Book One In The Ahh-Ness Of Things Series: April & Donnie were once inseparable, but now almost six years have passed since she left NYC. What if April O'Neil could set the record straight, once & for all! The only girl down enough to chill with the...
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Donatello stood there in the center of his room staring at me for what seemed like an eternity. It felt as if we were mirror images of the night before. I had stared at him as he slept & he had caught me, not knowing where to be in this little room that should be a place of happiness. It seemed like months had passed since. He wanted to sit with me. He wanted to talk, to comfort me, to be comforted. He looked kind of rediculous; his bloodied lip so red it was like he had lip gloss smeared around him mouth. His eye was now dark bruised & almost swollen shut, & the cut on his cheek looked like a bee sting.
I watched him solemnly as he stepped across the cobble stones & sat quietly on the bed. We were almost shoulder to shoulder, staring down at the little wooden crate on the floor.
"Are you alright?" He reached his hand to smooth the hair down my back, but he pulled his hand away like he remembered he wasn't supposed to do something like that. "Why didn't you wake me?"
"I'll be fine."
"What are you doing?"
"I'm packing. If you want this stuff, just tell me."
"No...no it's your's. I kept it for you. For when you came back." His voice was hoarse & he sounded so empty. "Are you coming back?"
"I don't think I should."
"Where are you going?"
"I'll stay in New York. I have. I have some things I have to take care of."
"You don't..."
He stopped & caught his breath shakily. He laid down across the bed behind me. I wanted to just lay back against him & cry. I heard him rustling things around as he'd realized he'd laid on the pictures. He sat up & leaned close to me.
"This was the best day."
He was holding a picture of "Berni" & me; the day we went to Coney Island. He reached over & grabbed the stuffed hippo plush & squeezed it against himself.
"Where would we be if I was that guy?"
I didn't need to see the picture to imagine the beautiful guy in the photo booth, next to me. His wide deep, dark eyes. The strong crescent shape of his jaw. The long, low nose that started just above his full lips & ran all the way up to his high, rounded brows. I knew that face by memory. I had seen it through so many lives & always found him more lovely than the time before. I didn't answer him.
"I remember this! God I was so happy to see you!" Donnie thrust the picture of us on the couch in front of me so I could see. I wish he hadn't. "You weren't happy at all, were you?"
