His words cause emotions to lodge in my throat as tears sting the back of my eyes.
Rick has become more than just a guard to me; he's become a friend. Another friend I wasn’t expecting or wanting, one that the universe just threw into my lap without any warning. A friend I’m not upset to have, that's for sure.
He knows all about my past. All about Ally. Something not even Maya knows.
I felt like an idiot after I spilled the beans about everything, only a few weeks after coming here, but he never judged, just listened.
I didn’t notice just how much has happened in the past few months. But I have changed. And it’s a change I like.
“Whatever, old man,” I rasp out, voice thick as I shove at him playfully. “Let’s go stuff our faces with sweets until we puke and scream so loud we lose our voices.”
“Sounds like a hell of a time,” Rick sighs.
“It’s gonna be amazing!”
The moviewasamazing. I screamed so loud my throat is now sore. But as we leave the theatre, laughing hard at the fact that Rick screamed like a little girl more than once, I come to a stop when I see a movie poster near the door.
Frozen in place, my heart starts to beat wildly in my chest as I blink my eyes, trying to determine if what I’m seeing is real.
“Hey,” Maya’s voice sounds from right next to me. “Isn’t that Ally Cat?”
At the mention of her name, I swallow hard.
I’ve been doing so good with not searching her name; not stalking any new photos that pop up, or combing the internet to see what she was doing in the world.
“Yeah.” My voice comes out soft.
“Okay, no idea what this movie is about, but we’re going to have to see it,” Maya says.
Maya didn’t really know who Ally Cat was before me. She'd heard of her, knew she was in the entertainment industry, but that was it.
Until Maya was scrolling through my playlist and found one of Ally’s songs. She fell in love—because how couldn't she? Ally is amazing, her voice is like a damn angel’s.
Maya went and watched all the movies and TV shows Ally has been in and at this point, I'd say she's obsessed too. Just not in the way I was.Am. The way I am. Because who am I kidding?
Even though I was determined to try and move on, the only thing I couldn’t bring myself to break free from was falling asleep to her music.
It’s the only way I can sleep.
Not just that. It was a part of my soul in a way. Something that soothed me, just as much as it pained me. It was fucked up, really.
As we head back to the car, the good feelings I had before are gone.
Maya breaks off, heading to Lacy’s car while I get into Rick’s.
We’re almost to Calling Wood when Rick breaks the silence.
“Are you okay?” he asks with caution.
Surprised by his voice, I jolt and look over at him. “Huh?”
He gives me a worried look. “About the movie poster back there. Are you okay?”
I give him a fake smile. “Of course I am.”
“Lulu,” he says softly.
“It’s fine, Rick,” I say, the smile dropping as I look out the window. “I’m fine.”
