I don’t want him to think I’m a girl who will crawl her way back to him after a couple of days. He needs to know I’m strong. However, I wish I could take back some of the words I said that night. I was angry, and I feel so guilty. I hurt him badly, and I regret it now.
I’m sick—sick in love.
I place the book I’m reading down on my bed and sigh.
“I’m so fucked up,” I grit out to myself. “I can’t still be in love with him after all this.” I can’t. I would be naive and stupid.
I know myself. I’m not a girl who cares about fame. I like the idea of Leonidas not being famous more than knowing that he is. The thought of him thinking I would love him any less or use him makes me sick.
I always trusted him.
I hate the way I feel. Loneliness takes over my entire body as I just sit in my bed.
He made me so happy. I got used to that feeling. I got used to him being in my life. Now that I don’t have him, all the sadness I felt before him has come back full force.
At least then, I had Simba, but once again, the world loves to laugh at me.
My fingers fiddle with the edge of my book as I stare straight ahead at a dark corner of my room.
I flinch suddenly on my bed when a knock sounds on my window. “Holy shit!”
Eyes wide with shock, I place a hand on my chest.What the hell? Why have I been so jumpy lately?
I swear my heart stopped beating for a minute. Did I just see the heavens? I look around my room and laugh softly at myself. Nope, still down here.
I know it’s him. Who else would it be? No one else would be as crazy as Leonidas. Nobody has ever climbed a two-story house to see me. When I move the curtain back, I’ll see him for the first time in days.
Am I ready to see him, knowing I’ll leap into his arms?
No.
Another knock vibrates off the glass.
My hands sweat as nervousness takes over every bone in my body. Wiping my clammy palms against my legs, I swallow hard, shuffling closer to the window. My hands move aside my curtains. I know he won’t go away until I do so. I squint my eyes when the sunlight beams into my room.
I feel disappointment when I see Amelia and Elijah perched on my roof. They look at me like lost puppies. Making praying actions with their hands, they beg me with their eyes.
Damn, that always gets me.
“Please talk to us,” Elijah pleads through the glass.
I hold back a laugh when they press their faces against the glass, making their noses squish and leaving oil marks on my window.
If I leave them out there any longer, I’m afraid they’ll fall off the roof. I twist the lock, and my window pops open. Elijah and Amelia both let out sighs of relief when they step safely into my room. They stand in the corner of my room, and the air is tense and awkward. I back away toward my bed and freeze in my spot as they share a knowing look with one another.
“We love you, okay?!” Amelia practically yells, making me jump.
I look at her, wide-eyed, not expecting her to burst out like that.
“We didn’t tell you because we love you and we didn’t want to lose you.”
“You make us feel normal, and I know you probably don’t understand that, but we need you in our lives … especially Leonidas,” Elijah says. “You’re our best friend, and we wanted to protect you from our lives. Hollywood is not fun and games, Trinity. The last thing we wanted to make you feel is stupid. We didn’t laugh at you. We all love you for you,” Elijah says fast, and I have to pay attention to catch what he says. “We did what we did out of love.”
“Please love us back again,” Amelia says and pushes off the wall. She walks over to me and drops onto her knees. She whistles over to Elijah. His eyes widen in surprise. Getting down on his knees, they both plead, “Please forgive us? We love you.”
As I glance down at them, I have to fight the smile that’s begging to lift my face. They look so funny. For some reason, I feel I can find it in me to forgive these two easier. They were my friends. I wasn’t in a relationship with them. I didn’t give them everything I had to give.
I gave Leonidas my entire heart and soul, told him things that my mother would hate me for. I gave that all to him and nobody else. When I think about it, I always saw Amelia and Elijah glaring at Leonidas, like when I saw their tattoos. I know they wanted to tell me because they had nothing to lose. And Leonidas had everything to lose.
