AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“My head is killing me. I need to go lie down.”
“Maybe you just need to eat. Low blood sugar can cause a headache.”
“This is different. It’s not from being hungry. I don’t even feel hungry.”
“What’s going on?” Nina asks.
“I’m not feeling well,” I say. “I’m gonna go. Could you give Sage a ride back?”
“I’m not staying,” she says. “I’m going with you.”
“You don’t need to. I’ll be fine. I just need to take some painkillers and lie down.”
“I’m still going with you.” She pushes on my side. “C’mon. Let’s go. Get out of the booth.” She turns to Nina. “Sorry. We’ll have dinner some other time. Maybe next week?”
“Sure.” Nina eyes me suspiciously.
“Feel better, man,” Josh says as I get up. He actually wasn’t that bad tonight. It’s not that I think he’s a bad person. He’s just too damn inquisitive.
When we get home I go to my room. I want to call Cain and make sure he’s okay but I can’t because Sage follows me.
“Can I get you anything?” she asks.
“No. I just need to rest,” I tell her.
“Then I’ll rest with you.”
She lies beside me and kisses my cheek. “If you need something, just let me know.”
She’s such a great person. Sweet, kind, caring. A great girlfriend. And way too good for me.
My life is a fucking mess. The past month I’ve been trying to pretend it’s not, living this pretend life with my sweet beautiful girlfriend. But the reality is, my life is fucked up and I shouldn’t be bringing Sage along for the ride. It’s not fair to her, and it’s time I do something about it.
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
SAGE
I’ve been puttingoff this discussion long enough. Kyle and I have dated for over a month now and it’s time we talk and figure out if our original agreement still stands. Are we going to end things after the summer or do we think we could make this work long-distance?
We need to figure this out, or at least talk about what we both want. As for me, I don’t want our relationship to end. It’ll be hard when Kyle moves away but I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make it work. I wanted to tell him that the other night but instead we went out with Nina and Josh and then Kyle didn’t feel well and we ended up going home.
Kyle was sick the next day too so I stayed home and took care of him. Nina scolded me for it, saying I’m babying him and shouldn’t have missed work to take care of a grown man. But I wanted to take care of him. Even though he slept most of the day, I wanted to be there in case he needed me. Besides, I still got paid. Jesse owed me a day off for that Sunday I worked after the firehouse event.
Now it’s Friday and I’m back at work. When I left this morning, Kyle seemed a lot better. He even made me breakfast. It was just a bowl of cereal and some toast, but he still did it. He got out of bed and made it while I was in the shower so it’d be ready when I got out. I love that he does sweet things like that for me. It’s one of the many reasons I love him.
Yes, it’s true. I love him. I haven’t told him that yet but I’m going to tonight when we talk. He doesn’t know we’re having this talk and I didn’t tell him because I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. Because itshouldn’tbe a big deal. Trying to figure out a way to be together after this summer is something I know we both want so tonight is just about acknowledging that and discussing ways to make it happen.
At noon, I call Kyle to see what he wants to do for dinner. Miller’s phone rings and rings and I eventually hang up. Kyle shut off the answering machine because it never worked right, so now the phone just rings forever. I wish Kyle had a cell phone. I’ve tried to convince him to buy one but he won’t. He says if he had one his agent would call him every day and yell at him to hurry up with the manuscript. He said his agent still bothers him via email but he just deletes the messages.
I call the number again but he doesn’t answer. He might be outside. Sometimes around noon he takes a walk to get some fresh air and clear his head before he starts writing again.
I’ll call him later. I take my sandwich from my lunch sack, setting it in front of the computer. I need to do some apartment searching while I eat. My mom and I need to find a place and put a deposit down. September isn’t that far away.
Just as I start to look, my mom calls.
“Hey, I was just thinking about you,” I tell her.
“Hi, honey. How’s your day going?”
