Page 78 of Lightning Angel
Alexa gaped at her friend. “I’m not cowering from him!”
“Then why haven’t you texted him back yet? Whether your answer to him is a yes or no, why is it takingthislong?” Daphne sounded exasperated.
Alexa groped for words, at last sputtering, “I-I don’t know!”
Maybe she was dreading the outcome of his explanation if she said yes, and the fallout of their friendship if she said no.
She was torn, and she had no answer for him, noteven the audacity to tell him she needed time.
Was Daphne right about her cowering from him?
It suddenly felt like shewas. If it had been Tristan in Jude’s place earlier, would she have stared at him defiantly with her chin raised?
No. She’d have looked away.
Ifshe stared, it would have been a breathless, drooling stare.
Alexa’s cheeks heated.Geez.Was shethattaken with him that she was now acting like a coward and a shy girl, both of which she had never been around any other boys before?
Daphne sighed next to her. “Just try to figure something out to smooth things over between the two of you. He sounds like a great guy—he saved your life. Show him some gratitude!”
“He hates it when I thank him,” she mumbled. “He doesn’t want me to act on my gratitude toward him.”
Daphne turned to her from the road with wide eyes. “Allmorereason to smooth things over between you two! Alexa, that guy’s gold!”
“I know.” Alexa sighed heavily. “He’s wonderful, amazing, and all sorts of a great man. But…”
“But what?”
Alexa refused to voice her fears. She heaved another sigh, hoping Daphne would drop it. “Nothing.”
Daphne sighed as well, as if sensing her dismissal. “I’m suggesting maybe you should ask him to go with you to prom.”
“That’s like still three weeks away, Daph,” Alexa said with a chuckle.
“It’s always good to be prepared. Besides, I want tomake sure my best friend isn’t going without a date while I go with one.”
“Aw, aren’t you the best girlfriend ever?”
“Yes, and that’s why I’m telling you to stop cowering.”
Alexa’s smile dropped and she scowled, suddenly motivated. She would prove Daphne wrong even though shewasright.
But how was Alexa going to smooth things over between her and Tristan when he had claimed to be in love with her, and real-life romance was the last thing she was enthusiastic about? Would it ever go back to normal between the two of them now that he had revealed her his true intentions?
Unless…
She pondered the matter until a certain thought hit her.
Unless she provedhimwrong about his feelings for her and made him admit that whatever he felt was rather an obsession than love. Not that it would smooth things over between them, but she could prove Daphne that she wasn’t a coward.
That night, after dinner and changing into her PJs, Alexa paced the length of her room, fiddling her fingers nervously. She had been certain about calling Tristan over for the second confrontation that entire evening until now. Now, she was feeling uncharacteristically nervous about facing him again, despite the strange thrill that coursed through her body.
She paused and bit the tip of her forefinger, her eyes latching onto the big teddy bear she won at the carnival, sitting on the far end of her bed. She hadn’t named it yet,as her plate had been a little too full since that fateful evening.
An urge filled her being as she recalled that day, and her uncertainty subsided for a moment. Alexa marched back to her bed and grabbed her phone. It was now or never. She opened his chat and typed out her response before she lost the nerve.
Alexa: I need to talk with you.