Someone I Used to Know - By Blakney Francis Page 0,115
choices you made – and you, more than anyone, should understand the unconditional love of a parent for their child. Why do you always forget to let people love you back? Why can’t you see that the same rules apply to you? You aren’t the only one who gets to love and make selfless decisions, you know. Why are you so willing to give things up for the people you love, when you won’t let anyone do the same for you?”
“I don’t know,” I told him softly. “I’m trying to do things differently now though.”
“Then I’ll tell Mom and Dad we’re expecting a guest for dinner,” he said it like it was no big deal, like four years hadn’t gone by without a word, and he was just dropping me off for dance class.
I had to force myself to look away from him and the hope that suddenly sprouted through my chest like wild, unstoppable weeds. The car slowed to a stop, and with horror, I took in the unmoving traffic that clogged through Los Angeles as far as the eye could see. We were still blocks from the theater.
I was never going to make it.
I took a deep, reassuring breath and squared my jaw. If life wanted a fight, then I’d give it one. I opened the door and got out, preparing to make a run for it. I had a much better chance on foot.
“Should I tell Mom and Dad to be expecting two?” Thomas asked with a little smirk, taking in my determination.
I eyed the city blocks in front of me. They seemed to multiply under my scrutiny until they stretched on forever.
“Hopefully.”
“Tell Cam he’s going to have a lot of explaining to do,” he joked, but I didn’t miss the serious edge tightening his voice.
I couldn’t help but grin at his assumption. He thought I was there for Cam.
“Hmm…Might want to tell Mom it’s going to be three then. Maybe I’ll invite Cam as well.”
I slammed the door with a wink.
As I stared at the distance in front of me, I couldn’t help thinking one more time, that there was no way in hell I was going to make it. And then I started running anyways.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Declan
“Well, there’s no doubt about it, you definitely have the best looking date here,” Cam said, straightening his tie in the reflection of the limo’s tinted windows.
We were stopped in the long procession of identical stretch limousines, lined up waiting for their chance to release their cargo onto the red carpet. The deafening screams were muted inside the safety of the car, but as a particularly stout batch of screeching hit its crescendo, I felt assured I’d made the right decision by bringing Cam as my plus-one. If nothing else, he was an excellent distraction.
“Can’t argue with you there, mate.”
I took a deep breath. Something about the smell of limousines and town cars had always soothed me. The smell of leather; the fresh aroma of vacuumed carpet; the cold, eerily chapped flavor of air conditioner; the slight tang from the residue of whatever they used to polish the wood detailing; they all come together as a scent as familiar to me as they would for someone else who’d lived in the same home their whole lives. To me, that intricate bouquet was as close as I’d ever come to the smell of a real home.
“There’s been something I wanted to ask you for a while. I know our –,” he stopped as if at a loss for just the right word he was looking for. His face struggled through the anomaly, and I couldn’t blame him for his annoyance. It must be terribly frustrating for an author – a man who always had exactly the right words – to be lacking of one in his moment of need. His eyes refocused with a new light when he’d finally found it. “– situation is unique, but I’m a collector of emotions – of reason, really.”
“This is about Adley, isn’t it?” I spoke as he paused, knowing he hadn’t made his point yet, but unwilling to let the name go unspoken between us a second longer.
It was more than just an elephant in the room, or limo as it happened to be. It was a falling meteorite, speeding towards us, destined to collide with us eventually, and I was tired of waiting for the impact. I wanted it to be on my terms for once. I thrust us upwards, forcing the explosion.