The Hardest Fall

by Ella Maise

Calm down, you drama queen.

What did you expect with my luck?

“I’m there and then I’m not. I exist, but I really don’t.”

Dylan, meet mortification in the flesh.

I groaned loudly,

So far, I had been attacked, and with a rolling pin, no less. I’d been flashed (granted, not voluntarily) and stereotyped, all by the same girl—the same girl who had intrigued me so much the two times we’d bumped into each other. I was still intrigued, maybe even more so, and I knew I shouldn’t have been. I’d mistaken a few girls for her a handful of times, which meant my eyes had been searching for her ever since our last run-in and I wasn’t even fully aware of it. That same girl was my new roommate.

she reached for a colorful pillow and started to strangle it.

“This is the strangest thing, but I think you’re going to be my best friend, Zoe Clarke.”

“This is how I smile,”

“Well…it’s…too big.”

Zoe. Oh, Zoe. You poor p...

A smack on the arm and an impressive growl.

I was officially in a Dylan cocoon, and I couldn’t have felt cozier—hadn’t ever felt cozier, or happier. I turned my head

“Now…now I couldn’t possibly not recognize you. Now you’re everywhere, always on my mind. I close my eyes and I can see you, right there.” My focus dropped low as I brushed her bottom lip with my thumb and her lips parted. “Now, I could never mistake you for someone else. Your shy little smile, your big happy smile, the shape of your eyes…you’re all I think about, Zoe. When I wake up, I can’t wait to work out because I know you’ll be up only minutes after me. I’ll hear your footsteps, you’ll come into the kitchen still half asleep and so beautiful, and then you’ll innocently perv on me while acting like you’re having breakfast.”

I like having your eyes on me. I love it even more when you look into my eyes and give me your biggest smile. Every time I see you smiling at me like that, like after the game in Tucson, it feels like you’re handing me your world. Even in the dark, I can feel your—”

Our breathing still out of control, I opened my eyes when she whispered my name and touched my

“My heart beats differently for you. It feels different somehow. I know

this probably doesn’t make sense, but…it beats louder, wilder when I see you.”

I put my palm on her stomach

“Whatever you want, just tell me and it’s yours.” She worried

“I need you so bad, Zoe. I can’t look at you any longer and not know how it feels to sink into you.”

wanted to fuck her till the morning light streamed in and I could memorize every dip and curve of her skin.

“I’ll catch you when you land, Flash. Just don’t take too much time, because I’m already there, impatiently waiting for you.”

Be nice to your husband.”