AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What? No!” I say. “What are you doing here?”
He looks for a second, probably deciding whether he should press for more. Luckily, he answers my question. “I wanted to see you since we didn’t get a chance earlier.”
When the girl interrupted him, and I ran away like a coward.
“I’m sorry I reacted the way I did yesterday. Just being here brings up a lot of good and bad memories,” he tells me.
“You have no reason to apologize. My family owns this house,” I say quickly, motioning my hand toward the house. “My family decided to see what would need to be done in order for it to be a pleasant summer home.”
His shoulders sag a little as he looks over the house again. I remember what this place meant to me, but what did it mean to him? Did he think of me, the roof, our talks about running away?
“Might just tear the whole place down.”
His eyes shoot to mine as they burn with some sort of passion. I can’t get a read on it. “I hope you’re kidding.” His jaw clenches. “That doesn’t explain why you were crying, though.” He changes the subject, whether for my sake or his, I don’t know. “And don’t try to deny it, either. I can see your puffy cheeks from a mile away. That pale skin of yours is redder than an apple.”
“Last I checked, not all apples are red.”
“Sally.” He pins me with a look.
“Just family drama, okay? My family isn’t perfect.”
Ma and Mama come to the front of my mind, but that fades as my childhood stomps in.
I start to feel lightheaded when a pair of hands grips my shoulders. Oliver stands right in front of me, pinning me down with his stormy eyes. When did he get in front of me? A minute ago, he was still in my front yard.
“You’re panicking again, Sally. What do you need?”
My breath labors as I force myself to take in any sort of air I can get. I want to rip off my hoodie because my skin is melting, but Oliver is right in front of me, and I’m not even wearing a bra right now.
I feel trapped on all sides. “I need to leave.”
“Roof?” He points up to the sky, and without thinking, I nod my head. He takes my hand and leads me around the house. “I know the best way up there.”
We reach the backyard where the stepladder we used as kids is still present and, surprisingly, not broken. He steps up onto the roof, pulling me up without effort as we ascend to our old escape route.
We sit on the edge with out feet dangling. Oliver digs into his pocket and pulls out a pair of wireless earbuds, nothing like the old CD player we used before. He hands one to me as I place it in, and some calming instrumental sounds through the earpiece.
My nerves that are still firing through my body start to cool, and my pumping heart slows down, no longer threatening to break through my ribs.
“Music was the best way to calm my best friend down when we came up here.” I stare at him as he looks over the trees, that same forlorn expression playing on his features.
I take the earbud out now, calmed and able to breathe. I hand him the bud, muttering a thank you as we sit there for a moment.
“You talk about them a lot.” I might not be above fishing for his thoughts of my old self, but I am, at the very least, above misgendering. “What were they like?”
If Oliver notices my use of different pronouns, he doesn’t correct me. “He was my best friend. We didn’t have the best parents.”
That is an understatement.
“Anytime something went wrong, we would find each other.” His voice quivers a bit, but I don’t look at him. I don’t think I could see his face and not break. “Oddly enough, I think there were days when I would sneak over and hope that he wanted to run away with me. I liked that I brought a smile to his crying face. Made me feel wanted. Needed.”
I needed him. I needed him more than anything. I break, throwing a glance his way. Big mistake. My stomach flips as my eyes fill with his, glassy and distant, staring out into the night.
I have to tell him now.
“Oliver—”
“Then he was taken away from me!” Oliver chews on his lip for a second. “His parents didn’t even put up a fight. They just let him get taken like it was nothing. Guess what? I went to the park that same weekend, and they were walking through it like nothing had happened. They were holding hands and smiling like they didn’t send their child away.”
