Page 78 of Red Snow
“Yeah, that kind of threw a wrench in my plans.”
“Well, I’m here now. Believe it or not, I’ve been wanting to talk to you, too.”
As much as I want to jump for joy at her admission, I suddenly feel all the eyes in the room staring at us, listening to our conversation.
“Okay, well I think now is the best time to talk,” I say. “But this isn’t the best place. So, let’s take a walk.”
“Okay,” Stacey replies with a smile.
We walk out into the hall and start walking to nowhere in particular. I think about what I wanted to say to her before all of the drama, but now that she’s here, I’m not sure how to start. Luckily, it’s Stacey who speaks up first.
“So, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, Jarrod,” she starts off. My first thought is that she’s about to ask me for closure the same way I was going to ask her for it. I take a deep breath and prepare myself. “I’ve had plenty of sleepless nights from thinking about it, and after I heard what happened to Marcus last night, it really brought things into perspective for me.”
We reach the end of the hall and Stacey stops walking so she can look me in the eyes.
“The last time we were together, I told you I didn’t want you to call me. I was trying to move on from you, and I thought that night was going to give me the closure I needed. But it didn’t. The truth is, I don’t think I can ever have closure when it comes to you, because just thinking about never talking to you again makes me physically sick. I just can’t imagine it. You mean too much to me, and I was wrong for trying to act like I could just move past you. I can’t do that, and there isn’t one part of me that wants to.”
I feel hot all over as I listen to her. She has tears in her eyes, yet she still looks like an angel.
“What are you saying, Stacey?” I ask
“I’m saying I need you in my life,” she answers, to my surprise. “I know both of us have a lot going on right now, and maybe we’re not in the right place to actually be together, but I have to have you in my life, even if it’s just as friends. I miss your smile, your sense of humor, your face. Even being in the room with you and Marcus for only a few minutes reminds me of how good it feels to be around you. I’m not saying we’re getting back together, because I still don’t think we’re in the right place for that, but I know I don’t want to go another day without having you in my life. So, if it’s okay with you, I’d really like to be friends.”
A smile forms on my lips and refuses to go away. “Just friends, huh?”
Stacey smiles back. “Yeah, just friends.”
“You sure that’s all you want?”
“Don’t even start,” she says behind the most adorable giggle. “Are you cool with that, or what?”
“You already know I am,” I reply, and she responds by immediately pulling me into a hug. I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t feel like the most awesome thing in the world. I’d also be lying if I said I didn’t smell her hair. I don’t even know why I do it, but even her scent makes me happy.
“Good,” Stacey whispers into my ear. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
We hug for what seems like a full five minutes before finally peeling apart.
“Alright,friend,” I say, still smiling. “What do you say we go back in there and make fun of Marcus for lying in that bed with roses at his feet.”
She giggles again as we turn to walk back down the hall. “Sounds like a plan.”
