Fall From Love (34 page)

Memories of you
haunt me wherever I go

I lay here and
feel the weight I’m holding

Most days, it
feels like I’m drowning

But I’m not sure
how to be strong, how to carry on

Trying to let go
of the only thing I know

Time passes
slow, so slow I can barely keep up

Wind blows soft,
so soft I can barely stand up

My heart beats
light, so light I can barely sit up

It took time,
but I finally see

I know who I am,
and who I wanna be

I’ll be strong
and I’ll find the strength to carry on

After all this
time, my hearts finally been set free

You’ve healed me
with your love

And I’ll never
be able to look at anyone else

The way I look
at you

I have no doubt
that what we have is meant to be

I’ve given you
my heart

Now you own
every part of me

Time passes so
fast, so fast I can barely keep up

Wind blows so
strong, so strong I can barely stand up

My heart beats
so hard, so hard I can barely sit up

I’m right here
and I’m not going anywhere

I’m holding on
to you, you’re holding onto me

When things get
tough, we’ll take a deep breath

Because as long
as we have each other

This world is
ours, it’s ours to share

Smiling wide, I
pull back from the microphone as cheers, screams, and whistles erupt all over
the club. I absorb the energy and it makes me feel warm inside—a unique feeling
you can only get from being on stage—a feeling I haven’t felt in a long time
and one that I wasn’t sure I’d ever feel again.

After taking a
quick bow, I eagerly exit the stage, wanting to get back to my friends. I’m
only a few steps off the stage when I see Jenna, Carter and Josh standing a few
feet away, applauding.

“You were amazing!”
Jenna screams with tears in her eyes. She wraps her arms around me. “I’m so
proud of you.”

“Thanks.” I beam,
pulling back from her embrace. Next to her stands the inspiration for parts of
the song and the guy responsible for bringing me back to life.

Carter smiles,
shaking his head. “Wow, I’ve never seen anything like what you just did. It
was… beautiful.”

“Dude, that’s all
you can say to her? It was fucking awesome!” Josh says, pulling me in for a
hug.

“Thank you,” I say
to everyone, not able to wash the smile off my face.

When Josh releases
me, Carter pulls me into his chest and I close my eyes, feeling safe and totally
at peace. “How was it?” he asks, kissing the top of my head.

“It was more
incredible than I ever thought it could be.” I pull back and look up at him. “I
didn’t realize how much I missed being up on stage.”

“And that the stage
missed you!” Jenna adds. “Did you hear those screams? Holy shit, I’ve never
heard this place get that loud.”

I laugh and Carter
grabs my hand in his, causing any anxiety or nerves I have left inside me to
melt away.

“I love you.” I
smile and reach up to give him a kiss, feeling him smile against me.

“Okay, seriously,
the two of you are adorable, but come on. You have all night to kiss and tell
each other how in love you are. Right now, we need to celebrate,” Jenna says.

❧

The four of us are
sitting in a booth, listening to the rest of the singers on stage. It’s been a
couple hours since I finished, but I still feel the buzz of energy inside me
and still can’t wash the smile off my face.

“You know, we
should totally do something crazy and stupid,” Jenna says out of the blue when
there’s a break in between songs.

“I can think of a
few crazy and stupid things we could do.” Josh raises his eyebrow and gives her
a sexy smile.

I’m shocked, but
the guy can still make her blush. She elbows him playfully in the ribs and
continues to try to make her point. “I’m serious. We’ve just graduated from
college, we’re about to have to face the real world—which I’ve heard totally
sucks—so I think we should do one last stupid thing. What do you say?” She
glances around the table at each of us.

“What did you have
in mind?” I ask her.

“Nothing too crazy.
Something spontaneous, though. Something we can do together, like a vacation or
something.” She pauses for a moment and then her eyes light up. “I’ve got it. A
road trip. Let’s all pile in the car and drive somewhere far away and crazy. We
can leave tonight, right now.”

“Babe, we’ve all
been drinking,” Josh says, immediately taking the light from Jenna’s eyes.

“I haven’t had a
drink,” Carter says and everyone’s eyes fall on him.

It’s crazy, but I
actually like her harebrained idea. She’s right, after tonight we’re considered
educated adults and, according to society, we’re groomed enough to enter the
real world. My life feels so good right now that I don’t want the feeling to
end. I want to prolong this feeling for as long as possible.

“I’m in,” I say,
smiling.

“She’s right, man.
I say let’s do it,” Carter says looking at me. “Doing something stupid and
spontaneous sounds perfect right now.”

The adrenaline
begins to build in my chest and a large smile stretches across my lips.

“Screw it, I’m in!”
Josh yells slamming his hand down on the table.

“Really?” Jenna
jumps up and down in her seat. “Are we really going to do it? Oh, my God, where
should we go? I’ve always wanted to go to Vegas… or maybe the Grand Canyon. Oh,
my God, this is going to be so epic!”

We all begin to
scoot out of the booth as Jenna and Josh are talking about where we should go
and what each of them wants to do when we get there.

Carter shakes his
head and laughs. “You know what we just agreed to, right? We just agreed to
spend a week or more with these two... in a small, confined space.”

I laugh and take
his hand in mine. “Yeah, I know.”

Deep down, it
doesn’t matter where we go, what we do, when we get there, or how long we stay
because, as long as I have these three amazing people with me, I’ll be happy.

I learned a lot in
my four years of college, but it was more about life, love, loss and finding
out who I really am and who I want to be, more than anything else. I learned
that having good friends is one of the most important things in life and that,
without them, your life will be empty. I learned that you have to face your
fears, no matter how big or small, and challenge yourself even when you’re
scared out of your freaking mind. I learned that when you’re faced with a leap
of faith and you’re debating on whether or not to take it—take it and don’t
look back. I learned that it’s okay to make mistakes and it’s okay to have the
wrong answer, as long as you keep searching for the right one. I learned that
you’ve got to grab hold of the people you love and love them every second that
you can because you never know when it will be their last, or yours. I learned
that you can go on after losing someone you love, even when the dark days come
and it seems like they will stay forever. I learned that, with time, your heart
does heal. You may never forget and your heart may always ache for them, but
the days do become brighter and the pain does fade. I learned that being happy
takes work and you’ve got to learn what makes your heart smile and go after it,
and don’t stop until you have it just the way you want it because life’s too
short to live any other way.

The End

Acknowledgements

I would like to
thank the readers who purchased this book. Without you guys, writing would not
be as rewarding or near as much fun. I love reading your messages and hearing
the love you have for my stories. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

To my family and
friends who have encouraged me, listened to my complaints, my fears, and my
crazy story ideas. I don’t know what I would do without you guys! Thank you.

Thank you Kristin
and Alizon at C&D Editing who take such great care of my story and make it
shine with such professionalism and dedication.

Most of all, a huge
thank you to my husband, Ryan, who is always supportive and patient when
listening to my endless worries and fears about my story and my characters.
Even though deep down he probably thinks I’m strange, he never shows it. Love
you, babe