Lana
Sure
And that’s that. I don’t know how to sound happier about it, at least not through text. I lock my phone and put it aside to resume my masterpiece. But my hand is in the air when I hear a loud engine approach, and I can’t decide if it’s relief or annoyance that makes me sigh.
I don’t hear the car pass, instead I hear it slow in front of my house.
This better be afucking.Joke!
I throw my blanket off my legs and stomp to my windows. A dramatic, extravagant car pulls into my driveway, the LED headlights blinding me even from up here, and the engine dies. The door doesn’t open. No one gets out and comes to my front door demanding my attention or conversation.
Instead, I see his dark shadow adjust his positioning in the driver's seat. I watch for another five minutes, and nothing happens. I suppose I have a guard dog now, not that it’s necessary in this town.
My blinds rap against each other when I release them, and I bite into my lip on my way back into bed.
His ego is bigger than…everything.
Four years later, Christian Calloway thinks he can just come back into this town and sweep me off my feet? Say sorry and all is forgiven?No. I won’t let that happen, I’m not a stupid twenty two year old girl anymore. He’s been gone for four years andlook at him!
Our worlds have never been more different. He’s…him. He has the car, the watch, the suits, and the shoes. I have a beaten up Jeep Wrangler that Antonio has to jumpstart for me every few weeks, only after trying to convince me to buy a new car. I have white sneakers that are now an entirely different color and I wear jeans that are almost five years old because I’m too attached. And they make my ass look great, but that isn’t the point.
Years ago, we fit perfectly. Two halves of a whole, both part of the same world. But then he left and we were living in two different worlds, in separate universes.
I did everything I could to make myself whole again. Most nights, I cried myself to sleep, and didn't bother to eat or shower. I’d given up. Then, when I thought I was better, I got bangs because, well… I was not exactly the sanest I’d ever been.
Before I get back into bed, my eyes scan the stacks of books on my bedroom floor. I find one of my favorite romance novels and pull it out of the towering stack. I haven't had the time to build bookcases, and I’m always too cautious with my spending—something I inherited from my mother. I hold the novel to my chest and take it with me as I sit on the edge of the bed. I open the thick paperback to chapter seventeen and find the black and white photo booth strip. The pictures clog my throat as I look at them now.
I was on his lap for these, his arms tight and secure around my waist as he held me to him. I never felt as safe as I did when I was next to him.
Kids are yelping and laughing, parents calling out theirnames. People scream from the fast rides and laugh on the spinning tea cups that we just got off of.
We’re still laughing, my mind spinning and legs wobbly.
“Come!”Christian’s hand pulls my mine.
“Wait, wait,” I laugh. “I’m still dizzy!”
Christian stops and squats. “Get on.”
I jump onto his back, wrapping my legs tightly around his waist and arms around his neck. I kiss behind his ear and he starts jogging.
“Where are we going?” I laugh, feeling my brain judder in my skull.
He doesn’t tell me, he only takes me through the town's annual summer carnival. I eat the last of the cotton candy left that we were sharing the past hour and throw the stick in the trash bin we pass. Children are laughing, lights from the rides are flashing, and my body fits so wonderfully with his.
“Christian!”
“We’re right here,” he says, flashing me a smile over his shoulder.
Christian slows down and stops at a photo booth with a red curtain. He squats, reaching back to hold onto me as I slide off his back. The muscles in my face are sore from all the laughing and smiling. He yanks open the curtain and sits on the narrow bench, waving me in. I question how we will fit, but he waves me in again with a bigger grin.
“Come, Lana.”
My cheeks are lit aflame as I step into the booth and he pulls me on to his lap, his teeth nibbling my neck and growing stubble tickling me. I’m gasping for air, trying to swat him off me to no avail. He shows me mercy with a soft kiss beneath my ear.
“I love you,” he whispers.
“I know,” I whisper back.
