A Righteous Love

Chapter Twenty-Three - I Really Wanna See You Happy

Chapter Twenty-Three - "I Really Wanna See You Happy"

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With December already under our belts, that meant there was only one week until winter break. Christmas fell on a Friday, so we had a half day of school on the Tuesday before. But for the most part, that didn't even phase my classes.

A lot of people stopped caring about school, and everyone was preparing for college applications, university visits, open house trips and all else that came along with your senior year of high school. It scared me to see all the people I'd known for so long excitedly say that they were ready to get out, but I guessed that was part of growing up.

Me? I'd enjoy this time as much as I possibly could while I was still a kid.

As the last bell of the day rang, my friends and I all walked outside to the parking lot together. I spotted my white beauty sitting between a mini-van and an obnoxious Porsche, the lights blinking when I pressed the unlock button on my keys.

My heart stopped when I realized there was a person leaning on the driver door. And once I recognized him, my fingers rolled themselves into the palms of my hands, clenched in pure aggravation.

He looked like he belonged there. As if he waited at my car for me every day like it was a normal thing. How could he do that?

Arms crossed and eyes locked on his feet, I could hardly contain my anger as I started to march over to him when Justin grabbed onto my shoulder.

"Do you want me to talk to him?" He spun me around, concern clearly written in his expression.

I shook my head quickly. "No, I'll handle it," I said, glancing over at Ashley for a moment as she offered me a pained look. "I don't want you guys to get involved. I can do it."

"Fine," Justin approved with a certain strained quality to his voice. "But if anything happens, I'll be right here."

It took me a moment to gather my thoughts, and when I did, I gave Justin a short nod and sucked in a deep breath through my nose. I didn't realize that I held it in the whole time I took cautious steps to my car. My body responded by letting it out dramatically and definitely in an unflattering way when I came just a few feet short of Chase McCarthy.

"Just when I thought I was free," I remarked sarcastically. "I can't get away from you, can I?"

"Please, I need to talk to you," Chase pleaded; just like every other conversation we had in the past couple of months.

"We already talked," I blurted out, crossing my arms over my chest in an attempt to lessen my vulnerability.

He took one long stride closer to me, which caused me to take one back. That is, until I bumped into the side of the mini-van that was in the next parking space.

Damn you, mini-van.

He had me boxed in, unable to escape. I wanted to tear my gaze away from his eyes, but I couldn't.

"Lindsay, seriously," his voice dropped to a low whisper now.

"No."

He flinched a little at that, but quickly composed himself again. I think the both of us were surprised at how stern my voice came out.

"I want to apologize," he ignored it and continued on with his usual speech. I gritted my teeth together at how soft his plea was, keeping my glare on him. "I-I shouldn't have said those things to you. I was really angry and I'm still hurting. I can't think about anything else but getting on good terms with you."