Page 24 of The Story Of Us

He hangs up before I can say it back.

In a completely shocking turn of events, I open my bedroom door to find Luke asleep with his head on my desk. I drop my bag on the floor and collapse face down on my bed, wishing that I was asleep and the entire past forty minutes had just been a terrible nightmare.

Every interaction I have with Violet has me feeling like I’ve been dragged across gravel like I’ve been flayed open and exposed to her so she can see all my vulnerabilities. I knew she was trying to hurt me when she asked what kind of stuff I draw, and I know I deserve it too, but that didn’t help the ache in my chest feel any less worse.

I didn’t expect her to compliment me. I was fully resigned to never hearing anything like that from her ever again. But hearing those simple words from her had me feeling a different type of ache, a longing for her that I could feel with my entire soul. Her words affect me in a way that doesn’t happen with anyone else, and I think I’m fine never to receive a comment on my art from anyone ever again as long as I can keep replaying that moment in my head.

I need to apologise to her soon, but I haven’t wanted to do it in a way that feels rushed, and that’s all our conversations have been so far. She deserves a real explanation, deserves to know everything that happened in those twenty-four hours that led to the worst mistake I’ve ever made. I think she’s starting to open up to me again, though. I can sense it in the way she’s trying so hard to push through with this project, and I hope she sees it as a second chance for us, just like I do.

A breath of air huffs out of me as something heavy lands on my back.

“Lucas.” It comes out muffled from where my face has been forced into the sheets.

“Isaac.” He shifts his body so his face is next to mine, but he’s still half lying on top of me. “What took you so long?”

“Does your girlfriend know you act like this?” I shift my head to look at him right as he lifts his hand to show me his middle finger.

“I think I act worse around her. I’m so clingy.”

“You’re literally clinging to me right now.”

“Okay, but you’re my best friend.”

“Shouldn’t your girlfriend be your best friend?”

“Can you stop being weird and say her name? She’s still your friend, too.” His tone is more serious as he climbs off me and lays down. Maybe all the comments I’ve been making about the two of them haven’t been as lighthearted as I wanted them to be.

“Sorry, I’ll stop. Everything good with you two?” I turn to lie on my back so we’re side by side, both of us tilting our heads to look at each other.

“We’re great. She’s great. I don’t know how I waited so long to finally tell her how I felt.”

I understand exactly how he feels. When I finally told Violet I liked her, it was after years of harbouring a one-sided crush on her that I thought would never go anywhere.

TWO YEARS AGO

“Did you notice at the end how Sophie told young Howl that she’ll find him in the future?”

“Hmm.” She hums, and I can tell she’s getting sleepy. We started watching the movie quite late because we got too distracted talking about other things, and now it’s nearly midnight.

“And then do you remember how at the start Howl called her sweetheart and said he was looking everywhere for her?”

“I do.”

“He was looking for her that whole time! His ring shines when he finds her!”

Her face is dimly lit in the corner of my laptop screen, but I can still see the small smile on her face. I know I’m rambling and that Violet probably doesn’t care, but it’s one of my favourite parallels ever in a movie. The ring glistening is such a subtle touch that it isn’t immediately noticeable, but when you do see it, it adds so much to the story. It’s the kind of movie that only gets better every time you watch it so when Violet told me she’d never seen it, I knew we had to fix that.

“I love that,” Violet murmurs.

I love you springs into my mind, and I immediately banish the thought away. Where did that come from? I’ve liked her for a while now, she’s always the brightest part of my day, but I’ve never had the courage to tell her and probably never will. But love? I don’t think I even know what that would feel like, let alone if I feel it for her. But then, why did I think it?

Violet’s eyes widen slightly as if she’s just heard the thoughts running through my head, but then she shuffles around a little and nestles herself further into her pillow.

“I’ll let you sleep,” I tell her, not wanting to keep her up any longer when she’s already stayed up late just to watch a movie with me.

“I want you to tell me everything about it tomorrow,” she says, the words coming out slow and quiet.

“I will.” I can’t hide the smile on my face, and I don’t even want to. “Sweet dreams, Violet.”

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