AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“About time you came home!” She wraps her arms around me, and we hug so tight that it almost brings tears to my eyes.
“It’s been way too long,” I whisper in her ear.
I pull away from her and look her in the eyes with a grin. It’s good to have my friend back. There was definitely a time where I thought we’d never talk again, but true friends don’t let anything get between them for that long.
Though, admittedly, it took years for us to get back to that stage. Thank God for the invention of Facebook. In those early years, all it did was reunite friends who hadn’t seen each other in years.
She slaps my husband’s leg to get his attention since he’s glued to the game. “Hey, you.”
He turns to face her and instantly stands up to give her a hug. “Megan. Good to see you.”
“You too,” she says as she hugs him back.
“Here, sit with us.” I move my bag that I set in front of us in hopes that she’d be here.
“Okay, let me get Justin.” She stands on her tiptoes to get the attention of her husband, Justin—yes, the same Justin Heather dated.
I glance at Heather with a grin, and she just shakes her head with a laugh. I know, to them, it’s old news from the past, but since I don’t live here, I feel like it was only a few months ago that he and Heather were dating.
“Is that ever weird?” I whisper to Heather.
She blows me off. “Oh, girl. We’re so past that.” She leans in closer. “Now, being the maid of honor in a wedding where I lost my virginity to the groom, that was a little weird.” She winces, and I laugh. “But it’s all good. We’ve all moved on with our lives.” She nudges my knee. “Glad to see you guys have too.”
I grin. “Me too.”
As I sit here and look at the people I once thought were my entire world, it’s amazing to think how we all went on with our lives in different directions. At the time, we all thought we were adults, old enough to deal with adult feelings yet still having to study for midterms.
Life really is one long midterm that seems never-ending. High school was the easy days, yet we bogged it down with so much unnecessary drama instead of just enjoying the time we had while we had it.
In the end, we all ended up with exactly who we should have. If only we could have skipped all the drama it took to get here.
Justin makes his way up to our seats and gives us each a hug as he says his hellos. It’s funny to see how much we’ve all aged, yet we really haven’t changed one bit. I remember thinking my dad or other people’s parents looked so old, yet here we are, not much younger than them, and I feel like I could still pass for being in high school.
Okay, maybe not high school, but definitely college aged …
I look to Mollie and laugh out loud. Yeah, never mind. We look nothing like her. I sure don’t feel different though, especially being back here, where I felt like my life really started.
CHAPTEREIGHTEEN
Sophomore Year
Aaron left shortly after we had sex, and it was only twenty minutes later that my dad walked through the door, finally getting home for the night. Chills washed over my body—and not in a good way—at how stupid we had been. If my dad had come home while Aaron was here … I don’t even want to think about what could have happened.
I spend that entire night wide awake, wondering what all this means.
The last time he kissed me, he said it was a mistake.
Now, here we are, just having had sex, and he left before we could even talk about it.
In my head, I keep replaying those moments afterward when he stood in my door, then got dressed and gave me a quick kiss good-bye before walking out of my room and out of my house. All while I lay on my bed, naked and confused.
In the heat of the moment, everything had felt right. Now, I have no idea what to think.
As the morning time comes, I’m sick to my stomach about how things are going to go.
When I finally get out of bed, I go to my window to see if I can tell if he’s awake yet, and to my surprise, I see a note taped to the outside of my window.
Meet me at the lake.
