Chapter 7

She kissed me.

She fucking kissed me, and I recoiled as if she had the plague.

How long have I been dreaming about kissing Addie? How many times have I imagined how soft her lips would feel against mine? I’m a teenage dude. My brain is creative. I have a million and one fantasies of the two of us together.

But instead of grabbing her and kissing her back, I flinched.

I hear my therapist’s voice in my head. Trauma is ingrained in my body… Whatever. I had the chance to finally be with Addie, and my instincts betrayed me.

The way her face dropped. God, I’ll never get that look out of my head. I couldn’t even say anything. She ran away before I could get my brain to work fast enough to tell her it wasn’t her fault.

Now, I’m never going to get a chance to explain. She won’t want to even be in the same room as me, let alone have a conversation. And I’m too chickenshit to talk to her first.

I wish I weren’t so broken inside.

Maybe then I’d have a chance to be with Addie.

She’s the only girl who’s ever seen me as I am and still wanted to spend time with me.

I guess I’ll just have to get used to loving her from a distance.

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