Beautiful Tragedy (A Standalone Romance Novel) by Alycia Taylor Page A

back.” When I
got back, she had folded the blanket we left on the couch, and straightened up
the living room. It was funny how much we were alike sometimes. “You ready?” I
asked her.
    We rode back to her dorms on Susie, so conversation
was pointless. I don’t know about her, but I was enjoying her arms around me again,
even if she only did it to keep from falling off the bike. I thought about my
failed kiss attempt. Then I thought about the night we danced in the rain. I
think she would have kissed me that night. I was beginning to figure out that
Molly’s a thinker, and if she lets herself, she can think of a reason to talk
herself out of anything. I think some guy must have hurt her in the past. She
tries to put up this wall around her heart. She likes me though; I can see it
in her eyes and her smile. I feel it…in my heart. I’m not ready to give up on
this being more than just friends. I wasn’t going to pressure her at all, but I
was still hoping if we hung out enough, she might start to feel it too.

 
    CHAPTER
ELEVEN
    MOLLY
    I had just gotten out of the shower when Megan got
home. “Phew!” I was really glad she hadn’t already been here; I would have
never heard the end of it, having spent the night with Brock, no matter how
innocent it had been.
    As I dried my hair I thought about how good it had
felt to wake up in his arms, with my head on his strong chest and his arm
around me. If I hadn’t been so shocked to wake up there, I may have pretended
to be asleep a little longer, just because it felt so right. He was already
awake when I opened my eyes and I had to wonder how long he had lain still like
that, just holding me and letting me sleep. Everything he did was so…caring and
sweet. I wondered how a guy that good-looking wasn’t spoiled and arrogant. They
were few and far between that’s for sure. I thought about the failed kiss and
wondered when….or if I was ever ready if he would want to try it again. Megan’s
knocking on the door interrupted my thoughts. I turned off the blow dryer and
said, “Come on in Meg.”
    “Hey Molly, how was your night?” Megan said as she
came in the door.
    “It was fun. We just watched a movie. How was yours?”
    “The car show was good, but Tim’s mom’s house
was…questionable. I had serious concerns about her housekeeping methods.” Megan
was kind of a clean-freak which wasn’t a bad thing, but I worry that she might
have to kill Jake when they finally decide to get married or live together.
From what Brock told me, he is kind of a slob.
    “I have to pee,” Megan said.
    I shook my head. I don’t know if it’s a psychological
thing or what, but every time I go into the bathroom, Megan has to pee. I was
okay with it now, though it was really hot in the bathroom. I got this sudden,
overwhelming need for air. I went out into the room and opened the one and only
window we have. It’s not that big, but I hung my head out of it like a dog out
of a car window. As soon as the fresh air hit my lungs I became nauseated and
my head started feeling a little foggy. As I stood there, clutching on to the
windowsill, the room started to spin. Maybe it was the bagel….
    I turned around and tried to make it to my bed about
the time that Megan came out of the bathroom. One look at me sent her running
to my side. She grabbed my arm and helped me get to the bed and then she said, “Molly
you’re as white as a sheet.”
    “I’m a little light-headed,” I told her. “I just need
to lie down.”
    Megan helped me lay back on the bed. The room was
spinning now and my ears were ringing. I suddenly felt like I needed to puke
and I tried to get up but I was too off-balance to stand.
    Megan grabbed her purse and said, “We’re going to the
hospital.”
    “No,” I protested. “I’m okay.” To prove I was a liar
no doubt, I stumbled into the desk between our beds.
    “Molly, you’re going with me or I’m calling an
ambulance. Wait right there I’m going to