Healing Takes Time

Chapter 35

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Chapter 35

I tucked my arms behind my head as I got settled in bed and stared up at the knots in the ceiling. Questions swirled in my mind. Was I really falling for Marco? I’ve only known him for a grand total of five days, but in that time, he’s shown me how to open up more, even if it’s only to my own thoughts, and that certainly wasn’t something to overlook.

Did love happen this fast? Could it? I didn’t believe in love at first sight, and I didn’t know about true love or soul mates or all that jazz. All I really knew was that even if I wasn’t in love with Marco, if he wasn’t in love with me, if we ended up breaking up a week from now, I knew that he was special to me. He was a small oasis that I had every selfish intention of keeping in my desert.

Of course I could live without him--if I couldn’t, that’d be a good example of an unhealthy relationship; being addicted to somebody is always bad--but he was just now showing me how to see the colors in life when I just assumed everything was black and white. No, I didn’t need him, but I wanted him so badly. I wanted to show him the old tree at my elementary school that I’d etched my name into. I wanted to take him to the Mississippi River during the sunset to watch the colors give his hair a coppery glow. I wanted to be there for him during his first day of school and hold his hand when he got nervous--or just be there to watch him flourish.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes. I guess love was just like every single other complex emotion: confusing. Should I tell him? Would he think I was crazy for saying something like that this early in our relationship? What if he didn’t feel the same way? Would he feel pressured to say it back if I told him?

“Quit it,” Eren mumbled from his bed. “You’re making too much noise.”

My pillow was squished to my face, and I realized that I must’ve been tossing and turning as much as my thoughts. “Sorry.” I rolled to my side and got comfy.

He grunted.

I let my eyes close. I could deal with my problems as they came. After all, he was going to be living down the street from me.

* * *

The man watched as the boy with the freckles kissed the other paler one on the forehead and followed the blond to their cabin. The pale one watched them leave. He had a soft, adoring look on his face. The one with the freckles bit his lip while he followed the blond as if he knew what the pale one was doing.

The man still wanted the freckled one. He knew he’d be wonderful to play with. He would’ve bet his left lung that the boy was a screamer. Oh, yes. How wonderful it would be when he could do what he wanted with this new little pawn.

He couldn’t have the boy here though. No, he’d already caused enough commotion with the other three. He couldn’t risk being caught, not when he wanted to desperately to know why this kid was so familiar.

Soon, he assured himself.

* * *

I sat on the dock and swung my legs, my feet skimming the water and throwing ripples in all directions. Marco bumped my shoulder with his, trying unsuccessfully to hide a grin. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked.

I wrinkled my nose and rubbed between my eyes. “I’m perfectly fine.”

“You went down pretty hard...”

“Yeah, yeah. You don’t have to remind me.” I flopped back and closed my eyes. The air was peacefully quiet again now that everybody had had a chance to water ski. Marco convinced me to do it too. Being the gloriously toned god he is, he managed to get up and make it look easy, making it all the way around the lake before gracefully sliding into the water when he returned. I got three tries, and each time I ended up with a nose-full of lake water.