“How did they die?” she asked.
“About two years ago I’d made it into the world of publishing and we'd gone to some book launch. Little Frankie and Carla were tired and she drove them home while I stayed and mingled with the rest of the group. I returned home before them. They never made it home. A drunk driver in a lorry crashed head on into them. They wouldn’t have seen it coming.”
Laura got to her knees and hugged him.
Dean let go, his body shaking with the sobs coming out of him. She held him through the pain and the heartache as he finally, after so long of keeping it inside, let it out.
“I’ve got you,” she whispered and kissed him on the head. She wasn’t there for anything more than to offer him comfort. She sought no other pleasure or means.
“I should have been there,” he cried.
She let go of his hand and cupped his face. “No," she said. "This was not your fault. What happened that night couldn’t be foreseen. You’re not to blame.”
Firm and direct she hugged him and after some time he settled down with his head in her lap. Laura ran her fingers through his hair as she glanced up at the setting sun.
“I’m so sorry,” he said after a time, but he didn’t move from the position on her lap.
“What are friends for?” she asked.
“I’m so pleased you’re my friend, Laura.”
She smiled.
“Laura?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you for bringing me here.”
“It’s my pleasure.”
They stayed together on the boulder until the sun went down and Dean drove her home later that night. She watched him disappear before walking into the house. The afternoon had been good for him to get the pain and misery off his chest. She hated to think of him hurting. No one deserved to go through the pain.
* * * *
“I’m never going to get this,” Peter yelled.
Laura sat in the picnic area. Young children played on the swings and other families sat at benches eating food.
“Yell any louder and they’ll call the cops to have you removed,” she told him and took another bite of her sandwich.
“I don’t understand it. It’s like it’s not sinking in,” He replied with a sigh and dropped his body down onto the grass. Laura moved her lunch out of the way for him to sit.
“How do you do it?” he asked.
“Do what?” she asked.
“Remember this crap. I mean, why do we have to do it in the first place?”
Laura laughed and then finished off her sandwich. “First off, you didn’t have to take history. In college you pick your own courses, remember? And second, how can you not get history? It’s not like an equation you have to learn or any crap like that. History is about fact and events taken place in the past. I don’t get why you don’t understand it,” she said.
Peter watched as she took her second sandwich out of the box and began eating it. Her lunch break wasn’t long and he'd taken it upon himself to accompany her on the break.
“I’m not a brainy person like you.”
“When the new semester starts, I suggest you change subjects,” she offered.
They ate their lunch in silence and walked the short distance back to the library. Laura left him to the back room while she went to sort through the books.
Peter watched her go. He wished he could find more of an excuse to be with her. History was the lamest of excuses he’d come up with. How could he tell her history was one of the classes he excelled in? Cursing his life, he opened the book he’d read several times and began reading through it once again.
With any other girl he’d be right in there and asking her for a date. With Laura it wasn’t simple. She was smart and beautiful and he knew she thought of him as an ass**le. At closing time he waited outside for her.
“Can I walk you home?” he asked. Every other time she declined his offer.
“Yes.”
His heart jumped with joy. Maybe there was hope for him yet. Together they walked through the small town.
“Can I ask why you accepted?” His curiosity had gotten the better of him.
“I usually have another date somewhere and tonight I’m free," she responded. "I’ve nowhere else I need to be.”
Peter wondered where she usually went, but thought better of asking. He didn’t want to upset her while he was ahead.
“Would you like to come back to my place?” he asked.
“I’m good, thanks. I want to get home.”
“Why haven’t you got your own place?” The moment he’d turned eighteen he’d been out of his parents place. He didn’t want them pressuring him to be just like them.
“I don’t know.”
They came to a stop outside her house.
“This is me,” she said. Laura gave him a smile and walked up the small steps.
“I’ll see you at the library,” he called up after her.
She turned and smiled at him. “Bright and early.”
Peter waited until she went inside before going home. He lived above one of the shops in town. The rent was cheap considering the apartment was in the best of shape.
He opened a beer and sat in his chair. He didn't think Laura saw him as a potential boyfriend and this stalking would have to come to an end. He couldn’t keep watching her from afar either. Shaking his head, he thought he sounded like a creep even to himself, let alone what Laura might think. He’d ask her out soon. Maybe.
Chapter Eight
Over the next few days Laura shared the mornings between working at the library and helping Peter and her nights with Dean, but nothing sinister or sexual. She cooked him dinner and he’d read through her work or they'd watch a movie. He’d finally given her the grand tour of his house on one of the nights. They talked about work and while she wrote on the computer in his study, he either hovered over her or wrote some himself.
“Come on. When are you going to tell me about your writing?” she asked one night as she packed away her folder. In the past few weeks alone, he’d taught her so much already and even she’d seen an improvement in her writing.
“Funny you should mention that. I was about to give you a copy of one of my books,” he said.
Laura paused and glanced up at him. “Are you joking?”
“Nope, I think you can handle them. That is, if you still want to read them?”
“Are you insane? Of course I do.”
She watched him walk over to one of his shelves. His fingers began playing along the spines of the many books. Her excitement grew. He pulled out one of the thickest books and moved over to her.