I feel seen. I feel heard. I feel like there’s something I
have that the world needs, if only I could figure out how to
give it. Steph is so different. She’s so inspiring. She’s
passionate, beautiful, intelligent, the list goes on and on, and
that all adds up to make her highly desirable.
I’ve never met anyone like her.
Maybe she’ll agree to stay in touch after this. Stay
friends, since I guess that’s what we’re becoming. Even if it
would be torture for me, in a way, I’d take friendship, because
already it feels like a raw, open wound to think about her not
being in my life in some way.
Chapter 8
Stephanie
I know that I have to be honest. I’ve never told anyone. I’ve
spent years convincing myself that it wasn’t true because that
would mean looking at the world a different way, having
people see me differently, possibly losing people that mean
everything to me, like my family. I wasn’t prepared to deal
with it. It was easier to lie to myself than to face the truth.
But I owe one person that truth.
Adley.
She worked hard for me. She’s probably going to lose
her job over me, which I don’t fully understand, but I’m sure if
I asked her to explain it, she’d tell me. I’ve come to think of
her as a friend. There’s something about her that is
intrinsically trustworthy. I feel like if I was open to her about
the real reason this didn’t work, then maybe she’d have some
peace of mind.
That’s all it can be. She might be single, which she
stated yesterday at breakfast when I very rudely asked her, but