All Chapters of A Love Too Close : Chapter 31 - Chapter 38

Chapter ThirtyAnnie's POV"Last day in San Francisco!"The announcement came with bouncing on the edge of the bed and I was barely half awake when it started. I groaned and pulled the blanket over my head and tried to pretend I had not heard it."Come on, come on, come on!" Sophia yanked the blanket off with the cheerful ruthlessness of someone who had been up for hours and saw no reason why everyone else should not also be up. "We're wasting daylight!""Sophia," I said into the pillow. "It's barely eight in the morning.""Exactly. Get up. Grey's already up. We're getting breakfast and then hitting Union Square."I sat up slowly, pushing my hair out of my face. "What's at Union Square?"She looked at me with the expression she reserved for questions she considered self evident. "Shopping, obviously. We cannot leave San Francisco without proper souvenirs. Not those tacky I Heart SF t-shirts. I mean actual things. Meaningful things.""Sophia—"She was already in my clos

Chapter Thirty TwoAnnie's POVThe car ride home was silent. Sophia sat in the passenger seat staring out the window, her face pale and streaked with dried tears. I had tried talking to her at first, asking if she was okay, if she wanted to stop somewhere, if she needed anything at all. She did not respond. Just kept staring out the window like she was somewhere far away that had nothing to do with the car or the street or me sitting beside her. So I stopped asking and drove and let the silence be what it needed to be.When we finally pulled up to the house I tried once more."Sophia," I said quietly. "We should—""I can't," she interrupted, her voice hollow in a way I had not heard from her before. "I don't want to talk about anything, right now.""Okay," I said.Without another word she got out and walked to the front door. I followed slowly, my hands still not entirely steady, Mira's business card still in my pocket where I had put it and had not stopped being aware

Chapter Thirty FourAnnie's POVThe room fell silent as Mira finished speaking. She stood in the center of the dining room, her cream colored dress catching the soft candlelight, tears streaming freely down her face. She had explained everything, the accident, her parents, Switzerland, the years of believing she was doing what was right by staying away. Her voice had broken several times and she had kept going anyway."I'm so sorry," she said, and the words came out in pieces. "I had no idea you all thought I was dead. My parents told me you had moved on. That it was better this way. I believed them. I stayed away because I thought that was what everyone wanted."Grey's mother was pressing a napkin to her eyes. "Your poor parents must have been desperate. To do something so drastic. Even though they wanted what was best for you, that was not the right way."Grey's father nodded slowly. "They must have thought they were protecting you.""They were," Mira said quietly

Chapter Thirty SixAnnie's POVThe cab pulled up in front of a building with flashing neon lights and I looked through the window and blinked."What is this?"Leo was already paying the driver. "You'll see. Come on."I got out onto the sidewalk and looked up at the sign. PIXEL PARADISE ARCADE. Loud electronic music thumped through the walls. Through the windows I could see flashing lights in every color, rows of machines, people moving between them, a group of teenagers pressed around something in the corner shouting at each other."An arcade," I said.Leo turned to me with a small smile. "Trust me. You'll like it."Inside it was chaos. Beautiful overwhelming chaos. Red and blue and green and purple lights flashing in rhythm with the music, the sound of electronic beeps and digital explosions and the mechanical whirring of machines filling every inch of air. Kids ran past us clutching fistfuls of tickets. A couple argued good naturedly over a racing game. Somewhere in