Chapter 21: Chat
I finally got my key in the lock and stumbled into my apartment. My whole body felt like one giant bruise. I slammed the door shut and the sound echoed in the quiet space.
’Home,’ I thought. ’Finally.’
I dropped my backpack right there on the floor. My crutches clattered down next to it. I didn’t even care.
I limped over to the living room and just collapsed onto the couch. My jaw throbbed, and every breath made my ribs ache. I just lay there for a minute, staring at nothing.
What a completely insane day. It didn’t even feel real.
’Did all that really happen?’ I wondered. Tyler punching me, Nina crying, our talk in the park. It was like a week’s worth of drama crammed into a few hours.
And at the center of it all was Nina.
I kept replaying our conversation in the park. ’We can just be friends,’ she had said. I agreed. It felt like the right thing to say, the simplest path.
But was it really that simple?
’And what about that moment on the bench?’ I thought. The one where she was touching my face and we were so close. My heart started beating a little faster just thinking about it.
It was so damn awkward after that. But then we actually talked. And it felt... easy.