Chapter 52: Forgetting.

Laramie:

Elodie looked so serious, so earnest when she said it that I couldn't help but laugh. Elodie frowned.

"Yeah... she kind of is."

Elodie pursed her lips together like she was trying to keep herself from laughing as well - for some reason, it only made me laugh harder. Eventually, Elodie started laughing as well. I had no idea why, but hearing her laugh made me laugh even harder and the harder I laughed, the harder Elodie laughed until we were both toppled over on top of my bed, curled into tiny balls, clutching our stomachs with tears streaming down our faces.

Then -

My tears quickly turned real - my laughter turned to sobs. And I began crying like I've never cried before. It felt like everything I thought I had worked through just hit me all at once: the sadness, the anger, the pain, the longing, the grief - all of it.

Elodie stopped laughing the second she realized that I wasn't lauging anymore. She sat up, pulled me into her arms, and just held me while I cried, gently stroking my hair and rocking me back and forth.

Sobs tore through my body with a vengeance and it felt like my heart was trying to claw its way out of my throat.

It felt awful. I hated every second of it. It made me feel so weak, so pathetic. I just wanted it to stop, but my body had a mind of its own and the more I tried to calm myself down the more I cried.

Elodie didn't say a word. She just held me in silence, waiting for me to cry myself out.

When I finally did, I pulled away from Elodie, wiped my eyes with my sleeves, and ran my fingers through my hair. I felt embarrassed for falling apart like that. It's never happened to me before and I prayed, silently, that it would never happen again. When I finally gathered the courage to look at Elodie again I noticed that she had tear stains running down her cheeks as well. Without realizing it, Elodie had been crying with me.

I smiled at her and without even thinking about it, I reached out and wiped the tears from her face. She leaned into my touch and smiled back at me. We sat like that for a while: me holding her face in my hands and her leaning into me. The moment felt almost surreal and for a second, I found myself wishing that it would never end. But then I thought of Ethan and pulled my hands away quickly - I felt kind of awkward for doing it.

Elodie looked a little stunned at first, but then her face split into a ridiculously large grin and she hopped of the bed.

"That's it. You're coming with us." Her eyes lit up with excitement.

"Elodie... I really..."

She cut across me as soon as I opened my mouth.

"No! No excuses! I don't even want to hear them. I'm not leaving you alone to wollow in your feelings for the rest of the night. We're going out, we're going to eat so much pizza that we feel sick, and we're going to drink beer until we forget about all our problems."

What she was suggesting sounded awesome, and honestly, I didn't feel like being alone and wollowing in my feelings either. Excitement lit up in the pit of my stomach, bubbling up through my chest, and settling around my mouth in a ridiculous grin of my own.

"Arg... okay." I rolled my eyes. "Fine. I'm in. Let's do it."

Elodie clapped her hands together. Then, her face fell as she dragged her eyes over my body. I dropped my grin as well as I followed her eyes, wondering what exactly she was looking at.

"But first, you need to put something else on. No offence, sweety, but you look like a wall flower."

A nervous chill ran down my spine when I thought about the bruises and the chance that Elodie might see them - I still had no idea how to explain them to anyone and I really didn't feel like coming up with one yet. But Elodie was already digging through my closet, throwing items of clothing over her shoulders that weren't up to her standards - apparently.

I used the opportunity to pull my shirt off and step out of my jeans, pulling my socks up over the bruises on my nakles - I would just have to wear boots and use accessories to hide the bruises on my wrists.

A few minutes later, I was dressed in a way that satisfied Elodie and we headed out the door.

The group of people we met up with were all very pleasant actually, and none of them were interested in idle chit-chat. They were all fun, funny, and interesting: we talked about books, and music, and classes, we joked about professors and other students, and I ended up having a really good time - almost forgetting about my problems with my mother completely.

Elodie mingled with the rest of her friends, but I couldn't help but notice the way she kept glancing in my direction - almost like she wanted to make sure that I was okay and enjoying myself.

Whatever else happened between the two of us, Elodie was a really great friend and I felt really lucky to know her.

"I'm empty." One of Elodie's friends said, shaking her empty beer bottle in the air. "And I believe it's your turn to buy us a round, Laramie."

She was right. They had all taken turns to buy beers and I was up. I smiled and nodded my head.

"Everyone having the same?"

"Yes." They chorused.

I got up, turned on my heel, and headed over to the bar. There was a bit of a line in front of me, so I picked a spot that wasn't as crowded and waited for my turn to be served. I was barely there a few seconds when I felt the familiar heat of someone's body close to me.

I knew exactly who it was before I even turned around. I felt him in the deepest part of my soul, recognized his pressence immediately. My heart began pounding away in my chest, my skin began to tingle, my ears began to ring - I felt nervous and excited all at once.

The moment didn't feel real. It felt like I had stepped into a dream.

I almost couldn't wait to turn around and see him again.