AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Nine.
Without thought, the words come out. “I like him,” I blurt out. He stops and turns around. His eyes widen, but he looks at me with confusion.
Seven.
Six.
“What?” he asks.
Four.
Three.
Two.
“I like Elias. Is that proof enough?”
One.
Happy New Year.
Lorenzo
I’m frozen, staring at Val standing in the kitchen. Her words repeat in my head a million times, and I’m unable to process. She likes him. She likes Elias. All this time, and I didn’t see it. My mind freezes, filled with thoughts.
I feel my body go cold. She wasn’t the blinded one. I was.
I try to say something. I try to do something, to move. To react. But I’m unable to. My body is filled with so many different emotions, it can’t decide which one to act on. Instead, I leave the room, heading outside. It was all wrong. I was wrong this whole time, and I didn’t see it. Shelikeshim. That’s why she acted weird around him, that’s why she kept trying to change my mind.
I head down the stairs, footsteps following me.
“Lorenzo, wait!” Val calls, but I don’t. I keep going forward until I’m outside. She follows and grabs my arm. “Lorenzo, please, I’ll explain.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? All this time, why didn’t you tell me you liked him?” I turn to her and ask. She stops, and we’re standing in the grass, still close to the hotel.
“I didn’t know how I felt. I was confused and I was denying it, because I didn’t want it to be true. But now I can’t, it’s too clear,” she explains.
“Is that why you were stressed? Because you didn’t want to like him?” I ask her.
“Lorenzo,” She utters in a low tone.
If it wasn’t because of Elias, then why? Why would she be so stressed and overwhelmed? “If not him, then why, Val?”
“Because of you, Lorenzo!” She cries, her voice high-pitched. I’m taken aback, a cold shudder going through my body. “Because you are the best person I’ve ever met, and you’re my best friend. I can’t kiss your friend like it’s nothing, I can’t do that to you. I can’t like him, it’s not fair. Because if I should like anyone in the world, it should be you. But it isn’t, and I fucking hate myself for it. I hate that it had to be him.” Her eyes tear up, turning into a light shade of red.
Me. That’s why she was worried and troubled. Because of me.
“That’s why you were in denial about loving him? Because, what, it inconvenienced me?” I ask. She nods her head lightly. “This was all because of me,” I mutter, more to myself than to her.
She shakes her head. “No, Lorenzo. You didn’t do anything wrong, it’s my fault. It was my fault from the beginning.”
“No, it isn’t. You were stressed from the kiss, because of me,” I tell her, agony lacing my voice.
“Not because of you, because ofme. Because I kissed Elias in the first place and I shouldn’t have. It was stupid, this whole thing is stupid because Elias and I will never be anything. I am stressing myself, not you.”
My heart is beating fast in my chest, and my face feels hot. Light snow starts falling from the sky. “Why? If both of you love each other, then why can’t you be anything?”
She presses her lips together. A tear falls down her cheek. “Because of you. Because no matter how much I love him, I can’t choose him over you. Because I owe you my life.”
