Let It Be

Chapter 20

"I don't even know!" I cried in frustration when Tamera asked me about Sam a few days after I met Paula.

"Do you like him?" she asked.

"No, I don't like him. I can't like him."

"Why, is he dangerous?"

"No, of course not," I replied, waving my hand to dismiss the thought. Sam would never hurt me, I knew that. "I just can't like him. I can't like anybody. Not after everything. It's just not possible."

"It is, Abby," Tamera urged.

"No it's not. I don't know how to love anymore."

"You didn't love him," she tried to point out to make me feel better about it all.

"Yes I did," I groaned, because it made everything worse. "Before everything."

"That was a very different type of love," she tried to explain.

"Love is love," I retorted. "And I most certainly don't love Sam as anything more than a friend. I don't even love him as a friend. I can't even do that."

"Then what do you feel about him?"

I considered. "I appreciate his friendship. I like hanging out with him. He's kick-backed and relaxed, and I don't have to be nervous around him. He's not a threat."

"Don't be afraid of it, Abby."

"I'm not afraid of it. I can't be afraid of something that can't happen. Besides, Sam would never like me like that. No, he wouldn't. So there's no reason to like him. No reason at all. So I don't have to worry about it, because nothing is ever going to happen."

My phone rang, and I shifted the sleeping Mason in my arms to read the text from Birdie. "I have to go," I sighed, almost happy the conversation was over. I didn't want to think about it anymore.

I handed Tamera a check, collected Nate from where he was absorbed in a video game in a room over, and headed back home.

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The next day at school, I saw Sam before first period right as he was getting to school, later than usual. He was pulling on a sweatshirt over his shirt-- a shirt that was completely ripped to shreds covered in his blood.

I knew better than to freak out. Things like this happened all the time to Sam.

"What happened this time?" I asked as he zipped up the jacket.

He looked down, wiping his bloody hands on his pants. "A girl was being attacked by a dog," he replied as if it were no big deal. "I had to intervene."

I frowned. "I don't think I'm brave enough to be immortal, Sam."

He snorted. "You do not just start out like this. It takes years to simply control everything, let alone use it. After a while, it just sort of comes without thinking."

I thought about this a moment. "Like in the car on the way home from the museum?"

"Yes. Like on the way home from the museum. I should not have done anything when you were there, but I could not help myself." He shrugged, as if to say oh well.

"You wanted me to stay in the car so I wouldn't see you being all immortal-strength," I remembered.

He shook his head, pulling on his backpack as we headed down campus. "No, I wanted you to stay in the car because it was dangerous. And because I could have handled it on my own."

"I didn't understand that part," I pointed out.

"No. You didn't."

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Short chapter this time, sorry. 

he next chapters a big one, so just hang on!

As always, thanks for reading! Keep interacting with the story if you enjoy it! I really appreciate it.

Have a good day, my friends!