The Rules of the Red - 2014 Watty Award Winner |✓|

Chapter Twenty-One - Part One

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Chapter Twenty-one

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Wednesday dawned, and although I knew that I was still totally unprepared for it, as soon as the first bleary rays from the sun hit my window, I jumped up from the bed to begin my day in earnest. Picking out my clothes, along with my shower, passed by in a blur it seemed. And by the time breakfast was ready, I had worked myself into such a state of anxiousness that I had to force my meal down, where it rolled in a frenzy with the butterflies in my stomach. I was so nervous for the day to end and the night to simply begin, that I became restless afterwards, and prowled up and down the halls of the manor, snapping at Mrs. Trentley when she popped up every ten minutes to check that I hadn’t fainted.

“Honestly,” I said, as she followed me into the living room. “I’m alright. I knew I shouldn’t have told you what Ethan and I talked about yesterday.”

“But that’s just such an awful lot of news to take in – that your father may actually be alive…” Mrs. Trentley insisted, trying to force a bagel and bottled water into my hands. “You need your strength for that. Naomi, for god’s sake, you look like you’ll collapse any minute!”

“No, what I need is for you to stop worrying,” I replied, dodging the water and bread. “Everything is gonna be fine – including me.”

Promises – they seemed to be flying left and right from my lips these days. But only time would tell whether I could actually keep up with them or not.

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“Damn, I so wish I could go too,” Addy said, with longing, hours later as we spoke on the telephone. I was sitting carefully on the edge of my bed, sifting through the pages of a fashion magazine, and trying to convince myself that tonight, all would go smoothly. “I heard that Johl Romaine throws the craziest parties in the Supernatural underground. They’re all supposed to be very ‘chic’ and ‘old world’. But anyway,” Addy said with a sigh, and I realized that my friend was having troubles of her own. “I have dinner this evening with Collin’s parents. But I’m, like, freaking-out-nervous. Suddenly it just seems like things with Collin are moving so fast – do you think this is too fast?”

“What I think, is that you are entirely in control, Ad. And I also think that you shouldn’t let your perception of an acceptable dating timeline jeopardize what you have with Collin. Aren’t you two happy?”

“Yes,” she said, purely, and without hesitation.

“Well then, if you’re happy, why in the world should that have to change? If you ask me, this is a classic example of the whole fight-or-flight routine. Somehow, when you weren’t paying attention, you let Collin get close. And now, you’re a little freaked out so you’re thinking of running instead of fighting for what you really want…”