The skin between his brows creased. “Man, this sucks. The ground even wants to fall out beneath our picture. That’s just not fair.”
I shoved him and he laughed in amusement. “Since you’re having so much fun with this, then do it right. Our picture needs to hang from its rope too just in case the ground falls out beneath it.”
“I believe, Luce,” he replied, twisting the picture around, “that this is referred to as a wire. Not a rope.”
I groaned as he handed me the picture and climbed the step stool again, hammer in hand. “Could you be any more infuriating?”
I knew from experience he could.
“For you, Luce,” he said, looking down at me as he repositioned the hook and nail. “I could be whatever you wanted me to be.”
“How about quiet and focused until you get that thing right?”
He winked down at me, sealing his lips as he pounded the nail into its new location.
“You know, this whole apartment idea was the most brilliant, foolish thing you’ve done to date,” I said, investigating the room that, to pay for it every month, meant Jude would have to pick up extra hours at the garage. All so we could spend weekends together. No more sharing a room with India or his housemates. This was a place all our own.
He made a face down at me, moving his mouth in silence.
“What?”
“I’m supposed to be quiet and focused right now,” he whispered down at me.
I blew out a sigh of exasperation. “How about just focused then?” I said. “Since asking you to be quiet is like some rare form of torture for you.”
“Focused,” he said, bouncing his brows at me. “I can do focused, Luce.”
“Does your mind ever drift from sex?” I swatted his backside.
“Rarely.”
“More like never,” I muttered.
He grinned his agreement. “So why is the apartment my most brilliant idea ever?”
“Well, Mr. Selective Hearing, it’s your most brilliant because we’ve got our own place, some place where we don’t have to tiptoe around other people. Some place we can grow into.”
Motioning that he was ready, I handed him the picture.
“It’s your most foolish idea because you’re paying eight hundred dollars a month for two days a week; it’s a two hour drive from my school and a three hour drive from your place. And let’s not forget we’re a couple of eighteen-year-old college freshman that have moved in together and are engaged.”
He looked at me like he always did when I was talking all crazy. “I’m not sure how to respond to that, so how about I just offer a ‘you’re welcome’?” Hanging the picture on the hook again, he adjusted it, craning his neck from side to side inspecting it.
The damn thing was still crooked.
“Thank you,” I said, as he adjusted it again, only making it worse.
“Thank you for what?” he said, his fists balling like he wanted to drive them through the wall in frustration. “Thank you as in a prelude to my ‘you’re welcome,’ or thank you for the most brilliant, foolish thing I’ve ever done?” He adjusted it to the other side and, in the midst of straightening it, the hook fell right out of the wall in a cloud of drywall dust.
“Damn it!” he hollered, punching the wall.
I checked the picture where it’d fallen on the mantle. The glass hadn’t broken. It had survived the fall and its impact.
“Thank you for everything,” I said, grabbing his hand.
His fist released instantly, relaxing in my hold. His fingers wove through mine, playing with the gold band circling my ring finger. We hadn’t set a date yet, we were only eighteen after all, but we were crazy in love. So maybe we’d wait until we were done with school and do the whole shebang wedding, and maybe we’d wake up tomorrow and couldn’t wait to be tied together one final way and run to the closest courthouse to demand a shot gun wedding.
It didn’t matter to me either way. I didn’t have any doubts any more. Confusion didn’t muddy my mind from the truth. But I was glad I’d gone through it all. I had to walk through the fire to see what was on the other side. I had to get burned to know if it was worth it. I had to not only ask myself, but live my life without Jude in it to realize just how much he belonged in it.
“You’re welcome,” he said, the lines on his face fading away. “Again.”
“Third time’s a charm?” I said, retrieving the hook where it had fallen on the floor.
He glared at the hardware, snatching it out of my hands and repositioning it on the wall.
“Let’s get this thing hung,” I said, as he pounded the nail and hook into a new patch of drywall. “We’ve both got an early morning and a long drive, so we need to get to bed.”
In this space of mostly taped up boxes and a few opened ones, the bed had been the priority. The sheets hadn’t even made it on after Jude dragged the mattress up a few flights of stairs before we’d christened the studio.
“So help me god,” Jude muttered at the wall. “If you don’t cooperate, I’m tearing you down.”
I smiled, handing him the picture. Nothing like a little “incentive” to get a man focused.
Holding his breath, he settled the wire into the hook and let it hang. Stepping down from the step stool, he grabbed my hand and led me across the room.
Five steps later, he spun us around so we could take in the full effect of the picture. It was still crooked. But less so than the first and second attempts. Maybe he was right—maybe the walls surrounding it were the things that were all askew.
Wrapping his arm around me, he pulled me close. “Perfect,” he said, kissing my head.
I glanced up at him, then back at the picture. “Close enough,” I said, tucking closer to him. “Close enough for me.”
THE END
Thank you for reading CLASH by Kindle Best-selling author Nicole Williams.
Nicole loves to hear from her readers. You can reach her at nwilliamsbooks@gmail.com or:
On her blog: nicoleawilliams.blogspot.com
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On Twitter: nwilliamsbooks
Other Works by Nicole Williams
ETERNAL EDEN
FALLEN EDEN
UNITED EDEN
FISSURE
FUSION (TO BE RELEASED IN 2012)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I’m a wife, a mom, a writer. I started writing because I loved it and I’m still writing because I love it. I write young adult because I still believe in true love, kindred spirits, and happy endings.
Here’s to staying young at heart *raises champagne glass* … care to join me?
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
EPILOGUE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR