Parallel (Parallel, #1)

by Elizabeth O'Roark

I remember our first date, our second date, the weeks that went by afterward. I don’t see Nick as some blurry figure I could only describe in generalities. I remember his eyes, his mouth, that dimple of his. I remember how familiar he seemed from the moment we met, that I knew before he’d even opened his mouth how he would laugh, how he would smile, how he would kiss. It was as if our relationship wasn’t new at all. It was a path so well-tread we could run rather than walk.

I sit, curling my knees to my chest and pressing my face against them. In a few hours Jeff and I will be heading to the airport and it’ll be over. I’m never going to risk anything and I’m never going to know what it’s like to hand myself over to another person, to love someone so deeply and want him so much I’d give up anything on his behalf.

I glance over my shoulder at Jeff and, though I couldn’t begin to justify my behavior if he were to wake, I open our window to the storm. Just a crack. Because, at the moment, even a bad wind would be welcome. Anything would be better than the emptiness I feel right now.