Page 130 of The Last Man on Earth
And just like that, I’m doing a ridiculous dance on the lawn, laughing, spinning, feeling silly as fuck. But underneath the silliness, I feel lighter. Happier. Alive.
Chapter 62
Ari
Ashara walks right inmy room with a box of tissue and sits next to me on the bed. She waits quietly while I finish crying, just letting me be. When I’m done, she gathers up the used tissues and throws them away.
“What’s wrong?” she asks as she returns to her spot on my bed.
“I don’t know,” I admit.
She nods and gives me a look I recognize from childhood—gentle, patient, determined. “Well, I’ll be honest. Things feel different now,” she says. “You seem different.”
“How?”
She shrugs. “It feels like there’s distance between us now. It…it kinda hurts, honestly.”
“I’m sorry, Shar. I don’t know how to fix it.”
“Maybe it’s not for you to fix,” she says. “Maybe it’s my fault, I don’t know. I just feel like I can’t do anything right. Even Daddy cussed me out.”
I chuckle softly. “Yeah, that surprised me, too.”
“We were so close.”
“We’re still close,” I say. “It’s just…being on that island did change me, I guess. Maybe I’m still dealing with it.”
She nods.
“It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong. Maybe I’m just not ready for surprises and a bunch of people. It was overwhelming, that’s all.”
She smiles. “Vincent said that, too.”
“You meant well,” I say. “I appreciate it. I’m grateful.”
She tilts her head. “What can I do? I wanna understand what you’re going through.”
“I don’t think that’s possible.”
Her shoulders sag a bit, and it makes me sad. I swear, if I could be conjoined with that girl, I would. I love her more than life itself. I just don’t know what to say to her. I’m not sure I can even articulate how I’m feeling.
“You’ve never been closer to somebody else than you are to me. Until now.”
“Who, Vincent?”
She gives me a look. “Obviously.”
I’m stunned by this revelation. I stare at my mirror image and think about the fact taht it never even crossed my mind that she might be jealous.
“And I’m not jealous,” she quickly says, making me laugh. “I’m just not used to being second.”
“I’mthe one who's second,” I remind her. “Actually, I’m fourth.”
“Yeah, but we’re not talking about you, we’re talking about me.”
We share a laugh at that.
“I like him for you,” she says.
