here.” My anger flared again and I attempted to jump out of the seat. The thought of her being here to see or hear this shit was enough to make me snap.

“You are not fucking helping, Logan. Shut the hell up.” Shane glared at him over my shoulder struggling to hold me in the seat.

I took a few deep breaths and was making an effort to talk myself down from this rage. I haven’t felt this angry since middle school when someone started talking about my dad being a bad cop because he got shot. “Take me back to school, right now,” I told Shane through clenched teeth.

“Absolutely not, my friend.” Shane patted my shoulders and they all were returning to their seats seeing that I was trying to calm down. He held up his finger to our regular waitress and she came right over. “Some water and an order of nachos, please.”

“Rocco, you need anything else?” What she was really asking was if I wanted something stronger. We’ve been coming here for four years now. She knew us very well. I just shook my head.

We stayed until the third quarter ended then left to go back to school. If the guys weren’t with me, I would have gone over to the Village to hunt that bastard down and beat the shit out of him. It was going to be interesting the next time we ran into each other. On such a small campus, it won’t take long. I became concerned about him being in one of Alyssa’s classes. I’m going to be taking her to that class every week and probably watching from the hallway until the end of the semester. He’s too arrogant to be afraid of me. The second the guys got me back to my room, I collapsed in bed and fell asleep.

The next afternoon, whenever it was I finally managed to get out of bed, Shane mentioned how he answered my phone when Alyssa called the previous night. Evidently, he opened his big mouth and told her what happened at the restaurant. She was concerned about me and asked if she should come back to school. He told her he could handle me and not to worry. At least he was smart enough not to mention about it being my dad’s birthday. I spent the rest of the day with a bottle of Jack Daniels in our apartment refusing to leave just in case I ran into anyone. That particular day was not a day my friends would be able to restrain me from ripping someone’s throat out. By the time Alyssa called again, she was very well aware that I was loaded. The uneasiness in her voice made it obvious she was worried about me, but part of me didn’t care. After all, I should be celebrating with my dad.

“What?” I answered just before the call went to voicemail.

“Hey,” she said taken back by my rudeness. “You doing any better today?”

I took another sip of my drink. “I’m great.”

“How come you don’t sound so great?” she asked cautiously.

“Don’t know.”

She sighed and waited before asking her next question. “Rocco, how much have you had to drink today?”

Something inside of me snapped and I was irritated at how she was talking to me like I needed her approval. I don’t answer to anyone. “I didn’t know I needed to get your consent before having a drink. If I had known that was the case, I would have reconsidered this whole dating thing.”

“I didn’t say you did. You just don’t sound like yourself,” she said offended. “I’m worried about you.”

“You aren’t the only one who has bad days, Alyssa. If I want to have a fucking drink, I’m having a fucking drink,” I yelled in the phone.

“Rocco, knock it off, man. Alyssa didn’t do anything.” Shane came out of our room. Troy must have heard the commotion because he came out, too.

“Whatever,” I say to them all. “I gotta go.” I hung up on her and went to bed.

Since I have finally sobered up, a heavy, sickening feeling is sitting on my chest over the way I spoke to Alyssa on the phone last night. Shane was right. None of this is her fault and there was no reason for me to snap at my girl the way I did. She was just trying to figure out what was going on with me. Now I can see she was feeling helpless over being so far away and not knowing what was wrong. Perhaps I should have told her about it being my dad’s birthday. Then she would have at least understood why I was acting like such a jerk. I cannot even call her to apologize. She sent me a text about an hour before I woke up saying she was on her way out to go shopping with Leah and Paige. At least she said she’d see me tonight. Hopefully she doesn’t dump my ass for the way I treated her. I settle for sending a simple text saying that I can’t wait until tonight and telling her how much she is missed.

Good thing I slept well into the afternoon because it helped the day go by a little faster. It felt like no sooner did I get back from the gym and showered that Troy is telling me Paige is on the phone saying the girls are going to grab something to eat before heading to the bowling alley. They are inviting us to meet them. Feeling a little unsure as to whether or not Alyssa actually wants me to go, I send a text asking her. My phone is ringing in a matter of seconds.

“Hey.” The guilt has me feeling like a scorned child.

