Strong Like Me by Laurel Veil

Author:Laurel Veil [Veil, Laurel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-06-26T05:00:00+00:00

Somehow, I made it through the rest of the party. It was midnight now. Before every guest even left, I changed and went out to see Bear. I carried a blanket with me. I planned on staying the night in the barn. It was so quiet once the last car finally drove away.

I spread my blanket over a large haystack that was near the barn and looked up into the sky. I could see the stars now. I watched them until I drifted off.

Footsteps woke me a short while later. I was careful not to make a sound. I watched as a silhouette stepped toward Bear’s stall and extended its arm. Whoever it was, it was feeding Bear an apple.

“Jay?”

He flinched. “Jess! You almost gave me a heart attack.”

I suddenly remembered I was mad at him. “What are you doing here?” I snapped.

He stepped forward and sat down next to me. “I was worried about you. I was actually hoping I might catch you out here.”

“Where’s your date?”

“We rode here in her car with a group of her friends. I told her I didn’t feel good, and she was more than happy to leave me behind. I think they had plans to continue the party somewhere else. I didn’t want to go. I figured I would either walk home or call my cousin to come get me if I couldn’t find you.”

I visualized them saying goodbye with a kiss, and it made me burn.

“How can you like someone like Ava anyway? She’s such a b—”

“I don’t,” he cut me off. “I wanted to come. I wanted to see you. You wouldn’t invite me.”

I suddenly felt very stupid. “Oh.”

He removed his jacket and loosened his tie. We looked at the sky together in silence.

“You never mentioned to anyone what happened with my parents the other night, did you?”

He shook his head. “Why would I?”

“I didn’t think you would.”

“Then why did you ask?”

I looked down. Why was it so hard to look him in the eye now?

“You have a hard time trusting people.”

I turned away from him and he dropped the subject. He didn’t push. I liked that about him.

Finally he said, “I know it’s your birthday, but I was hoping you would do something for me.”

“What?” I whispered.

“I was hoping you would let me be your friend.”

I couldn’t help but smile. He was sincere, and though I hardly knew him, I felt like he liked me more than anyone I knew. I couldn’t help but wonder if he would, though, if he knew everything about me.

“I thought about giving you a dream catcher necklace,” he continued, “so that no matter where you fell asleep, it would always be with you.”

“That’s a good idea.” I smiled.

“Yeah, but dream catchers are superstitions. What you’re dealing with is real. So, I decided you needed something real to fight back with.” He put his hands behind his neck and unfastened his necklace. He held up a delicate, silver cross.

“I can’t take your necklace,” I said.

He reached in his shirt and pulled out another larger cross.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.