Page 25 of Unfinished

Hannah

“Earth to Hannah.” Ashley snapped her fingers in front of my face. I blinked and shook my head, then looked at her.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Where the hell did you go?”

“Just lost in my thoughts,” I said because I didn’t want to admit that I was remembering what happened in the back of the pick-up while Liam and I were stargazing. A little aftershock ran through me and I tried to keep my expression neutral.

Things were changing drastically between us. We were spending almost all of our free time together and when we weren’t together we were texting or talking on the phone. I couldn’t get enough of him and it was like he couldn’t get enough of me either. I never had a guy act like this with me. Like I was the only thing he wanted.

“You’ve got it bad,” Ashley huffed with a smile, but I noticed the concern in her eyes.

“No.”

“Oh you do,” Ashley insisted and I sighed, “Have you two figured out how you’ll handle this after the summer is over?”

“No,” I replied, telling the truth. I didn’t know how we would make this work come the start of the semester or if we would even make it that far. His mother had expectations for his future and I wasn’t a part of those expectations. I offered to meet her to see if maybe once she met me she would lay off, but he was adamant that he didn't want us to meet yet.

We were out a lot and on every date he marked something with our initials. It was like he was trying to record our story in real time. I was falling hard for him and fast. Tonight he was taking me to the drive-in and it’d be our fifth official date.

“You need to be careful, Hannah. We know he’s not an asshole but… this could end in a lot of heartbreak,” Ashley warned.

“Or it could be the best thing to ever happen.”

“Okay.” Ashley nodded and gave me a supportive smile, even as concern was still present in her eyes.

“Look, I’ve never felt anything like this. It’s like we’ve known each other for our entire lives. Our conversations seem never ending but when we are silent it’s comfortable. My heart feels like it wants to jump out of my chest to meet his heart. I can’t fully explain it but I know that this is more than some summer fling. I can see it in him too.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“I told him I wanted to take this slow, he respects that. We have had opportunities to have sex and outside of mind-blowing oral, we haven’t yet. If all we did was have sex, I would know it was a summer fling. He’s treating this like so much more. He’s proving to me that he wants more than that from me,” I explained and Ashley’s eyes went wide.

“Wow, you might be right,” she whispered, but her expression went back to concern, “Still be careful. There are a lot of factors here to keep in mind about this relationship.”

“I know.”

She was concerned about my future. I worked my ass off to be accepted into the top school for my field. Ashley didn’t want me to mess that up because of a guy. We were too young to think about forever. Still, this felt like it might be forever and I didn’t want to miss that either.

Our lives were so different and I worried it would cause problems in our relationship, especially if his mother got her way and convinced him to go for someone she wanted for him. Despite knowing I shouldn't fall too deeply for Liam, I was fairly certain that if he broke it off that night, I'd be heartbroken.

I’d been wearing his hoodie every night. I stole it the night we were stargazing and I didn’t have plans on giving it back. It smelled like him.

This entire month flew by so fast. June was almost over and once July started we only had six more weeks before we left for school. I hadn’t forgotten my dad’s warning about the Teresi Family and with how quickly I was falling I wanted to make sure the only thing I would be dealing with was how hard a long-distance relationship would be.

“My dad had some concerns about the Teresi family. If Liam and I manage to hold on to this relationship past this summer, I need to know everything I can about him and his family. I won't risk him breaking my heart," I paused, "You know what I went through after my mom left. I don't want to end up in that position again."

Ashley grabbed her laptop and sat next to me, “Then let’s find out everything we can before you make your decision to try.”

While Ashley and I didn't become friends till a year after my mom had left, I had told her everything. She supported me when I went through darker phases of battling my depression. As much as I like to pretend my mother's absence in my life didn't affect me, it had. I had commitment, trust, and abandonment issues from her walking out on us. It took me a long time to allow myself to open up to people in all the ways that really mattered.

Ashley was the queen of internet snooping and she’d find out if my dad’s concerns were anything to actually be concerned about. We spent the next hour researching the Teresi family and reading every article we could find. As far as we could tell, they were completely legit despite the criminal past of their grandfather.

They were either really good at hiding illegal activities or not involved with them at all. I was going to believe they weren’t involved with them. That meant the only thing I needed to be concerned about was how Liam and I were going to make a long-distance relationship work when I had trust issues that I struggled with. It wouldn't be fair for him to suffer because of my trauma.

Liam: On my way.

The text message came through and I sighed. I needed to talk to him, before I fell even further for him. Before we ruined each other so completely that there would be no possible way we'd recover.

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