AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sure.”
“Maybe you should learn to be alone without beinglonely.You can be sitting next to your favorite people in the most crowded city in America and feel so lonely your heart breaks. Until you are comfortable with yourself, Lucy, you will always be lonely.”
I get it now, why they say the truth hurts.
I also get that the nursery rhyme about sticks and stones breaking your bones, but saying that words will never hurt is complete bull. Dr. Marsh changes the subject and asks me more questions for the rest of our session, until it’s been an hour and I’m released. I walk past the Hollywood receptionist again, but she still doesn’t look up at me. I get out to my car before I pull my phone out of my purse and read the text from Wyatt.
Wyatt:Are you busy tonight?
I stare at the text until my heart starts to beat normally again. I know what Dr. Marsh just told me was true—I do need to figure out how to be independent and comfortable being alone by myself. But I don’t need to figure it all out in one night.
Lucy:Nope, why?
I toss my phone back in my purse and start my car. I’m heading to a local coffee shop downtown, since I took off the rest of the afternoon. I have therapy twice a month, on Fridays, and since I started working, I try to schedule the latest appointment I can so I’m not missing too much work. I’m giving myself until December—until the one-year anniversary of my dad’s death—before I start cutting back on my therapy sessions. Hopefully I’ll be less screwed up by then.
My phone beeps again, but I’m still driving, and I make it a point to not look at my phone when I drive. Death may be inevitable, but I’m not going to try and rush it along by getting in a car accident. I’m almost to the coffee shop when it starts to ring, and, because my Bluetooth is connected to my car, I answer it.
“Hello?”
“I think my sister is trying to kill me,” Wyatt whispers into the phone.
I laugh. “Why are you whispering?”
“Because I am convinced she’s got, like, superhuman hearing or something.”
“What did she do?”
“It’s not so much what she did, but more of what she’sgoingto do.”
“I’m confused.”
I hear some shuffling, like Wyatt is switching the phone to another ear. I pull into the coffee shop and park.
“She wants to get her own apartment.”
I get out of my car and start walking toward the coffee shop. I hope it’s not busy, I had planned to sit inside for a while and read.
“Why is that going to cause your immediate death?” I ask.
Wyatt sighs heavily. “I told you she goes to UNCG, right? She’s a sophomore there, and she’s been living in a dorm with a friend since freshman year.”
I pull the door open and step inside. “Yeah, you told me.”
“Right, well next year, for her junior year, she wants an apartment.”
“Wyatt, that’s forever away. She’s twenty, she’ll probably change her mind a million times between now and then.”
“I doubt it, once she makes her mind up about something, she sticks to it.”
“Would she live alone or with a roommate? Does she have a job to afford the rent and utilities of an apartment?”
“Her and a few friends would get the apartment, so they’d split rent and cost of utilities. There’s a complex not far from campus that’s full of mostly college students, or kids that just graduated.”
I walk up to the counter and smile at the barista. “Wyatt, hang on a sec. Hi, can I get an iced vanilla latte with oat milk please?”
“Sure, what size?” the girl asks.
“Large, please.”
