Me and my Shadow | ✓

Chapter 15

The next few weeks went by at the blink of an eye.

Eric and I were better than ever and Layla was still my number one best friend. We felt like we ruled the school, in a way. Every day as we walked the halls, all the other students just gazed at us, wondering where the three of us came from.

Of course, I had been going to that school for a while now, it's just that nobody seemed to notice me until I started spending time with Eric and Layla. I didn't care though. I'm so happy to finally feel like I belong somewhere, and that people other than my mom and brother care about me. 

Can you keep a secret?

I've spent the night at Layla and Eric's house probably every other weekend, and well, I've never used the guest room. Or Layla's room, for that matter.

Insert seductive wink.

I know what you're thinking, but let's keep our minds out of the gutter. Nothing had happened past kissing and cuddling. I never knew how wonderful it could feel to sleep beside someone and feel their warmth as it consumes your entire body throughout the night. His arms were never gone from my waist and his breath was always slightly beating against my neck. Whenever he presses me against his chest, I would feel his heartbeat, and it was the most amazing way to fall asleep.

I had never met someone before in my entire life, who understood me the way that Eric Daines had. Well, besides Layla of course.

Layla and I had also grown closer. We tell each other everything and we're always together, apart from my alone time with Eric. I try my best to include them both in my lives as much as possible, so the other doesn't feel left out. It's a hard task, but so worth it. These two have changed my life in ways I could never repay. Without them, I would be nothing still.

I never want to feel like nothing ever again.

+++

"Babe, I told you, I don't eat tomatoes." Eric said as he scrunched his nose upward in disgust.

Grocery shopping with your boyfriend was definitely an adventure. Rachel gave us a list and told us to be back at their place in an hour. I love my relationship with his mom. She reminds me so much of my own mom that it's almost scary.

"You're so picky, Daines!" I rolled my eyes. I put the tomatoes in the cart anyway, because they were on his mother's list. I wasn't about to get yelled at for my boyfriend, no matter how cute he was.

"Ah, but that's one of the many reasons why you like me so much, Collins." He batted his eyes girlishly, and skipped to the next aisle.

Sigh, I do like him that much.

In fact, I may even lo-, wait, what am I saying?

Anyway.

"Do you really need a forty pack of Welch's gummies?" I glared slightly as he tossed them into the cart with a huge smile on his face, nodding excessively.

"I swear, sometimes you're such a child." I laughed as he kissed my forehead in return.

"Wanna put me in time out later?" He wiggled his eyebrows and winked, causing my face to turn slightly pink.

"Shut up, we're in public!" I tried to say in a hushed tone. He knew I wasn't big on PDA, and he always did whatever he could to purposely make me uncomfortable in public, playfully, of course. He wasn't an asshole about it.

He's so sweet, I know. Sarcasm.

"Relax, no one heard us. Take a chill pill." He laughed, and I couldn't help but burst with laughter myself in reference to my anxiety medication. He does take it seriously, but if we couldn't laugh at our hardships, what could we laugh at? I liked to believe that keeping a little bit of laughter in a world full of hardship, could eventually result in a better place to live.