Page 22 of Be With Me

Did that mean what I thought it meant? “So, yes?”

After a slight pause, she nodded.

I sucked in a great lungful of oxygen. I didn’t think I’d taken a full breath since we’d left the coffee shop, but at her answer, I felt like I was about to float away. I didn’t know what made her change her mind, but I’d take it. “Great! Awesome. I’ll call you. Okay?”

She tried to smile. It faltered a little at first, before widening into something that was true. “Okay. Fine. Dinner. That’s it.”

The rain started to fall again, a little more in earnest this time, so I cupped either side of her face and dropped a kiss on her soft cheek. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

She stared at me for a few seconds, nodded, turned, and walked slowly into the building. Inside, she glanced back through the glass. Her lips parted when her eyes landed on me, and I could only imagine the raw need she must have seen on my face. It was a risk, showing her the angst in my soul. I should have schooled my features. Hid this worrisome need I had for her. But I didn’t. I let her see it.

She stared at me, her chest rising and falling with her quick breathing, before she pressed her lips together, giving me a little wave before she turned on her heel and strode away.

I returned the wave, though she didn’t see me, and waited until she was out of sight before I made my way to the bus stop to catch my ride home.

Halfway there, the world went woozy and pain lanced through my temples. My vision faded in and out, and I stuck out a hand, looking for something to steady myself.

Fuck.

Fuck!

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