Prologue
I refuse to look up at her because I know that if I did, if I saw her beautiful face, the walls I’ve built up for so long will crumble around me. She has that affect on me, and I can’t control it no matter how hard I try to.
“Remember that boy I painted a wall with? All he saw was grey in the world and I told him that beyond the wall we paint together, there’s a whole other side. The other side had colours and perspective and freedom. And he’s missing out.” Her smooth voice dances in my ears. I instantly feel vulnerable beside her and I’m afraid.
I nod and continue to stare at the floor beneath us, taking the place of a statue, staying completely still.
“You’re like that, you know.” She continues. “Happiness is right in front of you, but you’re too busy choosing misery that you can’t even see it.”
I finally look up and realize that her face is a lot closer to mine than I originally thought. Her beauty captivates me, warms me, makes me completely melt in front of her. Every detail in her face, frees me.
“I want to be happy...” I whisper. “I want to make you happy. Making you happy and being with you, makes me happy. You’re my other side of the wall, Aria. And you’re right in front of me.”
Sharing emotions with another person is the hardest thing that I think I could ever do. More terrifying than having a gun pulled on me, or being stabbed, or having any form of my life threatened. More terrifying than my past and all the bullshit that I’ve been through.
Aria smiles soft and faint. “Then what do you choose?”
I lean in closer to her face, craving nothing more than to be with her. “I choose what’s in front of me. Every. Single. Time.”
