Read Online Now a Major Motion Picture by Stacey Wiedower - Free Book Online
Authors: Stacey Wiedower
Ads: Link
women, we’re not all bad.” She winked. Then she popped one earbud back in and prepared to replace the other one, pausing just long enough to say, “I’m holding you to that call.”
Shooting him a meaningful glance, she spun on her heel and picked back up with her morning run. Dazed, he just stared after her, wondering what the hell he was getting himself into.
* * *
After completing his and Amos’s circle beneath the park’s canopy of shade trees, Noah headed for home. All morning, he wavered back and forth on whether or not to make the call, an internal war raging between the part of him that wanted to hang on to the past and the part that wanted to move forward.
Erin Crawford was intriguing. That was one point in favor of calling. Plus, it was obvious she wasn’t going to let this thing that was brewing between them drop. That was point number two: the fact that if he didn’t call, she would. But the idea of opening himself up to vulnerability, that was a strong point in favor of not calling. It might outweigh the others. And that was the part he couldn’t figure out.
It wasn’t that he was worried about getting hurt again, or hurting someone else…again. If he was honest with himself, the problem was that the more he thought about dating Erin—or anyone—the more he thought about Amelia.
It had been so long since he’d allowed his mind to travel down that path. After their breakup, he’d thought of nothing else for weeks that dragged into months that dragged into two staggeringly miserable years. He had no idea what to do with the fact that his entire life, his entire future, had come crashing down around him. Amelia had been the key to the life he’d wanted. He hadn’t wanted the rest of it without her.
That was why he’d left school. The last time he’d seen Amelia, he’d been so numb with grief and regret he could barely drag himself to class, let alone concentrate on the exhaustive senior studio project required for him to graduate. He’d been trudging across campus, still trying to will himself to get through the semester, when he’d spotted her not twenty yards from him across a courtyard, on her way to class. He’d been calling for weeks, but she wouldn’t answer. He’d shown up at her apartment fifteen times at least, but she was either never there or she never answered the door.
Seeing her that day had been his last straw. She was a wreck: dark, purplish circles ringing her eyes, her long, straight chestnut hair shoved into an unkempt ponytail, her shoulders slumped under an invisible weight. He saw that she saw him, and her shoulders sagged even lower as she swerved from her path to avoid him. He knew he deserved it. He deserved one hundred percent of the blame for putting her in that wretched state, for breaking her heart.
After that encounter, he didn’t leave his house for three days. When he did finally drag himself outside, it was to walk to the administration building on campus to withdraw from all his classes. He couldn’t face her again.
He also couldn’t face Ashley—the one person more repulsive to him in those days than himself. She’d called him nonstop since he returned to campus, even though he’d made it more than clear that he didn’t want to see her again.
On the third day of his self-imposed isolation, she showed up at his door.
He didn’t budge from the couch when he heard the knock. He just kept staring at the TV, tuned to whatever was on ESPN, the volume so low it was barely audible. After a five-minute attempt to ignore the knocking didn’t make it go away, he dragged himself off the couch and to the door—a brief, improbable glimmer of hope that it was Amelia the one thing that finally made him move.
His face contorted when he saw Ashley on the other side of the threshold.
“Noah, I—” she said before he shut the door.
More knocking.
He hesitated behind the door and then reopened it with a violent heave.
“What? What the
Shooting him a meaningful glance, she spun on her heel and picked back up with her morning run. Dazed, he just stared after her, wondering what the hell he was getting himself into.
* * *
After completing his and Amos’s circle beneath the park’s canopy of shade trees, Noah headed for home. All morning, he wavered back and forth on whether or not to make the call, an internal war raging between the part of him that wanted to hang on to the past and the part that wanted to move forward.
Erin Crawford was intriguing. That was one point in favor of calling. Plus, it was obvious she wasn’t going to let this thing that was brewing between them drop. That was point number two: the fact that if he didn’t call, she would. But the idea of opening himself up to vulnerability, that was a strong point in favor of not calling. It might outweigh the others. And that was the part he couldn’t figure out.
It wasn’t that he was worried about getting hurt again, or hurting someone else…again. If he was honest with himself, the problem was that the more he thought about dating Erin—or anyone—the more he thought about Amelia.
It had been so long since he’d allowed his mind to travel down that path. After their breakup, he’d thought of nothing else for weeks that dragged into months that dragged into two staggeringly miserable years. He had no idea what to do with the fact that his entire life, his entire future, had come crashing down around him. Amelia had been the key to the life he’d wanted. He hadn’t wanted the rest of it without her.
That was why he’d left school. The last time he’d seen Amelia, he’d been so numb with grief and regret he could barely drag himself to class, let alone concentrate on the exhaustive senior studio project required for him to graduate. He’d been trudging across campus, still trying to will himself to get through the semester, when he’d spotted her not twenty yards from him across a courtyard, on her way to class. He’d been calling for weeks, but she wouldn’t answer. He’d shown up at her apartment fifteen times at least, but she was either never there or she never answered the door.
Seeing her that day had been his last straw. She was a wreck: dark, purplish circles ringing her eyes, her long, straight chestnut hair shoved into an unkempt ponytail, her shoulders slumped under an invisible weight. He saw that she saw him, and her shoulders sagged even lower as she swerved from her path to avoid him. He knew he deserved it. He deserved one hundred percent of the blame for putting her in that wretched state, for breaking her heart.
After that encounter, he didn’t leave his house for three days. When he did finally drag himself outside, it was to walk to the administration building on campus to withdraw from all his classes. He couldn’t face her again.
He also couldn’t face Ashley—the one person more repulsive to him in those days than himself. She’d called him nonstop since he returned to campus, even though he’d made it more than clear that he didn’t want to see her again.
On the third day of his self-imposed isolation, she showed up at his door.
He didn’t budge from the couch when he heard the knock. He just kept staring at the TV, tuned to whatever was on ESPN, the volume so low it was barely audible. After a five-minute attempt to ignore the knocking didn’t make it go away, he dragged himself off the couch and to the door—a brief, improbable glimmer of hope that it was Amelia the one thing that finally made him move.
His face contorted when he saw Ashley on the other side of the threshold.
“Noah, I—” she said before he shut the door.
More knocking.
He hesitated behind the door and then reopened it with a violent heave.
“What? What the
Similar Books
