Afterlife (Purgatory Series Part Three)

Chapter Six: Relationship advice from Johnny Storm

Chapter Six: Relationship advice from Johnny Storm

"Okay, stop," Altair demanded. "The punching bag is right in front of you, Thea. How do you keep missing it?"

"Sorry," I mumbled, shuffling my feet. "I'm just distracted, I guess."

I heard him sigh and turned to see him flop down onto the floor mat. Following suit, I sat cross-legged in front of him and picked at a string on my sweater. He was frustrated with me, I could tell. Even I was frustrated with me.

This task was important – probably the most important thing I would do in my entire life – and I was screwing it up already.

Several minutes of awkward silence went by before Altair spoke up.

"Listen. We're going to talk, and you're probably not going to like what I'm going to say, but you need to hear it regardless of whether or not it hurts your feelings."

I cringed, knowing exactly where this was headed.

"Whatever this thing is you have going on with Roran, it needs to stop," he began. His flaming orange eyes pegged me with a stern, no-nonsense look.  "I'm not saying it to be spiteful or petty. There are plenty of sensible reasons why you don't need to be in a relationship with him – or with anyone for that matter."

Part of me wanted to get up and run away from this conversation. My heart didn't want to hear Altair's reasons and logic, especially after spending hours earlier contemplating this exact thing.

I had hoped, after our argument the night before, Roran would come to my room and we could talk about things, but that had never happened. I had laid on my back staring at the ceiling for hours thinking over everything. Now it looked like I was going to have to revisit it all again with Altair.

"I've known Roran a long time," Altair continued. "And he is all wrong for you, fangs."

Protests spluttered from my mouth, but Altair shook his head.

"Just hear me out, okay?" he asked. "Because you haven't realized it yet, but you're making a terrible mistake."

 "I thought you said this isn't just about Roran? What about 'you shouldn't be with anyone'?" I argued, frowning at him.

Altair nodded. "This isn't just about Roran, and I stand by what I said, but I'm pretty sure you aren't going to give him up without a reason. So I'm giving you several."

I huffed and rolled my eyes. Despite my uncertainty about my relationship with Roran, I still didn't want to hear Altair put him down.

"I used to look up to Roran when I was younger," Altair confessed. "He was my idol."

Looking at him in surprise, I noticed he was blushing. I raised my eyebrows and said, "Okay, you've got my attention. Go on."