You know, sometimes I wonder what things would be like if I just ... met you one day. Like normal people do. If I just walked by you on some street one sunny morning and thought you were cute, stopped, shook your hand, and said, "Hi, I'm Daniel.
Marie LuSo, tell me,โ he whispers. โHow fast did you climb those fourteen stories?โ Thomas makes a disapproving sound in his throat, but I break into a grin. Stormโs past. Metias loves me again. โSix minutes,โ I whisper back to my brother. โAnd forty-four seconds. How do you like that?โ โThat must be some sort of record. Not that, you know, youโre supposed to do it.
Marie LuIโve been searching a long time for something I think I lost. I felt like I found something when I saw you back there.
Marie LuI don't know if anyone's ever told you this", he begins. He doesn't blush, and his eyes don't dart away. Instead I find myself starring into a pair of oceans - one perfect, the other blemished by that tiny ripple. "You're very attractive." I've been complimented on my appearance before. But never in his tone of voice. Of all the things he's said, I don't know why this catches me off guard. But it startles me so much that without thinking I blurt out, "I could say the same about you." I pause. "In case you didn't know." A slow grin spreads across his face. "Oh, trust me. I know.
Marie LuDay just smiles at me, an expression so sad that it breaks through my numbness, and I begin to cry. Those bright blue eyes. Before me is the boy who has bandaged my wounds on the streets of Lake, who has guarded his family with every bone in his body, who has stayed by my side in spite of everything, the boy of light and laughter and life, of grief and fury and passion, the boy whose fate is intertwined with mine, forever and always. "I love you," he whispers. "Can you stay awhile?
Marie Lu