Free The Red Thread by Bryan Ellis Page A

desk.
    “I’ll leave you two alone.” She walks through the maze of bookshelves, and I silently thank her. I turn back to Adam. Alone at last.
    “Thank you. It’s b-b-busy today,” he jokes, with a smirk playing upon those soft pink lips.
    “Yeah, ha-ha…,” I say with the most awkward laugh anyone has ever heard. If Adam is adorable in human form, then I am awkward in human form. Adorable meet awkward. His smile begins to disappear, and my heart drops.
    “Are, are you, um, o-okay?” he asks.
    “Yeah, I am. Don’t worry.”
    What the hell am I doing?
    “You, you s-s-s-said you w-were working, s-s-s-s-so I wanted to s-s-s-surprise you.” He has a giant grin on his face, like he is so proud of himself. He really is just a tall dog, probably one with floppy ears too.
    “Oh yes, I’m so surprised. Incredibly.” The sarcasm is dripping from my voice.
    “I-I was t-too obvious?”
    I nod. “Slightly.”
    He pouts his lips, and never in my life have I wanted to grab a person and kiss one like I do now. He licks his lips, and I can’t tear my eyes away from them. I can only imagine them tasting like heaven. No, they’re probably better than heaven, and unlike heaven, I actually know that Adam’s lips exist.
    “I g-get too excited s-s-s-s-s-s-sometimes. It’s a p-problem of m-mine.”
    “It’s fine,” I reassure him. “I still like that you’re here.”
    His smile somehow becomes bigger, and joy radiates from his entire being, and it’s all from me. I have to admit I do like being the cause of that dorky smile.
    “S-s-so there are r-r-reasons why, why I am, um, here.”
    I look into his eyes and can’t stop the smile forming on my own face. His eyes are that powerful. They don’t make it hurt to smile when I’m around him.
    “I w-wanted t-t-t-to ask you… out on a… d-d-d-date?” he states, sounding unsure as he gets to the final word.
    A date ? Me? Why, I am craving to ask, but no, I shouldn’t. Jill says I need to act confident, although I might have to fake it.
    “A date ?” The word sounds foreign on my tongue. I mean I have been on dates before… it’s just been a while. A long while, and none of them were very good. I never even made it to a third date before. By the second date, they all found me too weird or messed up to want to see again. My life leading up to the hospital stay was a continual dark day .
    “Y-yeah… I h-h-hope that is, is okay?” The smile falls from his face, and a blush rises to his cheeks. He looks down toward the ground. “If it isn’t, you c-c-can let me know.”
    “Sure, yeah. That’d be nice,” I finally answer. The moment I answer, I somewhat regret it. Should I really be going on a date? Should I throw myself into someone’s life? No one should have to deal with my baggage. It’s my baggage to deal with on my own.
    His smile grows wide, and I am almost sure he’d float away if it weren’t for the grand thing known as gravity. “That is s-s-swell.”
    Swell. I like that. It’s not a word you hear often anymore, but it suits him. I like that he says swell. It just adds to his allure.
    “Exquisite,” I respond back, using my favorite word.
    “S-s-see you to-tomorrow.”
    “Tomorrow?” I ask. Shouldn’t we plan on a date first, before he tells me a day?
    “Therapy?”
    Right. That’s tomorrow night. It’s been a little under two weeks since we first met, but it oddly feels much longer, in a good way. Getting to talk to him has just been wonderful. It feels right to have in him in my life, like he belongs in my life.
    Now the only question is, can I handle having someone in my life?

CHAPTER SIX
     
     
    WHILE LYING in bed, my thoughts turn toward Adam. I’m happy he asked me out, but I can’t lie and say I’m not apprehensive about this. The last time someone asked me out on a date, it was a long time ago—I hardly remember how long it has been—and it ended up being a prank. Afterward he made fun of me with all of his friends about