Home>>read My Last free online

My Last(80)

By:Melanie Shawn


She asked Haley, his cousin, how her design classes were coming…wow, he hadn't even known she was in school. She asked Mike, Sophie’s dad, how his knee was feeling after the accident, and Pam, Katie’s mom how the new bathroom had turned out.

She also genuinely listened to them and cared about their responses. He could watch her like this all day, smiling and talking with everyone.

Damn. He had it bad.

As she reached him, their eyes met. Riley felt like a thunderbolt had struck him in right through his heart. His chest was tight and he wasn’t sure if he was breathing. He knew he should say something, he just couldn’t seem to form words. He couldn’t do anything but stare into her gorgeous doe eyes.

She broke away from his gaze as she glanced around the room nervously. Riley hadn’t noticed until that moment that the room had fallen completely silent, waiting for Aunt Wendy's presentation to begin.

She looked back up at him briefly. “Hi,” she said quietly.

“Hi,” he responded awkwardly.

She moved around him and set the peanut butter fudge down on the dining room table that he was standing in front of.

“Okay!” Wendy bellowed, “Now that everyone is here we can begin.”

Wendy pulled a sheet off of a large screen that was set up in front of the fireplace. “I put this special treat together for my buttercup and her Romeo. Hit the lights, Sophiebell!”

Sophie nodded happily as she closed all of the curtains and blinds, and turned off all the lights.

“Roll it, hot stuff.” Wendy told Bobby, who was seated on the couch with his laptop.

He pressed a button on his keyboard and a picture of Katie and Jason appeared on the screen, looking like they were probably in Kindergarten. Katie was holding a clay impression of her hand and Jason held his fingers in a V behind her head giving her bunny ears.

Everyone laughed.

The next slide showed them in some kind of school play. Katie was standing center stage, her arms outstretched and looked to be delivering a line. Jason stood off to stage right sticking out his tongue doing a goofy face to whoever was taking the photo.

Katie turned and swatted Jason playfully on the arm, and everyone in the room chuckled.

The next was a series that showed them out at the lake at approximately age twelve. In the first one, Katie was standing at the end of the dock and Jason was sneaking up behind her. Then the slide changed to Katie being picked up by Jason, and the next shot showed him jumping into the lake with her in his arms. Then, the last photo in the series depicted Katie shoving Jason’s head beneath the water, dunking him in retaliation.

Everyone cracked up, it was a crowd-pleaser. Katie looked out at the group, light-heartily announcing, “He deserved it.”

There were several more shots from their teen years. Showing them at various places - science camp, parades, and car washes. They were all fun, but more than that, it was photographic evidence of their connection even then.

The last photo looked to be from prom, Jason and Katie were slow dancing. Katie had laid her head on Jason’s shoulder and Jason was looking down at her with so much love, so much longing in his eyes…it was beautiful.

The crowd erupted in oohs and awws, and Riley turned to Chelle and noticed she was tearing up. He wanted so badly to reach out to her, to pull her to him, to keep her there forever.

Instead, he just asked lamely, “You okay?”

She nodded, but he knew she wasn’t. She had dark circles under her eyes, which told him that she hadn’t been getting much sleep. Riley knew the feeling. After spending only two (well, two and half) nights with Chelle beside him, sleeping without her pressed against him seemed impossible.

He had only gotten a couple hours of sleep each night since they got back from San Francisco and it had nothing to do with his brother’s uncomfortable couch. He had slept in ditches, in Humvees – hell, even standing up. He could sleep anywhere. Nope, his sleepless nights were due to the fact that he felt as if a part of himself was missing. And now, that part was standing next to him, crying.





Chapter Twenty-four


Chelle couldn’t stop the tears that were falling down her face. Watching the slide show brought a lot of emotions to the surface that she had been trying her darndest to completely ignore. It also didn’t help that the source of most of those pesky emotions was standing right beside her, looking dangerously sexy in a black v-neck t-shirt and jeans.

I really should have just stayed home, she thought to herself. I did not need this today.

After the picture of Jason and Katie dancing at prom, the slideshow transitioned seamlessly into the wedding pictures. They were beautiful.

She looked over at her diamond friend and saw that Katie was crying, happy tears streaming down her face. Turning her attention back to the screen, Chelle watched as pictures of the ceremony flashed in front of her. Honestly, Chelle had been so out of it on Katie's wedding day that it seemed in many ways like she was seeing it all for the first time. She hadn’t really been mentally present there at all, she'd been so laser-focused on just keeping it together until her responsibilities were over and she was able to escape.