Ruining You by Nicole Reed Read Free Book Online Page B

goes on.”
    She stands and pulls me up
to hug me. Letting go of me, she steps back and looks down. “Things are
changing for you, whether you know it or not. I like this girl that you are
becoming. Allow her to come through to deal with her feelings and find peace.”
    Nodding my head, I wipe the tears
from my eyes with my shirt sleeves.
    “We’ll talk more next week,
okay?”
    “Okay,” I say, and for once,
I mean it. As I walk out the door, Dr. Raines stops me with one last remark.
    “Oh and Jay, if you need to
talk with someone, you can’t go wrong with Eli. In fact, I think you will find
that you both have a lot in common.”
    Her words puzzle me, but
again I nod and walk out.
    Grabbing my jacket out of my
room, I decide to walk outside. I let Tami, one of the nurses, know where I am
going and head for the doors. November in the South is such a beautiful time.
The leaves are vibrant hues of red, orange, and yellow as they hang from the
trees and lie scattered on the ground. The wind catches my hair as I breathe in
the crisp fresh air.
    Following one of the trails,
I come to a stone bench and sit down. I draw my knees to my chest and wrap my
arms around them, resting my feet on the edge. Closing my eyes, I think about
what Dr. Raines said. I can’t help blaming myself, but I do understand what she
is saying. Some days, when I allow myself to think about what happened to JT, I
get so damn angry at him. Just to think that I was going to live for him, and
he left me there at the party when I cried and begged him not to go. I hate him
for it, for leaving me. Then, I feel guilty because he did it for me. He’s dead
because of me.
    “Hey you.”
    Interrupting my thoughts, I
look up to see Eli. I smile and say, “Hey.” He is wearing a pair of black track
pants and matching pullover. A black unmarked baseball cap is pulled low on his
head.
    “You want some company?”
    “Sure, why not. I can
squelch my bitchy beast for a little while,” I reply with a grin.
    He sits down beside me with
his hands in his pullover and crosses his legs out in front of him.
    “Everything okay yesterday?
I didn’t see you again afterwards, and you didn’t come to group session last
night.”
    “Yeah...I didn’t feel well.
Dr. Gale actually excused me.”
    “That guy cracks me up. He’s
a good addition to Lanier Oaks.”
    A good addition? He makes it
sound like he’s been here before. “So, this isn’t your first time here?” I see
him grimace as he stares off into the distance.
    Sighing, he turns toward me,
“You might say that this is my home away from home.”
    What does that mean? I don’t
know if I even want to know, so I don’t ask.
    We sit in silence for the
next couple of minutes. I breathe in the air, the calm, the peace, and maybe
the solidarity of having someone beside me. I didn’t know how much I craved
that. For two years, the whole time I was pushing people away, I was actually
yearning not to be alone. I laugh at the irony.
    “You’re supposed to laugh
after my joke, not before it. Well, unless you’re laughing at me, then that’s
totally understandable,” he says smiling.
    “Definitely not laughing at
you. I find myself the ‘butt’ of the joke, as always. I’m eager to hear this
joke of yours though.”
    “Ok, you asked for it. What
did the girl cantaloupe say to the boy cantaloupe?”
    “What?”
    “We are too young; we ‘can’t
elope!’”
    It takes me a second, but I
finally get it. “That’s corny and stupid,” I say but smile because I can’t help
it.
    “Wait, I’ve got another one.
What did the left eye say to the right eye? Between you and me, something
smells!”
    A loud chuckle escapes me,
and I shake my head, but the nut keeps on.
    “How do you wake up Lady
Gaga? Poker face! If Frosty the Snowman married a vampire what would they name
their child? Frostbite!”
    Laughing so hard my stomach
hurts, I look at him. “Stop it, you idiot. Those are so not funny.”
    “Who’s