Page 74 of Falling Like This

Becausehe’s in love with me.

Holy. Shit.

I flop back onto my bed in shock.

I slide my hands over my face, shaking my head in disbelief.

I’m still lying there, hands on my face, knees bent, feet on the floor, when Sarah walks in.

I sense her standing over me. “Are you okay?”

I nod, hands still covering my face.

She sits down next to me. “What’s going on?”

I let my hands slide down so they’re squeezing against my cheeks.

“He’s in love with me,” I say, still in disbelief.

“What?” Sarah shrieks, jumping up from the bed. “What do you mean? He told you that?!”

I haven’t moved my hands. I just keep shaking my head from side to side in disbelief.

“Rae!” she exclaims. “You have to tell me what happened.”

I sit up, hands still on my face. I let one slide off my face, while the other comes to cover my mouth. I’m still too shocked to put together a sentence.

“Rae…” Sarah pleads.

I stand up and start pacing back and forth.

After a few steps, I snap my head to look at her and let it all tumble out. Probably some word vomit in there, but I can’t help it. I still can’t believe it.

As I finish telling her, I hold my hands over my heart and drop down onto the edge of the bed.

Sarah’s staring at me, eyes wide. “I can’t believe you guys finally admitted it to each other—sort of,” she says with a laugh.

I elbow her in the side. “Shut up. Don’t ruin this.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“He loves me,” I say, flopping back on the bed.

“You shouldn’t be surprised by that,” Sarah tells me.

And maybe I shouldn’t. But after everything that happened, I am.

I’m still in shock.

I wished for it.

I hoped for it.

I tried to believe in it.

But he actually is.

I have no idea what this means.

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