The Touch

Chapter 20 - Slade's story, Lacey

What happened to make her back away from me? The connection that we have is something I haven't had with anyone else before, not even Calley. I knew that she felt it too, so what happened tonight?

I paced back and forth in my room. It was driving me crazy. One minute I was kissing the girl of my dreams and the next she backs away as if she is a completely different person.

Did I pressure her too much? Did I come on too strong? I felt like I was going crazy trying to work it out. For the first time in a very long time I had found someone I cared for more than I could put in words and it wasn't anything to do with what the diary had said about her. From the moment I saw her I felt like a magnet and I was drawn to her. It was more than something physical, even though that kiss had proven that what I knew all along was true. There was something different about Lacey, something I had never encountered before. We were connected to each other and I knew she felt the same.

Maybe I moved too fast. I mean, we have only known each other basically a day and I was already turning up on her doorstep at night like some freaking stalker. I had to take it slow, although I wished that I could see her right now and tell her that whatever it was that she was holding back from me I would wait until she was ready to tell me. Whatever it was I knew that it must be big enough for her to shut down on me like she did. It was as if one minute I had soft warm Lacey in my arms and the next there was someone who was stone cold in front of me.

I walked over to the window and opened it to get some cool air into the room. Maybe I needed to cool down a bit and think logically.

Looking outside I saw that the night was pitch black and the lamps lining our driveway shone a dull warm yellow hue on the driveway below. One of the lamps outside our house was further up the driveway and when I looked harder I could just see someone standing underneath it. They were looking straight at the window towards me and it looked like it was a woman. She saw me looking at her and we stared at each other for what was probably only a few seconds before she moved outside of the lamp light. Then I heard a car start and I saw rear lights of a car move slowly away from the street.

I didn't recognise her but she looked older then my father was. I would have to ask my father tomorrow if he knew anyone that would have been looking at our house, but for now I had to go to bed. In a few hours I would see Lacey again and I had to try and ask her what had happened. I didn't want to pressure her and all I was really hoping for was the same Lacey I had kissed last night to be there tomorrow, not the one who had walls up around her.

The morning couldn't come soon enough.