“Why would you think I wouldn’t want you to come?” No hello or simple greeting. She just goes right into drilling me with questions. “Did I do something?” How could she possibly feel like she did something when I was the one who screwed up?

“No, Sunshine.” I sink into the couch defeated. I don’t care that Troy, Shane, and Logan are staring at me listening to our conversation. They know how badly I screwed up. They have all been telling me about it since my ass crawled out of bed a few hours ago. “You didn’t do anything. I’m so sorry for being such an asshole to you last night. I wouldn’t blame you one bit if you wanted me to stay here.” I hear her sigh into the phone.

“Rocco, you’re definitely not off the hook for that, but we’ll talk about it later. I miss you and I want your arms around me within thirty minutes. Understand me?” Her tone couldn’t have been any more demanding and I want nothing more than to give her exactly what she wants right now.

“Clearly. I’ll see you soon.” The smile on my face has to be gigantic.

“See ya.” She disconnects the call. Maybe tonight wouldn’t be as disastrous as I thought.

“I never thought I’d see the day,” Logan says from across the living room.

“You never thought you’d see the day for what?” I wonder.

“The day that Rocco Matthews is a love stricken idiot,” he answers shaking his head.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Dude, it’s all over your face,” Troy joins the conversation as he’s pulling on his shoes. “I’m not judging, just saying since I’m right there with you.”

“You guys think I’m in love with Alyssa?” The idea is so foreign to me I’m not sure what to say. Are a bunch of guys really having this discussion?

Shane starts laughing. “Rocco, even you aren’t that dumb. Come on. It was written all over your face from the second your phone rang.”

I’m deliberating what they are saying, but I’m not convinced. “Well I honestly have no idea what it is, but it’s fucking amazing.”

“Even though I may be losing my best friend to some girl, I’m glad. I told you she was good for you.”

“Let’s go grab Tyler. Alyssa insisted that I be holding her within thirty minutes and I’m running out of time,” I say punching Shane in the shoulder as I walk by him.

“I can already tell it’s going to be a long, nauseating night,” he mumbles.

Twenty-five minutes after hanging up the phone with Alyssa, I pull into the parking lot of the restaurant where we are meeting the girls. Her car is already parked and there is no sign of the three of them. The second we walk through the door, I spot her standing in the far corner of the waiting area while Paige and Leah are sitting in the chair next to her. She looks in my direction at the sound of the door closing behind me. The gleam in her eyes screams she is just as happy to see me as I am to see her. It feels like it takes me an eternity to cross the small room to get to where she is. As soon as I do, my open arms lure her to me and Alyssa’s body falls into mine naturally. The stress and worry from the last few days fall away. I feel like I’m home.

“You had three minutes and thirteen seconds to spare,” she whispers in my ear. “If I would have known that a time limit would have worked, I would have made it twenty minutes.”

I chuckle next to her as the first sense of relaxation falls over me since I left her alone and asleep in her room Wednesday night. “I would have been here sooner if I didn’t have to wait for the guys. Next time, I’ll make them walk.”

Alyssa pulls back to look me in the eye. The serious look on her face has me gasping for air. “Please promise me you won’t ever make me worry like that again.”

“Sunshine, I’m so sorry...” She cut me off by covering my mouth with her fingers.

“I don’t want you to apologize right now. I need you to promise me you won’t drink like that again and scare the shit out of me. Please,” she begs. Her eyes show the fear she has been feeling probably since talking to Shane Thursday night.

“I promise,” I tell her. I’ve never meant anything more in my entire life.

“Alright you two, we get it. Everything is just perfect again. Now let’s go. Our table is ready,” Leah says from somewhere behind me. Damn can she be annoying sometimes.

“We shouldn’t push her,” Alyssa whispers. “She has us all on a time schedule, so no one has an excuse to oversleep tomorrow and miss painting The Rock.”

“I’m standing right here. I can hear you,” Leah snaps. Alyssa is giggling again. I’m glad our moment has passed, but I will still need to make it up to her. She needs to know that I truly mean to keep my promise.

“Baby, you don’t have to get so worked up. You know how much we all love to tease you,” Tyler tells her pulling her by the hand. “We wouldn’t be able to function without you keeping us all in line.”

“Damn right,” she replies to him, but she eases up and smiles. Leah might be the one keeping everyone else in line, but Tyler knows just how to talk to her.

