Chapter 2

Lara

Forty days after

I can barely describe how good this feels. Daniel has completely turned my life around. It's like the emptiness inside of me has been filled up with warmth and the air around me is filled with him. I can't keep him out of my mind, and I don't want to.

We talk every day, walking around campus together. He lets me vent my anger when I need to, but I do it less often with every day that passes. I still think about Pudge every once in a while. But the thoughts aren't accompanied by the anger any more.

At first I didn't think anything he could do would help. I only let him try because he really seemed to want to. But every second I spend with him, I feel better than I did the second before. It's hard to believe that anyone could change so much so quickly. But he has.

Daniel

Forty-one days after

I can't believe how perfect this woman is. She sits here in front of me, wounded as I have been. Yet she is still more beautiful and graceful than anyone I've ever seen. I would give anything to take her pain away.

Just trying makes me feel like I'm worth something. The look in her eyes makes me feel like I'm worth everything. Although that can't be true, because she's worth everything, I could never be nearly as good as her. God this is so confusing. I feel in love with her so quickly, and maybe I shouldn't have, maybe I should have taken things slowly. But I couldn't, and now here I am.

"Do you like me?" I try to look into her eyes as I ask this, as hard as it is. She looks at me so innocently, so openly. Every thought she has is displayed so beautifully on her face.

"Of course I like you. I spend almost every day weeth you." I take a deep breath. Now comes the hard part. I know that she's a great friend, but that doesn't make this any less terrifying.

"No, I mean… more than just as a friend… you know… like… Oh God this is no good…" I look away as I say it. She puts one hand on mine to stop me, and I turn back to her. She has a smile on her face.

"I'm een love you."

My heart swells with warmth, something that's the exact opposite of the cold that was there before her. "Oh my God. Seriously? Like do you really mean it?" She nods. "Oh my God. This has never really happened to me before. No one has ever really said that to me before, at least not like that… I-"

She stops me with a kiss. Her lips are warm and soft, like the petals of a flower during spring. She wraps her arms around me, and after a few stunned seconds I hold her back, as closely to me as I can without hurting her.

Eventually she pulls away and smiles at me. I smile back as I say, "I love you too."

Daniel

Forty-two days after

My friend Albert doesn't seem as keen about the situation. "You love her? You just met her! What on earth are you thinking?"

I'm blushing more than a little as I respond. "I'm thinking that I'm lonely, and that she makes me happy. You know I haven't been truly happy for a while now. Not until I met her. And I'm thinking that she seems just as hurt as I was. I will do anything to make sure she doesn't have to suffer through that.

His face softens up a bit when he hears this. I can tell he's starting to truly understand how much she means to me. "You're completely smitten with this girl, aren't you?"

I nod with a fake stoicism. "Yes I am. I am in very deep smit. If you would just meet her, Albert! She's so kind and smart and… Oh God, I'm in deep, but I don't care! I'll embrace it, embrace her, with everything I have!"

Albert sighed with exhaustion. I smiled as he finally admitted defeat. "Whatever, man. I'm here for you. And so is she, I guess. Just be careful, alright? This is jacked up…"

My grin is growing bigger by the second. "Don't I know it. But that doesn't change a thing."

Daniel

Forty-four days after

Lara and I were in the library that day. We hung out there a lot, partly because not may others hung out there, partly because of how much I liked to read. However, I don't remember this because we were reading.

We had hidden ourselves among the stacks, and when we were about as alone as we could be, I sang to her.

How could anyone ever tell you

That you're anything less than beautiful?

How could anyone ever tell you

"You are less than whole"?

How could anyone fail to notice

That your loving is a miracle?

How deeply you're connected to my soul

I had known the song for a long time, since I was a kid. But singing it to her felt more… right, somehow. I kissed her forehead and just held her there for a second. Then she got out her iPod and we danced to "A Thousand Years" by Christina Perry. We didn't do any kind of fancy dancing. Really we were just holding each other as we turned ourselves in place. Just twirling among the pages in the library. She felt so warm against me, and I could have sworn I was in heaven.