Annihilate Me (Vol. 3) (The Annihilate Me Series) by Christina Ross Page B

  You could have let yourself fail in school.   But you didn’t.   Do you get it?   Even then,
you had it within you to improve yourself so you could get the hell out of
Maine and away from your parents.   So, enough is enough.   That
letter I just read?   You’re a fool
if you don’t recognize the heart that went into it.   You’re a fool if you don’t shake off the past and give this
man the shot he deserves.”
    “I told him that I was his girlfriend
today.”
    “Good!   That’s progress.   Now, let me ask you the tough question.   Do you love him?”
    I looked at her.   “Why is this so hard for me?”
    “You know why, and I know why, but it ends
today.   So, answer me.   Do you love him?   Either you do or you don’t.   It’s not rocket science.   Right now, you should know.   Get rid of the security blanket and be
honest with me and with yourself.   Do you love him or not?”
    “I wouldn’t be going to this party for him
tonight if I didn’t feel something for him.”
    “Just ‘something’?”
    “Something profound.”
    “What do you feel?”
    “Everything.”
    “What’s everything?”
    For a moment, I felt completely exposed,
but then I just said it.  
    “Love,” I said.   “I’m in love with him, and I’m scared to death of it.   I know it’s irrational because, with
the exception of the one blip that night at the Met fundraiser, he’s been
nothing but wonderful to me.   And
still I feel insecure.   Still I
have trust issues.   But the truth
is that I am in love with him.   He’s come to mean everything to me.   I think about him all the time.   I worry about him constantly.   I can feel him when he’s not with me, and I can smell him
when I go to sleep.   He’s always
with me.   And I sure as hell don’t
want to lose him because of my goddamned hang-ups.”
    “Then lose them.”
    “I’m going to have to.”
    “As in now?”
    “As in now.”
    “Let’s put that to the test.”   She got up and went into the
kitchen.   When she returned, she
had a legal pad and a pen in her hands.   “Everything you just said to me?   About how you feel for him?   You’re going to answer his letter and put it all down into words.   Then you’re going to give it to
him.   No later than tomorrow.   He’ll be out of the hospital by
then.   You can go to his place,
relax together, and when the moment’s right?   That’s when you give him a letter of your own that says
exactly what he’s come to mean to you.”   She gave me the pen and the legal pad.   “So, write to him from your heart.   It doesn’t have to be perfect.   In fact, it shouldn’t be perfect.   It should be raw.   Tell him what you just told me.   You’ve got to respond to him before it’s too late.”
    “I love you, Lisa.”
    She held a hand to her ear.   “How was that?”
    “I said I love you.”
    “Oh, do you now?”
    I smiled at her.   “I do.”
    “Was that so hard to say?”
    “No.”
    “Good.   Because I love you, too.   I know you don’t need any more stress piled on top of you
right now.   But before you lose
Alex, someone has to get through to you.   Someone has to make sure that you don’t one day look back at this time
in your life and regret any decisions you might have made because fear held you
back.   I’m happy to be the
person.   I bet Blackwell also was
happy to be that person, and bless her for it.”   She started to turn away from me, but then stopped.   “While I’m in my bedroom writing about
the misery of the undead, you write your letter about the joy of being in love
with Alex.”  

 
 
 
 
 
    CHAPTER
NINE

 
    By six o’clock, I was showered, my hair
was still lightly damp, and I was ready for Bernie’s magic.   That’s when Lisa came out of her
bedroom looking better than I’d seen her in weeks.  
    I just stared at her.   When Lisa put it together, she put it
together.   And right then, she was
a