Page 106 of Don't Date Your Best Friend
I froze hearing that voice and every vein in my body scorched with anger when I looked over Ma's shoulder, meeting his gray eyes.
I felt Ma squeeze my hand."Go and talk to him."
She walked around and sat in the driver's seat, leaving me alone to deal with him.
"What are you doing here?"
"Nice to see you too," Liam said sarcastically and handed me a paper bag.
I furrowed my eyebrows."What's this?"
Liam sighed."Just ...something Kiara entrusted me with."
Hearing her name from his lips made my blood boil."What the fuck did you just say?"
"Look, Ethan, I know you hate me, but just read that, okay?"
I peered into the bag and took out the black diary.My heart pounded in my ears.It's hers.Flashes of her scribbling inside this diary flickered in my mind.How she would whine every time her strands of hair fell on her face and she would bunch them in a bun and start scribbling again.And when I tried to take a look at what she was writing, she would angrily push my face away.
"She gave it to me."
I could feel a painful throb in my heart."When?"
His shoulders slumped like he was physically tired."It mailed to my house with a letter to give it to you without opening it."He looked up and whispered, "Before...before she was gone."
I shook my head."This doesn't make any sense."
"I don't know, okay?It's hers and she wanted you to read it."He added carefully, "But it's up to you if you want to."
I looked down at her black leather diary.Her name was written in the center in a white scribble like she was in a hurry.There was a loop in the second 'a' of her name.I felt so much and nothing.
Liam said, “Kiara would want you to read and let you know why she did what she did.I loved her too, you know?”
I clenched my jaw and nodded.“I know,” I said in a small voice.“So do I.So dideveryone.Then why did she?—”
Liam clasped a hand on my shoulder.“Kiara was a troubled person, Ethan.She had lots of secrets she didn’t want to share.Writing them down was her escape.She gave this to you because she trusts you.”He took a deep breath.“I’ll leave you to it.Take care, man.”
He walked away without saying anything else, his hands in his pockets.
* * *
I took a sharp breath, sitting down in the window seat surrounded by buzzing people.I felt the weight of Kiara's diary on my lap.I was contemplating whether I should start reading this, burn it away, throw it away, or hide it somewhere where no one could find it.
But of course, I didn't have the heart to do either of those things to Kiara's most precious thing.And I knew I'd get bored in almost five hours of flight to New York.
So, when an old granny sat beside me going through herPlayboymagazine, I decided I should read the diary.I removed the black elastic from the wooden button that was holding the diary in place and opened the very first page.
It was a letter.To me.Fromher.
