Chapter 13///////////////////////////
I awoke in the middle of the night. The only way that I figured this out was because I glanced at the digital alarm clock planted on my nightstand. The moon was shining into my room. It gave me an eerie feeling, and I shivered. I closed my eyes and the nights’ events swept over my soul./
What had I done? How could I have been so stupid as to let this happen? The only man that I had ever loved was slipping through my fingers as sand would through a sift. My heart beat as I looked to the mobile phone resting on my stand. I ached to reach out and touch the cool metal, press the ‘call’ button with Drew’s name written on the screen, beg him to come back to me. But my hand stood still, and my eyes glazed over, trying to convince myself that this was all a freakish nightmare./
After about an hour, my eyes grew weary from staring into space, and the red brimmed eyelids eventually drifted into a fitful sleep. When I woke up, I saw the sun deigning through the glass panes, but I could still sense that awful feeling lurking in the walls. I started to breathe faster, and I clung to my arms, trying to free the chill that was ever present in my body. Would I ever recover from this? Would I ever be able to sleep? Would I ever get Drew back?/
The thought of my life without Drew seemed concave and unrealistic. I realized for the first time what it felt like to wake up in the morning without the sub-conscious feeling of seeing his smile. I couldn’t believe the impact that he’d made on my life, and I hadn’t realized it until it was too late. No, I suddenly balked at my lack of determination; I’m not going to give him up. He’s the best thing that has ever happened to me and I’m not going to just let him walk away without a fight./
I set my jaw and suddenly felt a spurge of hope. Drew knew me. He knew when I was lying and he knew when I was trying to hide something. The only way that I could convince him was to tell him the truth, and make him look me in the eye when saying it. I felt butterflies in my stomach as I thought about how hard it would be to get him to even regard me, much less stare deep into my eyes./
When the thought of Drew’s flashing green eyes, looking into my shy hazel ones, flashed into my mind, my skin crawled with delightful anticipation. I needed to see him. I needed to see him now.
Everything suddenly became a blur as I rushed around my room. I grabbed a pink tank top and pinned my bangs back, letting my wavy hair fall over my shoulders in a somewhat messy form. I chose a pair of light wash, jean shorts and slapped on casual flip-flops. After placing a touch of natural makeup on my tired face, I almost flew through my wall and was literally sliding down the stairs. I was in my car in a matter of seconds and the engine raved as I turned the ignition./
Ten minutes later, my car was parked and my legs were striding to the front door of the Willings’ brick house. I knocked on the door and waited. When there was no answer, I rang the doorbell. I was growing impatient and I wondered where everyone could be. After twenty more seconds of waiting, I gasped in exasperation and went to the closed garage door. I stepped onto my ‘tippy-toes’ and peered as best as I could through the semi-dusty panes. I saw Drew’s car resting in peace and I growled under my breath as I realized that he had been ignoring my knocking and ringing./
With four angry strides, I was inside of the Willings’ house and calling Drew’s name with a tint of annoyance in my voice. I heard no answer but I knew exactly where he was. He was in his room upstairs, and he would be lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. I strode up the stairs, two at a time, and found myself at his white door in a matter of seconds. I didn’t even bother to knock, because I knew that he would have locked it by now./
My hand reached for the doorknob and sure enough, it became clear that the doorknob had been locked in order to keep me out. “Drew!” I screamed at the wood. When I heard no answer, I pounded my fist onto the door and I groaned in despair. “Please talk to me, Drew. Please?” No answer./
“Fine!” I said to the door. “I know how to unlock this door, though, so I’m coming in!”/
I grabbed the handle and jiggled it up a few times then pushed up, and then down, left, right, and then wiggled it a few more times. I heard a click and, satisfied, I took a step into the room and saw exactly what I was expecting. Drew was looking at me, and the expression that he wore was almost enough to drive me down the stairs and back into my car, sobbing with pain. /
His eyes looked tired and lifeless; something that I had never thought or even wanted to see. I saw disappointment and utter rage twinkling in his eyes and Drew’s mouth was a hard line. I had never seen him without joy in his face, and it was a stunning change./
“D-Drew…” I started, taking a step toward him. My voice cracked slightly, and I looked at the floor, trying to clear my throat. “We need to talk.”/
“I don’t want to talk to you, Emma,” he muttered coldly beneath his breath./
I felt my blood boiling in anger and I felt like screaming. “Well, you’re going to talk to me Mr. I don’t care what you want at the moment, you,” I said storming over to his bed and grabbing his wrist, “are coming with me.” /
I yanked him out of bed, and to my surprise, he didn’t even object. I rolled my eyes and trudged down the stairs with fire.
