Page 118 of Happy Hour

“Do you pay attention to anything?”

“I do when it makes sense.” I chuckled. “That didn’t make sense.”

“You’re a fucking idiot and I’m ninety nine percent sure, you’re not my child.” He chided returning to his whiskey. “You don’t even look like me.”

Could I have it all?

My plan was to see Charlie, sign the transfer paperwork, find Sway, tell her I’m sorry and then beg her to take me back.

I wouldn’t beg her to take me back as my friend with benefits though. I wanted more. I wanted her to be my girlfriend and eventually my wife.

Okay, well now you’re getting ahead of yourself there sport.

First, get her to forgive you for being the President of Dick’s International. Then you can think about marriage.

I didn’t care though. If Sway said marry me right now, I’d fly to Vegas and do it tonight.

I didn’t care any longer that we lived across the United States from each other, or that we might not see each other very often. Ihadto be with her, only her.

If these last three weeks or these last twenty-four hours had taught me anything, it was that I loved Sway more than anything. And at this point, I would stop at nothing to prove that to her. She needed me whether she knew it or no.

Or at least she was going to need me soon and I would be there for her.

Looking back to all the times I thought I didn’t need her seemed so stupid now. It wasn’t that Iwantedto be alone. I honestly believed no one everwantedto be alone in life. But I was scared in the beginning.

What if I laid it all out there and she didn’t feel the same way?

Then what?

What if it didn’t work out and she wasn’t my friend anymore?

The heartbreak and not having her around wasn’t something I could deal with, after Daytona was a prime example of that. Losing Sway was not an option.

I could have it all.

With Sway, we could have it all. I’ll prove it and if there is one thing I’m good at, it was proving something I believed in.

I realized what had changed within me after she left.

The truth was, I’d give it all away to have someone love me for me and feel the way I felt during those three weeks.

Was that really so much to ask for?

Well, probably, but I didn’t care anymore. I wanted more than just a taste.

12.Firewall–Sway

Firewall – This is a solid metal plate that separates the engine compartment from the driver’s compartment of a race car.

In my twenty-two years I realized a few things—some simple, some not. The most important, your life can change on you in an instant and in some unexpected ways.

The change is often unanticipated, never prepared for and the outcome is typically never what you’d hoped. Soon you find yourself trapped in the shattering aftermath, struggling to piece the broken and blurred edges of your life back together. Some people run from it, causing further damage. Some endure it, and well, some hide from it fearing the unknown or the change itself.

Personally, I’ve never been one to run from anything in life. Charlotte was a prime example of that. Throughout most of my life, I’ve had a do or die attitude about most everything.

To hear that my father was dying of brain cancer was almost too much to tolerate with an already broken heart. I was sure therapy could only help so much before medication would be my only answer.

I sat there in the living room of our home while Charlie and his girlfriend, Andrea, told me he was dying.

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