AllFreeNovel
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There’s only one couch in the living room so wehaveto sit next to each other.
I’ve been very careful with Lara since the incident with the pair of scissors weeks ago.
I care for a her a great deal…and I respect her just as much. I’m turning over a new leaf. It feels like I’m turning a page in the book of my life.
And it’s all because of her.
She showed me compassion when she didn’t have to…and maybe she didn’t evenwantto…but she did it anyway.
Ifshecan forgive me. Maybe I can start to forgive myself.
She’s taken her shoes off and she’s sitting cross-legged on the couch with a big bowl of popcorn on her lap.
“You know, this movie is so good, it feels like it’s the first time I’m watching iteverytime I watch it!”
“We’re coming up on half a century soon,” I say. “That’s how old it is.”
“Quality is quality, Chase! De Niro’s performance, Pacino’s…they’re both incredible here! And oh!” She grabs the remote off my lap and pauses it. “See this guy here?”
“Yeah?” I’ve never seen this actor before.
“Anythingfamiliarabout him?” She gives me a wide-eyed smile. It’s infectious!
“Nothing at all.”
“That’sJunior Soprano!”
“I don’t know who that is.”
“From the TV show? The greatest TV show of all time? The Sopranos?”
I laugh and shrug, “I didn’t watch it.”
She shakes her head and starts the movie again, “You’ve got so much catching up to do, man! Pay attention.”
I do. Thirty minutes go by and she’s right…the movieisgood.
I don’t know what feels different about tonight though. We’ve watched movies before. We’ve played games before, but…tonight there feels like some kind of tension is in the air…like something is going on that she doesn’t want to tell me.
She keeps looking off to the side like she’s getting lost in thought. I decide the best way to handle it is to be direct. I grab the remote from her and pause the movie again.
It takes her a few seconds to realize what I’ve done before she turns to me with a question on her face.
“What’s up, Lara?”
“What do you mean?”
“Did something happen today? You’re not really watching the movie. You can talk to me, you know?”
She sighs. “You really want to know?”
“I wouldn’t have asked otherwise.”
She turns her body on the couch so she can face me. “So, there’s this waitress at the diner. She said something mean and it just made me start wondering why society has all these big hang ups about how to love.”
“Like what?”
“Well, like the fact you’re only supposed to be with one person at a time. This is not two-thousand years ago. I mean, sure, they wrote a nice book about how to be kind and good and be honest and decent…but devoting yourself toonespecific person for the rest of your life doesn’t necessarily seem like a good thing to me.”