Everyone had a great time at dinner. Even though I’m not a big fan of bowling, it was actually really fun. It was nice of Alyssa and Paige to plan all of this out and to accommodate Shane with his request of bowling. I would have to thank them later. The best part for me was watching my friends interact with my girlfriend. They treat her with respect and at the same time like she’s always been a part of our small group. Shane and I have been friends for over ten years. We didn’t meet Logan and Troy until freshmen year at college, but we are all pretty tight. Having her fit in with them is more than I could ever ask for. She even takes their obnoxious bantering and shoves it right back at them.

On our way back to campus, I felt myself keeping an eye on Alyssa in my rearview mirror driving behind me and getting worried if someone pulled in between the two of us. She mentioned something once about not feeling comfortable about driving at night. I should have made Shane drive my car and rode with her. How did I not think of that before? Tyler went with her, but that doesn’t make me feel any better. Good thing the bowling alley wasn’t that far from school.

Once we are parked in the parking lot, the guys all walk over to Alyssa’s car with me. They even offer to help Alyssa and Leah carry their bags. Besides their overnight bags, the three of them did some serious shopping today. I go to grab one bag that was hanging in the back and Leah smacks my arm.

“I’ll get that one. You have to wait until next Saturday to see that. Alyssa is going to look amazing in the dress I picked out,” Leah says practically bouncing up and down.

“Leah, it’s no big deal. Don’t forget I still have time to go out and get a different one. I’m not sure that one will work,” Alyssa says walking away.

“What? Tell her, Paige. This dress is beautiful just hanging on the hanger but once you put it on, it’s exquisite!”

“It does look pretty good, Alyssa,” Paige encourages her. It’s just like Alyssa to blow this off. She doesn’t think she looks good in anything.

“Well, shit, now I want to see it,” Shane starts from behind me as we walk to the main entrance of the apartment building.

“Watch it,” I send him a warning glare. They all laugh at my expense, including Alyssa, who also reaches out to hold my hand.

We enter the building and start to walk through the lounge when I hear Shane mutter, “Oh shit. Not now.” I turn in the direction he is looking and see Ryan is heading our way. He doesn’t even live in this building. Why the hell is he here?

“Hey Rocco. Long time no see,” he slurs. This is not going to end well. I can already feel the anger boiling inside of me just from the bullshit he pulled the other night. “How nice of you to hand deliver her to me. I was thinking it would take a little longer before getting that hot piece of ass in my bed.”

Something snaps inside of me as I’m preparing to rip him to shreds. Through the cloudiness the anger has built, I somehow feel a touch on my arm that I’ve grown so desperate for. My attention is drawn away from the asshole provoking me into a fight to the girl who has stolen my heart. Her grip on my hand has tightened and she shakes her head once before tilting it toward the stairwell. I’m frozen in place.

“Come on, man. It’s time you passed her down the line. You’ve had long enough to play with her,” Ryan taunts me.

Alyssa flinches at how the bastard is talking about her, but she recovers quickly. She lets go of my hand and puts both of her hands on the sides of my neck holding me in place. It’s unmistakable that she can read the torment rolling through me. I can hear Shane and Troy in the background yelling at Ryan, but it shouldn’t be them defending my girl. It should be me. “Kiss me,” she insists. At first I’m confused as to why she thinks this is the right time or place. Then once her lips cover mine, I’m powerless to do anything other than what she asks. She pulls away slowly running her hands from my neck, down my arms, until they reach mine where she grabs ahold of them and guides me to the stairs. I have forgotten all about the chaos ensuing behind me.

It isn’t until we get to her apartment that I am aware our friends have followed behind us. Leah walks around where we are standing to open the door for everyone. I still have not been released from Alyssa’s gaze until she pulls me inside where she finally lets go of my hands only to collapse into me.

“Damn, Alyssa. That was pretty good. I have never seen anyone control Rocco like that in all the years I’ve known him,” Shane says causing me to seek him out. “Don’t give me that look. You know it’s the truth.”

“Are you okay?” Alyssa asks distracting me from Shane.

“I’m fine,” I’m barely able to get out. “You should have let me beat the shit out of him. No one should talk about you that way.” Normally if someone would have distracted me from a fight, it would have only shifted my anger on to them. Instead I’m left feeling horrible that someone got away with talking about Alyssa like she is some whore. I brush the hair out of her face that has fallen over her eye.

