Read Online Catch My Fall by Michaela Wright - Free Book Online Page A

there will cover it for now.”
    He set his hands on the wheel and checked the rear view - still no lights in any direction. We had no reason to move.
    “He wasn’t comfortable. And honestly, I wasn’t either. Spending time with your boyfriend while your mom is in the next room -”
    “Has he even met your mom?”
    “Yes!”
    Once. He’d met her once. I didn’t inform Stellan of that fact.
    “Look. He should have been banging down your door to meet your mom, not avoiding the prospect.”
    “Not everyone is as comfortable in other peoples’ parents’ houses, Stell.”
    “Watch it, babe. Don’t make it about me because I’m being honest.”
    I slumped back into my seat, finding my reflection again in the window. My eyes had gone watery, and I hated myself for it. It’s so painful to hear your friends assassinate the character of the man you love. It’s exceptionally hard to hear it when they’re spewing what you knew and refused to say yourself. We didn’t speak again for a few minutes. I was sure Stellan could tell I was getting emotional.
    “You deserve better, F-bomb. I just don’t think you realize that.”
    And there we have it - start crying around Stellan time: number three. He rubbed the back of my neck with his right hand for a few moments, then put the car into gear. We drove down the dark roads for a few minutes, Simple Minds playing softly. I started to quietly sing along, half my notes coming through and the other half silent. I didn’t want to admit to him that I was afraid there was no better. I didn’t want to admit to him that I was sure all the men my age who were worth a damn were taken, as Meghan often complained, with prettier, daintier, more ‘successful’ women. These were details I share with my girlfriends, these were the details that scared me most. Stellan didn’t need to hear that; he didn’t need to listen to me cry about penis size and babies and fantasy wedding plans that were destroyed now.
    I decided then that I needed Meghan and reached for my phone. The text alert startled me. I’d almost forgotten.
    Bitch! I’m starving! Tell me you’re free!
    Speak of the devil.
    “Anybody good?” Stellan asked, shooting me a sideways glance.
    I swallowed, unsure how well this proposal might go over. “Meghan says she’s hungry, too. Any chance -”
    I didn’t even get the final words out before Stellan had a wicked grin on his face. “Oh, absolutely. But only if you agree to eat in public.”
    I whined my protest. Why couldn’t we just pick up the pizza, bring it home, and never see people ever again? Meghan quickly texted her agreement, and my hands were tied. I was going out in public.
    I wasn’t happy about it.
     
    Stellan dropped me at the hippy pizza restaurant and shot down the street to ‘pick something up.’
    “I’ll come find you guys! Go order, chill out, won’t be more than a few minutes!”
    Meghan complained about work and life, being single and being underpaid, all the while looking like she stepped out of a department store catalog. I’d once asked her how long she took to get ready in the morning. The answer made me wonder if she ever slept - and that perhaps I was close friends with the walking undead. Vampires are supposed to be pretty, right?
    The two of us were settled at a table by the massive oven, the heat of the flames within traveling throughout the room. She regaled me for some time. When she was done, she crossed her ankles and asked how I was.
    It was like a cork from a champagne bottle – I practically exploded. I told her about my complete inability to even think about sex and despite the angry look I received when I mentioned his name, I told her I was afraid Cole was the closest I would ever come to getting it right.
    “I don’t understand how you can say that, hon?”
    “Why?” I asked, trying to keep my voice down.
    “Because he wasn’t ‘right’ - in any sense of the word. Were you there? Did you miss that whole ordeal