Page 83 of Lightning Angel
Alexa’s vision swam as tears veiled her eyes. Goodness, she’d been in an emotional turmoil lately. What was happening to her?
Alexa: Me too. I’m so relieved to get your reply. I knew you’d be alright, but I couldn’t help worrying.
Tristan: I could come now. Can I teleport right inside your room?
Alexa: No! I mean, don’t come now! As much as I want to see you, don’t! Please, for me, don’t risk it. Please, please, please. Promise me you’re not gonna leave your house until the thunderstorm has moved on from town.
Tristan: I can’t turn you down when you plead like that.
Alexa: It’s no secret I care for you, Tristan. If you didn’t know that already, now you do.
Tristan: I do, Alexa. I wish I could see your face now.
Alexa: I’m smiling, surely you can imagine that?
He didn’t respond. Alexa immediately realized why when thunder clapped in the skies. She groaned and glared out at the night sky, just in time to see another lightning flash. “Could you please stop the show?”
She waited for it to stop until her eyelids grew heavy and she fell asleep. When she woke up in the morning, to her great annoyance, it was raining again.
Alexa groaned and tossed aside her blanket and climbed off the bed to stomp toward her bathroom when her eyes landed on a small piece of white paper on the floor, near the main door. She almost ignored it, thinking it was trash, until her eyes brushed over the familiar handwriting.
She reached for it.
I’m late to respond to your message, so I thought this is the best way of letting you know my reply. I’ve been smiling too. I am smiling now. You have never ceased to put a smile on my face.
—Tristan.
Alexa read the note repeatedly with an uncontainable smile. Being one of the most popular and gorgeous girls in the school, she never lacked admirers. Nearly every day, until she was officially dating Jude, she had love letters waiting for her in her locker. Most of them were anonymous—but from the difference in their handwriting, she realized they were from not just one boy—and some had been from Jude himself.
But none of them made her heart soar with contentment like this one did. Alexa hugged the note to her chest for a moment, like it was a piece of Tristan himself, before she turned around and grabbed her phone.
Alexa: Got your response. So thoughtful and sweet of you, Tristan. But I’m not pleased that you didn’t wake me up during your ‘visit’.
That was it. Since he didn’t call her when he came by, she was going to pay him a surprise visit after school today.
* **
The dark clouds loomed overhead, threatening to rain at any moment, or worse, to restart the lightning. Alexa parked her scooter in the driveway of Tristan’s house. She spied her former car in the garage next to Dr. Knight’s sedan and sent a smile its way before walking up the portico.
She rang the doorbell, and a moment later, the door opened, revealing a surprised-looking Dr. Knight in casual attire.
“Alexa, what a surprise!” The older man gestured her inside. She stepped forward and gave him a quick hug in greeting. “It’s so good to see you again. Although, I’m sure you’re not here to seeme.” He wriggled his eyebrows.
Alexa chuckled. He was super friendly and always positive. It was no secret he was the town’s favorite doctor.
She stepped back and grinned. “It’s so good to see you too, Dr. Knight.”
“Albert, Alexa. How many times should I tell you there’s no need for formalities between us?” Albert tilted his head with a soft smile.
“Then, Albert it is.”
Albert rolled his eyes with a smile. “That’s what you say all the time.”
Not this time.Alexa chuckled. This time, not only he was her dad’s friend but Tristan’s father as well. And she and Tristan were…close. She opened hermouth but shut it as her eyes hooked on the figure that appeared on the staircase behind Albert.
Tristan. Clad in black as ever.
The surprise was evident on his face as he descended the stairs to them. “Hey.”