“I don’t want you to fight with him over this. You will only be giving him what he wants. As long as he doesn’t touch me, I don’t want you to even acknowledge him.” I hear what she is saying and I get she doesn’t want anything to happen to me, but there is no way he’ll ever stop. “You won’t let him get to you again. If he’s stupid enough to even lay a finger on me, then all bets are off. You have my permission to do your worst. As for now, I will not be the reason you get into a fight with anyone. Do you understand, Rocco? It’s not optional.” Something tells me something similar has happened before and she doesn’t want to go there again, so I agree with her. “Thank you,” she whispers wrapping her arms around me again.

“Don’t expect a kiss from me to snap you out of some future rampage if Alyssa isn’t around. Seriously, that’s not going to happen,” Shane says shaking his head. This breaks the ice and everyone starts snickering around us.

Alyssa lets go of me and takes her stuff to her room. I help her by grabbing the bags the guys left on the table. Shane pokes his head in her room to let me know him and Logan are leaving. Alyssa and I say goodbye to the two of them who are followed by Troy and Paige. Before leaving Troy checks with me to make sure that I’m good and won’t be venturing downstairs anytime soon. I assure him everything is fine and that I have no reason to leave this room. After all, the person I want to be with is right here.

Meanwhile, Paige is saying goodbye to Alyssa. “Thank you so much for inviting me today. I had a blast. Actually, I haven’t that much fun in a long time.” She gives Alyssa a hug and I hear Logan say he may be staying, but Shane pulls him through the door. The girls ignore him.

“Anytime, Paige. Thanks for coming. It was a lot of fun. We’ll have to do it more often.” Troy is thrilled over the new friendship the girls have started.

“I’d like that,” Paige responds. “Thanks, Leah. Don’t forget you said I could borrow that pair of shoes for the Halloween party.”

“You got it,” Leah says.

“We’ll see you guys bright and early at The Rock,” Paige adds before leaving with Troy in tow. With all of this help, we should be able to knock the painting out in no time.

Leah comes into the girls’ bedroom and slips her shoes off only to grab another pair from her closet. She starts throwing some clothes into a bag. “What are you doing?” Alyssa questions her.

“I’m going to sleep at Ty’s since Mark isn’t there. He took Erin, Julia, and Tommy home for his friend’s party, remember? Since I haven’t seen my boyfriend in a few days, I figured I would take advantage of the situation.” Leah winks at me and I chuckle softly. Then she gets serious again when something occurs to her. “They better be at The Rock by their scheduled time tomorrow morning. I don’t care what they did tonight. They were warned.” Alyssa laughs at her. “I’ll be back to get you up in the morning,” she says kissing Alyssa on the cheek. Good thing Logan wasn’t here for that. “I know how much you love getting up early on Sundays, so I’ll make breakfast for you.”

“Not too early. I haven’t had a good night sleep in days.” I frown because I know she hasn’t slept because I acted like an ass and made her worry.

“I know, but everything is fine now, right?” Alyssa nods at her and Tyler goes to pick up Leah’s bag. “Good night, Lyss. Thanks again for coming home with me. I really hate being alone at night in that house.” I’m glad I kept my mouth shut after hearing that.

“Anytime. See you in the morning,” Alyssa says as they go to leave.

“Good night, Rocco. Don’t forget your painting duties,” she adds.

“I’m looking forward to it,” I say.

Tyler reaches over to shake my hand. “She will hunt you down if you aren’t there. Just saying.” We laugh.

“Ty, are you seriously trying to ruin your chances of getting laid for the next month?” We laugh harder. Well, Alyssa and I do anyway.

When the door to the apartment closes, she is instantly at my side. “You have as long as it takes me to change and brush my teeth before you are talking to me about whatever was wrong,” she warns. My eyes close and I feel myself taking a deep breath as she walks away. “Rocco,” she calls me softly. The way my name sounds coming from her makes my heart do some crazy shit. When I look at her she asks, “Will you please stay with me, tonight?”

