Page 77 of Love is Strange
But now she knows.
She understands how I feel every time she banishes me away from her presence because I’ve pissed her off or upset her in some way and she needs some time away from me to get her head back on straight.
I feel like I can’t breathe—like it’s a pain that will never go away—and now she understands.
I’ll care for her until I decide I’m tired of living in a quiet place because I want her to know she’s loved, even after she takes her last breath. I’ll love her more than ever because then I’ll know we’ll never be apart.
There will never be anything I can say to her or do to her that will make her angry ever again.
A few more moments pass before she finally stops struggling against me and I let her body go. She falls into the recliner and I smile at her beautiful face. She didn’t die in pain and that’s all that matters to me.
I lean down and place her hands on either side of the armrests, push her legs together, and brush her hair out of her face.
I love Ella and now she’ll be mine forever.
Just like I always promised her.
Burnt Embers
ALLY VANCE
Chapter One
EMBER
“Oh my God,your brother is so fucking weird, Casey,” I whisper to her.
I caught him watching me from across the living room where we were lying on the floor with our homework books laid out in front of us. I’m pretending to be annoyed, but I can’t help being drawn to his dark and brooding looks with his double lip rings, eyebrow piercing and nearly black hair that flops in his face. We couldn’t be more opposite, but that only makes me want him more.
I feel myself start to blush under his scrutiny, so I bury my head back into the calculations in front of me. I sigh because I can’t concentrate now. I’m not one of those girls who is typically distracted from their studies by boys, but something about Ash draws my eyes to him whenever he walks past me or walks into a room in Casey’s house.
She looks at me and seems to be fighting back a smile at how red I’ve gone before she turns to him and says, “Ash, fuck off. We’re trying to work, and my girl can’t concentrate when you’re staring at her ass like that.”
Kill. Me. Right. Fucking. Now. Casey didnotjust say that to him. I'm totally mortified, so I bury my head in my hands and try to sink through my books into the floor. It doesn’t work, and now she's cackling like a loon next to me. I love her, but she's soooo embarrassing!
I hear Ash’s deep chuckle from the other room and then his voice, which feels like it’s coating me in warm honey, “I wasn’t looking at her ass. Don’t be so crude little sister.”
“You so were!” Casey calls back, her voice high with laughter, “Wasn’t he, Em?”
I splutter, “I don’t know! Oh my God, why do you do this to me? I swear I’m going to kill you if you don’t shut up.”
I’m going to actually kill her when we get upstairs because she does this all the time. I think she knows I have a crush on Ash, but it’s not just Ash. Any guy I’ve been interested in since we started high school, she’s teased me about. I know she thinks I’m weird because I don’t go for the nerdy types like myself, and honestly, I don’t know why either. Casey is the laughter to my silence, the life and soul of our friendship, and I wouldn’t ever change what we have. She’s my best friend and like a sister to me. If only her being like a sister to me meant I saw Ash as a sibling. But I can’t see him as anything other than my best friend’s hot brother. A guy I have secretly wanted since I was fourteen, and he was eighteen.
When we finally get up to Casey’s room, I close the door and flop down on her bed, mumbling threats under my breath while she giggles at my expense.
“Em, you know he’s twenty-one and leaving for college again soon, right?” Casey says, suddenly a bit more serious.
This girl gives me severe whiplash at times, but I turn and smile softly at her. “I know, and besides, I doubt he would be interested in doing anything anyway. I’m seventeen, Case, and he isn’t stupid.”
She comes and sits next to me, putting her arm around my shoulders, and I lean into her as we get lost in our thoughts. I know she means well and is just teasing when she does that, and I know she's only looking out for me. I’m sure she's probably mortified that I have any interest in Ash at all. I hug her back, smiling because it’s just a crush, which I'm never going to act on.
He's leaving again for college soon, and I will have moved on from here before he comes back. College is a year away, and I’m not going to even think about guys until then. I need to keep up my grades and focus on graduating at the top of my class, so I can do what I’ve always wanted and get into college to study art and architecture.
We spend the rest of the night curled up on her queen-size bed watching movies. Our serious moment is long forgotten as we lose ourselves in the story on the screen and talk about school and our upcoming exams. This year is going to be tough, and we both need to buckle down and get stuck into our studies.
Casey falls asleep about halfway through the movie, but I don’t turn it off. I just sit there staring at the TV and not really seeing or hearing anything. All I can think about is dark hair, lips that curve up in a smirk, and metal lip rings and how they would feel pressed into my skin if he kissed me. I drift away to thoughts of Ash’s deep blue eyes and the way they watch me with unwavering intensity.
Chapter Two
