AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I put my cheek on the top of his soft blonde, straight hair and inhaled deeply. They both meant so much to me.
I only wish I’d told them more often than I did.
“You can love her too, if you want. Do you love Starr?” Stella asked Nolan with big eyes.
The tears dried up and I felt mortified. He didn’t know me well enough to even decide if he wanted to be my friend yet, and now he was getting cross-examined by a seven year old who I just knew wouldn’t let him skirt the question.
“Stella! Liam! Come inside now,” my mom called, stepping through the door.
They both ran toward the door but stopped and waved at Nolan and me before disappearing inside. I was fairly certain that my face was a deep shade of crimson, but I tried my best to look normal.
“Sorry about that,” I said breezily.
“Hey, kids say the darndest things, don’t they?” he said with a laugh.
“That’s an understatement,” I replied, rolling my eyes. I put my hands on the grips of my wheels and rolled myself to the edge of the porch.
“Can you hand me that?” I asked, pointing at the ramp that my father hadn’t had a chance to put in yet.
“We don’t need that. Hold on,” he said, getting up and coming over to me. He put his hands on the handles of the chair and tilted me back. I looked up at him with wide, confused eyes, but his reassuring grin managed to soothe half of the doubt. I knew what he was intending to do; I just didn’t think he could pull it off.
“I have two questions for you,” he said, looking down at me with a grin. “The first one is; what’s your real name?”
Bump.
We went down the first step.
“Jane,” I replied nervously as I gripped the sides of the chair tightly.
“Where the hell did Starr come from then?” he asked in confusion.
Bump, bump.
“Um. It was the first word I ever said. At least that’s what mom and dad tell me. I used to go outside all the time and look at the stars when I was little. Now it takes everything inside of me just to be able to get out of bed.”
Bump, bump, bump, bump.
“Fair enough,” he replied.
“What’s your second question?” I asked, still holding on for dear life.
“Was that so bad?” he asked with a smile, setting the wheels down on the pavement.
“Huh?” I looked around and saw that I was on the sidewalk now and off of the stairs.
Tricky, I thought with narrowed eyes.
“If we’re going to be best friends, you’re going to have to learn to trust me,” he said, coming to stand next to me.
I looked up at him and watched him slide his hands into his pockets with that half-smile still planted on his face.
I was going to ask him exactly when I had agreed to be his best friend, when a honking car distracted me. I looked to my right and saw my father pulling down the street as he made his way toward the driveway.
I smiled and waved. He honked again and pulled in. When he stepped out of the car, I knew that Nolan would be intimidated; most people were. Dad was at least six-foot-five and he was built like a mountain. He believed that no matter what your age was, you should always try to stay in great physical condition—which worked well for him since he was a contractor. He closed the car door and walked over to us.
It was almost like looking into a mirror, with the exception of the gender difference. We had the same mahogany-colored hair and hazel-brown eyes. When we smiled the corners of our eyes crinkled and we had the same dimple in our right cheek.
“Hi, Sweetheart!” he said happily as he stopped in front of me.
