AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Then someone knocked on her window and she’d jumped a mile in the air, thinking it was her dad…
Only when she’d opened the door, and the dome light flashed on, it was Ray on the other side. He’d been bundled up in a jacket and beanie, holding a bouquet of bright Gerbera daisies, her favorite flower, in his left hand and that beautiful, lopsided grin she loved on his handsome face.
“Hey, Kel.”
Sluggishly, she’d clim
bed out of the car to face him, leaving the door open behind her. “What are you doing here? It’s one in the morning.”
“I know. We came home a day early, and I just couldn’t wait to see you. To tell you what an idiot I was. I am really, really sorry. I know I hurt you, but the distance made me realize how much I love you, Kelly. How wrong I was to think there was anyone else out there for me but you. Please, forgive me?”
She’d stared at him, the light from inside Chris’s car glistening off his dark skin. His eyes sparkled in the dimness, and Kelly’s stomach flopped over. This was Ray. They’d been together two and a half years. He was her friend and her first love.
Behind her, Chris cleared his throat and when she turned around, he was standing in the open driver’s side door. Smiling as though moments ago he hadn’t been admitting to wanting to kiss her.
“Glad you’re back, buddy. I’ll talk to you later, Kel.”
Kelly hadn’t had a chance to even say bye before he was back in the car. She’d closed his passenger door, completely thrown for a loop by the roller coaster of the night’s events. As he’d pulled out of her drive and his taillights had disappeared, she kept replaying his words in her head, even as Ray pulled her in for a hug.
It had felt good to be held by him again, but a lot had happened, and she needed time to consider what she wanted. She’d taken the flowers from Ray and told him she needed a few days to think. That she’d see him at school. He’d been disappointed, but he’d had two weeks to realize that he wanted to be with her. She was due some time.
After a weekend of stressing, she’d been at Chris’s locker on Monday, waiting impatiently. Just before the bell rang he’d come up, and although she could have sworn something foreign flashed across his face, it was replaced to swiftly by his usual gamin grin for her to be sure. “Hey, Kel.”
“Hey.” She’d shifted from foot to foot in front of the blue aisle of lockers, drumming up the courage to be straight with him. “Did you mean what you said to me on Saturday?”
“What?”
“About…about wanting to kiss me?”
He’d opened his locker, blocking his face with the door. “Honestly, Kel, we had been spending a lot of time together and I think I just…got caught up in the moment. Ray loves you and you love him. You two belong together.”
Was that relief or disappointment flipping her stomach over? Sixteen years later, she still couldn’t say for sure. “You didn’t mean it, then?”
He’d closed his locker, and looked her right in the eye. “No, I didn’t mean it.”
She’d turned and walked away, feeling like an idiot for obsessing about it all weekend. She’d gotten back together with Ray, and things had gone back to the way they’d always been.
Now, she stared down at Chris’s sleeping form and wondered why in the heck he’d brought that up tonight? What had made him even think of it?
She set the pills and water down on the end table, and left the room, so many questions left unanswered.
Maybe it’s better that way. In the morning, I’ll pretend he never asked, unless he brings it up. And even then, what’s the point in wondering what might have been? Things are great now.
No sense in spoiling a good thing.
Chapter 6
Kelly woke up Sunday morning with a nasty, cottonmouth sensation and an ice pick headache stabbing sharply along the right side of her skull. God, it was as though she had the hangover, and she hadn’t had a thing to drink.
She climbed out of her bed gradually, rubbing her stinging eyes as she stood with a wince. She’d tossed and turned most of the night, thinking about Chris and what the heck he’d meant about if she ever wondered. Wondered what? What would have happened if Ray hadn’t been waiting for her? If she had wanted to kiss Chris too?
Ugh, her head hurt.
She used the bathroom and splashed her face with warm water. After she brushed her teeth and slipped a warm, comfy sweater over her short-sleeved pajama top, she padded barefoot down the stairs. The smell of bacon drifted from the kitchen, and she could hear Chris humming to himself as things sizzled.
How could he be so cheerful after how much he’d had to drink?
She stopped in the entryway and watched him flip a pancake over with a spatula. Wearing his jeans and T-shirt from last night, he looked rumpled and delicious.