“Sunshine, I’m trying to figure out how to stay with you every night.” It gets me that beautiful smile of hers before she goes into the bathroom. I’m not sure if she wants to talk in here or the living room, but I get her bed ready for her anyway. Only for a minute do I think about the fact that no one will be here for the rest of the night and what we could be doing instead of talking. I don’t want our first time to have any bad memories attached to it. After the last few nights and my almost blow out with Ryan, tonight is not the night for it. I’ll stick with my original plan of waiting until after the charity dinner next weekend.

When Alyssa finally comes out of the bathroom, she looks just as comfortable as I feel being in her room. She goes out into the living room locking up and turning all of the lights off. Before she comes back in the room she calls out asking if I need anything. The only thing I really need right now is to get this talk over with, but I don’t tell her that. She returns to her room with a couple bottles of water.

Since I’m already sitting on her bed with my back up against the wall, Alyssa crawls up next to me and curls into my side. It’s still hard to wrap my head around just how wonderful holding her feels and how as soon as her body comes in contact with mine I feel complete. Then, out of nowhere, realization sets in. The guys were right. There is no one that I have ever wanted or will ever want more than her. There isn’t anywhere I’d rather be other than wherever she is. The only way I am happy is if she is happy. She makes me feel like the earth is finally spinning again simply because she is in my life. Protecting her from anyone who is a threat is now my job. How could I not have seen this before? I am totally and completely in love with her. It’s almost as though I only exist for her.

“So, are you going to tell me what was going on the last few nights?” Her question breaks through my euphoric moment. We have to get through this before I can tell her what I’ve finally figured out. The fear she may not feel the same way about me shocks me for a second, but it really doesn’t matter. I still love her and I always will.

“My dad’s birthday was yesterday,” is all I need to say.

She backs away and turns to face me. “Why didn’t you tell me?” The absence of her against me is a little painful, so I reach for her and bring her back to me.

“I didn’t want you to have to choose between staying here with me and going with Leah. You would have been torn and I didn’t want you to feel bad with either decision you made.”

“I would have figured something out, Rocco. You are so sweet to worry about me over yourself and I really do appreciate that. You want to be there for me and do everything that you think I need. You have to let me do that for you, too. I want to be able to do that for you. You are part of my life now just as much as Leah is, if not more. Whenever you need me, I will be there for you. I promise.” If I wasn’t in love with her a few minutes ago, I would have been now anyway.

“I’m so sorry that I acted like such an ass to you and for not telling you.” The issue with Vicki crosses my mind, but I push it out. I should really tell her, but it’s not the right time.

“I’ve already forgiven you, but don’t do it again, Matthews. Seriously. I’ll kick your ass next time.”

“There won’t be a next time. I promise.”

For the next hour, we lay in her bed talking and laughing. The things we talk about are completely random. Our favorite elementary school teachers. Worst movie ever made. Places we’d like to travel to someday. Television shows we watched as kids. We even bickered about baseball. Being with her this way only confirms what I discovered a little earlier tonight. It occurs to me that it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t say it back. I want to tell her. I need her to know how she makes me feel.

When she settles in next to me, I know it won’t be long before she falls asleep. If I want to tell her tonight, it has to be now and I feel like nothing that comes out of my mouth could properly explain my feelings for her. “I don’t know how you managed to do it.” I am thinking out loud. That isn’t what I meant to say.

“Managed what?” she asks snuggling into me.

There’s no going back now. I need to answer her truthfully. “I don’t know how you managed to make me fall in love with you.”

I feel her immediately tense up next to me. She doesn’t move when she speaks. “You’re in love with me?”

I take a deep breath before answering her. Her reaction is starting to freak me out. “I am.”

She lifts herself off of my chest and peeks up at me with the most adorable look I’ve ever seen on her face. When she blinks, a tear rolls down her cheek. Instinctively, I wipe it from her face with my thumb. “That’s good to know since I’ve fallen in love with you, too.”


Дата добавления: 2015-10-30; просмотров: 113 | Нарушение авторских прав


Читайте в этой же книге: Рекомендации по применению | Chapter Three 1 страница | Chapter Three 2 страница | Chapter Three 3 страница | Chapter Three 4 страница | Chapter Seven | Chapter Eight | Chapter Eleven | Chapter Twelve | Chapter Thirteen |
<== предыдущая страница | следующая страница ==>
Chapter Fourteen| Chapter Sixteen

mybiblioteka.su - 2015-2024 год. (0.026 сек.)