Airel - Aaron Patterson [25]
“Well I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“Thanks, Daddy.”
How could I explain the things in my life that I had chosen to keep private? Not just to Dad, but to anyone at all? The most perfect boy I had ever met was digging on me like I was chocolate cookies or something. How crazy was that? And I was getting sick at random times for no good reason.
Now, as my dad curled his strong arm around my shoulder, taking me toward the car, all I could think about was how I was glad he had paid for my kickboxing lessons. At least I had some kind of self-defense training.
As we walked out, I remembered Kim saying something about taking the guys back to their truck and that she would bring my car over later. I knew there was no way she was staying at her house tonight, not with her Airel having gone through hell today. We had a lot to talk about.
Chapter XIV
Monday. It was never a good word. The day that came along with it looked to be living up to its name. I looked at the clock. Two AM... great. I was lying in bed with my eyes open, unable to fall asleep. The cool night air drifted in through the crack I had left in the window and made me shiver. I pulled the covers tighter around my neck.
Kim was in the guest bedroom, passed out. We had made up for lost time after all that movie theater craziness, watching nothing but girl movies all weekend and eating pizza and popcorn like—well, like a couple of football players, I guess. Maybe the only difference was the tissue, the tears, and the lack of a blue dart contest. Guys are seriously gross.
All of these thoughts came to rest on Michael Alexander, inevitably. I had to face facts. I was pretty tangled up around the idea of him being in my life. And the romance—or the—well, I couldn’t say love yet, but whatever it was, it was putting down roots in my heart. I didn’t feel there was anything I could do about it, even if I wanted to. I was so anxious to find out what was going to happen between us that I was actively trying to shut up whatever alarm bells I heard in my head. Michael was perfect. For me, I mean.
I don’t know if there’s the one out there for me. I always thought that idea was pretty corny anyway. So many of my friends were so hung up on their idea of the one guy that they were seriously having some issues with reality, just waiting to be found by destiny or whatever. I always thought that was pretty weak. I felt like I was meant for more than that. Like I was made to be more. I can’t explain it, I just knew it. I didn’t have any idea what part Michael might play in it, but I couldn’t help being drawn back to him in my heart and in my thoughts all the time.
I could hear Kim snoring in the next room. I had to laugh at her. I was giving her a hard time for crying at one of those girl movies yesterday, and she chased me into the bathroom with a bowl of popcorn. It was then that I had noticed my skin. I was really starting to grow up into a woman... somebody lovely. It was amazing, really. I didn’t know if this was how it was supposed to go but I was really digging the results. My skin was clearing up and causing me to do a double take on myself in the mirror. It couldn’t be real.
None of it could be real. I mean, it almost made me angry, thinking about it. I couldn't get the events of the weekend out of my mind. It was like a bad movie that I couldn't help replaying over and over, no matter how much I hated it. I guess it was just another turn on the rollercoaster of my life for the past week or so. It was starting to get really crazy and if it kept up, I didn’t know what I might do.
He looked right at me. Talking to myself at two in the morning wasn’t helping things. The thought of that tall killer was creeping me out the more I