Read Other Side of the Wall for Free Online Page B

but I knew that would
just make the situation worse; he had been clear he wanted no physical contact
with me.
    Instead,
I moved the bowls and scooted closer, but I didn’t touch him. “Would you like to
leave?” I whispered.
    He
looked down at me. I couldn’t read him even though our faces weren’t that far
apart. In fact, they were so close I had the impulse to kiss him. I quickly got
that thought out of my head. We were friends, and this wasn’t a date. He raised
his hand like he was going to touch my face, and I admit, I was hopeful, but he
lowered it. “Ava,” he said and then paused.
    I
just kept looking into his eyes, waiting for him to finish his response.    
    “I’m…
alright,” he managed to say.
    “Ok.”
    I
placed the popcorn containers back between us and I enjoyed the rest of the
movie. I had forgotten how much I liked that movie. I don’t know if Scott liked
it as much as me. I laughed more than he did, but he seemed to pay more
attention to me than the movie. We didn’t really talk during the movie. The
only real comment he made was when I handed him a water bottle and he let me
know that Jenna would be abhorred that he was drinking out of a non-reusable
bottle. I wanted to roll my eyes and say I recycled, but I just ignored it and
happily drank out of it like the environmental rebel I apparently was.
    All
in all, it was a very enjoyable night. Scott said he liked the movie. I hoped
he wasn’t just saying that. Next week they were playing “My Big Fat Greek
Wedding”, another of my favorites. He said we should go again. I agreed. In
fact, I began to agree to a lot of things with him, like Frisbee in the park
and bike rides and trips to the aquarium. There’s nothing like going to the
aquarium with a man that knows everything about it. He was like an
encyclopedia. We even got to stay after hours, and he introduced me to his
whales and dolphins. It was fun to feed them and interact with them. I could
tell he was very passionate about his job and the animals that he had charge
over.
    The
summer was turning into everything I had hoped living in Chicago would be. Well,
almost everything. I thought I would be happily married. Instead I was happily
in friendship. But as the summer drew on, I hoped that perhaps someday we would
have more than just friendship. At times I thought maybe he felt the same way too,
but every time we were together he never failed to mention Jenna. A lot of the
times it was in comparison to me. I don’t think he was intentionally comparing
us, but nevertheless he did; she and I were like night and day. It made me
wonder why he would spend so much time with me when he obviously loved such a
different woman than I was. She had been tall with very dark brown locks and
brown eyes, and she was very liberal and artsy. She had a degree in English,
and it sounded like she thrived on searching blogs daily and writing scathing
comments of correction and opinion. She was also one of those women that took
hundreds of pictures of themselves and posted them on social media daily. And
to top it off, she hated bread and dessert. I, on the other hand, was short
with light brown hair, forest green eyes. I suppose I would be considered
conservative, I couldn’t stand reading comments on blogs, especially the
negative ones. I also found selfie takers and daily posters to be narcissistic
and annoying. I drove a jeep, she drove a Prius. I didn’t really like poetry
readings or coffee, and those were some of her passions. I loved dessert and bread
and a myriad of other unhealthy items, of course sparingly, but all the same, I
loved them.
    Scott
and I always had a great time together. We laughed frequently, but he kept up
his barriers, and I had no intention of breaking them down. Only he could do
that. But I had hoped I would eventually have been enticing enough for some of
the barriers to come down.
    I
guess in the end he wanted to spend time with me because I was safe. He could
never have