My Forever

Chapter 11

He didn’t say anything for a long time. I was just waiting for him to tell me that this wouldn’t work or that I wasn’t worth it.

“Can I still kiss you?”

I couldn’t help but smile and I nodded my head yes and he kissed me again.

“I respect that, Harper, but please don’t push me away. I really like you and I really like kissing you.”

I couldn’t help but giggle. “I will try not to.”

We finished the movie and moved on for a second before my eyes began to get heavy.

“How about we spend tomorrow together?” Chase asked, snapping me back awake.

“Yeah ok.”

“Good. You look tired and you have fallen asleep twice.” He said, chuckling.

“Sorry.”

He kissed me gently. “Don’t be sorry. I will be here bright and early. I get you all day before we head back to class on Monday.”

The following day, I spent the entire time with Chase. It was one of the best days I have had in a long time. He dropped me back at my house right after dinner. Again, I was welcomed by an empty home and no Declan. For the next three weeks, I found myself spending every possible moment with Chase.

Luke still hadn’t tried to spend any time with me other than work-related messages. Lisa tried to make me feel better about it, but again I felt rejected. I almost felt worse since I thought we had become friends.

Christmas was only 7 days away and I found myself with Lisa at the mall. Even without Declan, I still wanted to get him something. He had taken me in when I had nobody and I was grateful. I also wanted to get something for Chase.

We hadn’t talked about Christmas but with all the time we were spending together, I wanted to get him something special. After hours of shopping, I finally found the right gifts.

“Are you hanging out with Chase tonight?”

“No, he said he had some family dinner to go too.”

“Do you like his parents?”

“I haven’t met them yet.”

“Oh…has he met yours?”

“No, I don’t have parents. My Dad passed away and my Mom…”

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Lisa said as she placed her hand on my arm.

“No, it's OK.”

So I told her everything. From my Mom to Declan, even my illness which I tried to keep a secret. I don’t know why I felt like I could trust her, but for some reason I just knew we would be life-long friends. I prayed I wasn’t wrong because at this point I seemed to have really bad judgment.

She sat and listened and when I was done she didn’t judge me. She wrapped her arms around me and we sat in silence.

“Let’s have a girls night.” She said as she messaged her parents she would be staying with me.

We spent most of the evening talking about boys and eating ice cream. Watching too many movies and laughing till our sides hurt.

That evening we lay in bed and talked till the early hours before we both finally fell asleep unable to keep our eyes open. It was nice to have a friend.