Read The Color of a Dream for Free Online Page B

then she abruptly
stood up and walked to the window. Looking out at the neighbor’s
house next door, she folded her arms at her chest. “It’s not an
easy thing to say.”
    “Try,” I replied.
    Turning to face me, she sat down on the
windowsill. “I’m not happy here, and I need to leave. I’ve already
booked a plane ticket, but I haven’t told my parents yet.”
    My brow furrowed with bewilderment. “A plane
ticket to where?”
    “Out West,” she said. “California.”
    A sick feeling rolled like a jagged boulder
into my gut, and I rose to my feet. “Why? What’s in California? Or
should I ask who ?”
    Suddenly the tension in the room was as
thick as bread dough.
    “Your brother,” she said.
    Shutting my eyes, I cupped my forehead in a
hand. “No.”
    “Yes. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you,
but it’s why I’ve been curled up in a ball for the past three days.
I can’t stay here anymore. I’m suffocating, Jesse. I need to go to
LA.”
    “To be with Rick?” I asked, horrified.
    She nodded.
    “Does he know about this? Does he know how
you feel?”
    She scoffed and sat down on the bed. “Of
course he knows and it’s been hell for both of us. We both tried so
hard to ignore how we felt, but it just wasn’t possible. I’m in
love with him and I have to be with him.”
    The room was spinning. Everything was
turning red.
    “What are you telling me?” I asked. “That
the two of you went around together behind my back?”
    Gaze lowered, she nodded.
    “When?” I demanded to know.
    How could I not have known?
    Angela shrugged. “Usually while you were at
work. Sometimes we met at your place.”
    No, no.
    No! This was too much!
    Bracing my hands on my hips, I began to pace
around her bedroom. “For the love of God, please don’t tell me you
slept with him.”
    Her lack of a response provided the answer
and sent my blood into a wild frenzy. I stopped pacing and faced
her. “Are you crazy? He doesn’t love you, not like I do.”
    How pathetic I sounded. I wanted to smother
myself with a pillow.
    Angela rose defensively to her feet. “Yes,
he does. You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t know
what it was like.” She paused to catch her breath. “I’m sorry, but
I’m in love with him and I can’t take this anymore. Ever since he
left, I’ve been wasting away. I’ll die if I don’t go. I need to be
with him and I’m leaving tomorrow.”
    I shook my head in a mad attempt to clear
this nightmare from my brain. It couldn’t be happening. Rick
wouldn’t have done this to me.
    Had he really lied to me at the terminal
when we said good-bye? How could he have made me feel like such a
jealous fool?
    “Have you talked to him since he left?” I
asked. “Does he know you want to follow him?”
    “Of course he knows,” she replied. “He told
me to come and move in with him because he can’t take it either.
You don’t understand. What happened between us was…” She
stopped.
    “It was what ?” My stomach churned. I
was going to be sick.
    “It was intense and I can’t possibly explain
it any better than that. You wouldn’t understand. There are no
words. All I know is that I never felt anything like this before
and I believe he’s my soul mate. I think we must have known each
other in heaven or something, and I think it’s why I met you in the
parking lot that day. You were meant to lead me to Rick. That’s why
it all happened this way.”
    I seriously wanted to puke.
    Soul mate? They met in heaven? She
had completely lost her mind.
    “It won’t last,” I told her. “It may seem
exciting and romantic now, but I know my brother. Mark my words,
you’ll end up with a broken heart.”
    She shook her head again. “No, you’re wrong.
I know he’s been with a lot of girls—he told me about all that—but
this is different. I’m not like the other girls who go after him,
and he needs me as much as I need him. I feel terrible that this is
hurting you, Jesse.