A few minutes later, I was shifting my car into ‘drive.’/
“Where are we going, Emma? I don’t want to go anywhere. I don’t even want to see you right now,” he pouted. Wow, he was being such a baby. I didn’t even know that Drew could be this immature./
“Stop being childish, Drew Willings. You’re going to hear me out if it kills me.” I glanced over at his pouting face and smirked. “And that’s a definite possibility.”/
Drew glanced at me, but his cold eyes matched his face. No humor. I lost my smirk and focused back on the road. I made a series of twists and turns and then I parked. I looked before me and excitement played in my eyes. We were at Drew’s and my favorite park. /
I heard Drew groan as he realized what I was doing. “Stop complaining and get out of the car,” I said softly. He noticed the softness of my voice and I could almost see the wheels turning in his head, ‘maybe she’s telling the truth.’/
Without a word, Drew shut the door of the car and started walking toward the grass surrounded playground. He didn’t look at me, but I refused to let his spirits dampen mine. I walked closer to him and then grabbed his hand, interlacing his fingers through my own. I saw him peek at our connection. He tried to pull away, but I refused to let him. I shivered from my head to my toe since his skin was touching mine. Even though his hand was cold and lifeless, I clung to it as if it was the air I breathed. /
We reached a small nook surrounded by trees. I let go of our hands and skipped to the small bench on cobblestones. Plopping down, I grinned at Drew who was walking toward me as if I was an executioner. He sat down beside me without a word, and looked away, refusing to share this moment with me./
I shifted my weight and turned to him. “Remember when we first found this place, Drew? I had just gotten dumped by that loser…what was his name?” I said, pretending to forget. /
I saw Drew smirk, and I knew that this would work. “His name was John. How could you forget a name like John?” he laughed and looked at me for the first time today. I smiled in satisfaction and looked at him with love. His eyes had gained a little bit of their shine and when he realized that I had forced him to talk, he softened a little bit. /
“We came here because you were so upset about it,” he continued.
I nodded and clutched his palm. I felt his hand warm up at my touch, and I knew at that moment that I had a shot at getting him to believe me. “Yeah. And do you remember what you told me?”/
I saw Drew’s face flash with memories and he looked at me with a nostalgic frown. “I told you that anytime you needed to tell me something that all you had to do was call me and we’d meet here.”/
I nodded, loving the way that our hands fit. I loved the look in his eyes as I squeezed his hand gently. “Drew, I swear. I was trying to push Zach away. I mean it. He came into the café and he was trying to convince me to sneak around with him behind everyone’s back. I told him that he was crazy, and that’s when I realized that I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I recognized that I needed to tell the man that I loved how I felt. Well, I was thinking out loud when I said this, and I guess Zach thought that I was talking about him. /
He grabbed me and told me that he loved me too and started to feel me up. I’m guessing that’s when you saw me. Drew, I was going crazy after I scared Zach out of his senses by telling him that I never wanted to see him again. It seemed like my shift lasted for five hours instead of forty-five minutes. I couldn’t wait to tell you and then…” I stopped and looked deep into his eyes. I could see that he was apprehensive about my excuse, but random tears formed on my tear-ducts for some reason. I wiped them away, but kept my hand with his and our eyes connected. I could see him reasoning with my story, and I felt a drop of liquid suddenly break from its cage./
I didn’t even care that I looked like a fool. Tears were falling down my complexion. I didn’t even want to know how my body would react if he rejected me for life. I pleaded through my eyes as Drew looked at me. He suddenly started to smile a little bit and he placed a hand on my face. /
“You really scared a grown man out of his wits? What did you say?”/
I grinned with enthusiasm. “So you believe me?”/
Drew wiped a tear onto his own hand. “I didn’t want to at first, but then I realized that you probably wouldn’t go to all of this trouble to convince me. Especially take me here.” He looked at me and let out a small grin. “I’m sorry that I was being such a girl.”/
I giggled. “It’s okay. I’m sorry that I didn’t stop Zach from hanging around sooner. This is all my fault and I almost lost you.”/
“You would never lose me, Emma. I’d eventually come around. I would still love you, Em. No matter what happens, I’ll always love you.”/
“I love you, too, Drew,” I squeaked, trying to sound normal when in reality, my emotions were affecting my body./
Even though I was unbelievable happy, I still felt tears pouring forth from my eyelids. I half-sobbed, half-laughed; I had never been happier in my entire life! I reached forward and clung to Drew. His arms drew around me and he held me tighter than he had ever before./
My cell phone suddenly rang, and I jumped. I blushed when Drew laughed at me, but I dug my cell phone out of my pocket. It was a text from my mom, so I ignored it, but looked to Drew. “Hey, my mom’s probably worried that I went and jumped off of a bridge or something. I pretty much flew out of the house.”/
Drew laughed and I stood up, still hand in hand with my fiancé. I was more than ecstatic that I hadn’t screwed up my life. Relief washed over me as I started to walk away from the bench./
“Hey wait,” Drew called, tugging on my hand. I turned around and faced him with a question mark on my face. He had a mischievous glint in his eye and he suddenly yanked my body so that it was about half a centimeter away from his. I sucked in a breath and stared into his eyes. How I had missed that shine! I lifted the corners of my lips into a smile and I was suddenly gasping for air as Drew clashed his lips onto mine./
He kissed me with such force, such passion, that I smiled against his lips. I placed a hand on his face and the other around his neck. Drew grabbed my waist and slung his arm around my back. He drew his head back from my face and the look he gave me got my head spinning. He smiled at me with a certain light in his eyes; a glow that I have yet to see bested. I gulped and shook with love. It was flying about in my body, and I was finding it hard to breathe…/
“I love you Em,” Drew murmured. It made me weak./
“I-I-uh,” I stuttered. I couldn’t speak when he looked at me like that.
| 
Email this Novel
| 
Add to reading list
