Can't Love You {Sequel to "Not Sherlock Holmes"}

Chapter Sixteen

Veronica's POV

-Flashback-

I stayed up that whole night, thinking about the kiss. What it meant. How it made me feel.

It made me feel wonderful.

But I couldn't read Ian's eyes. What had the kiss meant for him? What had he felt?

I won't lie: I've toyed with the idea of dating Ian before. He's wonderful, and he's my best friend, and he knows me so well. But I never felt that we were ever going in that direction in our relationship. We laughed together, and we could tell each other secrets, but he didn't give me butterflies like-

Well, you know.

Martin comes into our room late, and he falls on his cot on the other side of the room. I know he must want to sleep, but I want to talk.

"Martin?" I whisper as I stand, clutching my blanket to my body. He looks up and squints into the darkness.

"Nica?" I join him and sit next to him on his blankets. "What is it?"

"Nothing, I just... wanted to talk," I whisper.

Martin and I have become much closer these last few weeks. We talk late into the night and comfort each other, since we're both still dealing with Benedict's loss.

"About what?" I decide not to bring up Ian just yet.

"When are we going to go look for your family?" His brow furrows.

"If I could, I'd be out there now, but that's not practical. Hopefully after this awful weather goes away. Maybe by then, things will sort of go back to normal." I nod.

"That sounds good," I say absently. He rests his hand on my arm.

"Is everything alright?" I shrug.

"Not sure. I'm having weird feelings." Martin nods his understanding.

"It's Ian, isn't it?" My eyes widen.

"How did you know?" He chuckles under his breath.

"I'd have to be blind not to see the way he cares about you."

"But I don't know how I feel, Martin!" I groan.

"Are you telling me you've never been clued into Ian's ridiculously obvious crush on you until now?" I blush and nod. "You're the blind one."

"Shut up!" I scold playfully, and he grins.

"Ben would want you to move on."

"Awww, why did you have to bring him into this?" He holds his hands up in surrender.

"I'm only saying!"

"Yeah, well next time, don't!" He's smiling, but there's something behind that smile.

"Remember, Ben would want you to move on, but he wouldn't want you to be with Ian just to hurry the process. That isn't fair to Ian."

"I know. I just... don't really want to deal with this all right now. I mean, it's the apocalypse." I say it so casually that it's laughable. "My priority should be surviving. Not relationships and... stuff."

"I understand. And I think Ian would, too. Explain that to him." I beam at Martin.

"I will."

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I wake up this morning, and there's a small piece of paper next to my things. It looks like it was ripped from a book. I pick it up and slowly unfold it.

It reads: I will wait for you.