When I woke up the next morning my head was pounding. The house was unfamiliar and quiet, and I stood quickly, having to steady myself against the wall to keep from falling over as my senses were overloaded by intense nausea. I took a moment to look around the room. I was alone, but I couldn't tell if that made me feel better or worse. Quietly opening the door, I slipped out into the hallway, trying to recall what happened the night before. My memory felt fuzzy and locked up, and my body was sore. I made my way slowly down the stairs, twisting my hair up on top of my head to keep the ratty mess out of my face.
In the living room, there were a few people sleeping still on the floor and on the couch. They all looked to be in various states of disarray and undress, most of the boys were shirtless, and some of the girls seemed to be too. I wa
I'm not sure what I walked in on when I found Shea in the hallway upstairs, but once Jacob was gone, and I went to check on her, the sound of her quiet sobs was heart-shattering. I scooped her up in my arms and found the nearest bedroom that I could get into. She clung to me fiercely, and when I tried to set her down on the bed her arms shot out around my neck, holding my body to hers."Shea," I said quietly, repositioning us so that I could hold her in my lap. "Shea, I need to know if he hurt you." Rage was building behind my eyes, and concern settled in my stomach, sending a type of panic through my veins that I wasn't used to. Part of me wanted to leave her up here and go find Jacob and punch him in the face. But I was glued to this spot, praying that I could do something to soothe Shea's soul-piercing sobs.
I sit alone, quietly, in the car waiting for Luke to come back out from the house. I did exactly as he said and locked the doors as soon as his back was turned. When I'm alone I have time to process the events of the evening thus far. I feel so small sitting in the old Taurus alone. My eyes sting and my face hurts after crying so hard. I can feel fatigue setting into my body, and I lean my head back closing my eyes.I don't know how long I sit in the car alone, the silence feels like it stretches out forever. I keep replaying Jacob's words in my head."My brother has told me some wild stories about your younger days."I felt the numbness creeping in, my chest w
Shea took my hand when I offered it to help her out of the car, and she didn't pull away from me when I kept ahold of her as we headed into my Aunt's old diner. When Eva and I were children, my other used to bring us here all of the time. Any time we went shopping at the big outlet malls or took a day trip to the zoo we always swing by her sister's diner on the way home.When my mom died three years ago, Ev and I still made it a habit to come out here as much as we could. As soon as we got our licenses almost every weekend we would come to have Sunday lunch with Aunt Rosie. Her diner felt like an extension of home, but almost always left me feeling a little sad. Right after mom died, and Eva and I would come, I could almost imagine hearing my mother sitting at the bar, gossiping with Aunt Rosie about family drama or the people that
"Taste of life?" I ask?"Yes, a little of everything. Sometimes the weirdest combinations make the best flavors. You need a little of everything to experience life at its best. You can't just expect to have the good stuff all of the time, sometimes you need the lows and the hard and the pain to appreciate the smoothness of the good things."My stomach clenches with a swirl of emotions that I don't dare sort through right now. I take another drink, savoring the flavors as they hit my tongue, each one completely different but together, completely satisfying.I think Rosie says something to us, but I am too caught up in the swirl of thoughts and emotions that I don't think I qui
"I think that's cool." She says quietly. "Okay, your turn."I don't know why, but tonight my normal inhibitions seem to have flown out the window. I wouldn't consider myself aloof or anything, but I don't normally spend my time playing 20 questions in a car with a pretty girl. It just has never been on my list of exciting things.But something about Shea makes me want to know everything about her. I've been trying to keep to myself for the last few months, denying any type of attraction or interest, but after almost 2 hours completely alone with her, I feel as though my hold on my control is slipping. I'm aware of my extremely poor timing, and I regret the way we got to this point. I wish more than anything I would have been there a moment earlier to spa
Tyler: Wat r u doing tonight?Shea: Probably studying... u?Tyler: There's a party on Campus, wanna go w me?Shea: It's a Thursday....Tyler: I'll pick you up @8... Be ready ;)It's been just over a week since I met Tyler at the party, before I left he put his number in my phone and has texted me almost every day sin
“Luke…”I roll to my back, trying to open my eyes through the sleepiness holding down my eyelids.“Hey, are you awake?”The voice sounds familiar, but I can’t quite place it.“Luke.”Shea.I sit up in bed, suddenly very awake, and very aware of the fact that I am shirtless and Shea is sitting on the edge of my bed.“Are you okay? What's wrong?” Shit, she looks so incredible. Her dark hair falls down her back in a mess of waves, and her torso is barely covered by one of my sister's tank tops. The bare skin of her shoulders and chest see
I woke in his bed. The sun is just starting to peak through the window of his bedroom casting a soft pink light. Luke is laying on his back, one arm behind his head, and the other is under mine. I realize I'm tucked into his tightly, his hand firmly across my hip, anchoring me in place. His face is soft and his breath is slow and deep. I don't want to move, for fear of disturbing him. I allow myself to lay next to him as memories of the night before flood my mind.I dont know what came over me. I woke last night with a horrible feeling crushing my chest. I really didn't remember what the dream was about but I felt sick and sweaty. On instinct I had woken Luke up. And once I was in his bed everything else faded away. I knew it was silly and irrational, and I knew the only reason I was probably having these feelings was because of last night; I just couldn't help it. His eyes looked so open, and the way he looked at me had my stomach in tense knots. I wanted to know a