Three Whole Words Only Eight Letters Long (Sequel to LCDD)

Chapter 66

Lizzie's POV

I swallowed as my pencil scratched over the page as I drew line after line of the view that I could see from my place on the couch by the window in the living area. The window gave an interesting view of the edge of the back garden with the beach in the distance and I'd decided that drawing might help rid me of the pain that had settled in my gut, but I hadn't had much luck yet. The pain was still a constant ache and it wouldn't go away.

     I'd had an uneasy sleep last night as well, having dream after dream which affected me in different ways, although when I woke this morning to see Oli wide awake and looking at me with circles under his eyes, the actual dreams had faded, leaving only heart racing fear, longing and pain in their wake. Something which had left an imprint on me all day, and so I'd decided to draw about two hours ago as a way to escape, but the conversation with Oli from last night kept drifting into my mind because I'd seen the pain on his features when he'd told me he knew what Adrian had said and that he understood how I was feeling. I'd hated hurting him like that, it had been horrible because Oli was such an amazing person and it wasn't fair to do this to him, even though I wasn't doing it on purpose.

     I felt the seat dip next to me but I concentrated on finishing off my drawing, especially since the tingling feeling on my left side told me that it was Adrian. My body reacted in strange ways whenever I was around him and it was unnerving but comforting as well as making me question and over analyse it too much lately.

"It's looking good Liz" Adrian stated when I placed my pencil down and turned to look at him, marvelling at how well he knew me by now to not interrupt me when I was drawing or writing. Then again I had snapped at people a few times before when they interrupted me so I guess Adrian was a fast learner and it had now become a habit for him. I smiled at him and nodded.

"Thanks" I replied and he grinned as I leaned my head against the back of the couch to look at him. He wiggled his eyebrows teasingly when he caught me watching him and I blushed which made him chuckle as I bit my lip at the fact that he'd made me blush. No one had made me blush in so long, except Josh a few nights ago.

     We stayed quiet for a while and I blinked when I felt the heat from Adrian's body pressing against me before I looked to see that my left side was pressed against his right. How had that happened? I looked up at him and saw that he was looking at his hands which were scrunched into fists as he frowned at them, which made me realise his hands were shaking. I bit my lip and covered one of his fists with my own hand, making my hand instantly warm and tingle. Adrian sucked in a breath before hesitantly relaxing his hand back to normal and capturing my fingers in his, making me sigh as my fingers slotted easily into his. I looked back up at him to see him watching me. He smiled at me and I swallowed the butterflies fluttering not only in my stomach but the whole of my body before I managed a weak smile and Adrian sighed.

"Are you okay?" he asked and I bit my lip. Did I lie to him and tell him I was okay? Or be honest and tell him what was on my mind, even though it may hurt him again? I opened my mouth to lie and he scowled at me.

"Don't Liz. We promised we would always be truthful with each other, even if it risked hurting the other" he shook his head and me and I frowned. How the fuck did he figure that out? He grinned at me.

"I read you a lot better than anyone else Elizabeth. I know what your facial expressions and your body language mean a lot of the time, plus I know how you react to a lot of things" he shrugged and I sucked in a breath.

"Well that's scary as fuck" I sighed and he breathed a laugh as I shook my head at him and frowned.

"And since we are being honest, not really no. I feel so horrible for this situation and putting you in this position. I hurt Oli last night because he heard you tell me how you felt and asked why I didn't set you straight about me and him being together, and it was obvious that he knew how I felt about you and it hurt to see his hopes shatter like that. God I'm such a bad person, none of you deserve this" I sighed, resting my head against Adrian's shoulder as I squeezed my eyes shut and Adrian tightened his hold on my hand.