Love Is Patient Read online

  Love is Patient

  Isabella Bearden

  Acknowledgements

  Dawn Martens- I have no idea what I would do if it wasn’t for you! I really thought I was going to go insane because I wasn’t sure what next step to take in this journey, but because of you I got this far! I appreciate your help with everything and doing the editing. I am thankful that you have been there for me every time I had a question. I am truly grateful that we became friends, even when I piss you off! You are one crazy chick!

  My husband- From all the nights he had to listen to me ramble on about the book and the days that I hid it from him because I didn’t want him to see it just yet. To all the support I got from him, he hasn’t one time given up on me, despite the fact that I drove him crazy! I love you babe!

  My mom- Without you, I wouldn’t know where I would be. When I told you that I started writing a book, you told me to go for it and do what I believed in. And because of those words it gave me more courage to go with! I love you mom.

  Fallon Landrum- Thank you for helping me with the blurb. Without your help I would probably still be stuck on it till this day! I have to give all the credit to you; you came up with this great summary when I had no idea where to start!

  Arijana Karèiæ- Thank you so much for putting up with my craziness. You did AWESOME on the cover and I wouldn’t know what I would have done if you didn’t talk to the photographer for me. You’re an awesome friend!

  Leon Von Gaul/flickr- I have to thank you from the moon and back. Thank you so much for letting me use your photograph, it means the world to me! When Ari showed me the picture, I knew I just had to have it. Not just her but you also were able to make that happen! Thank you so much!

  Stacie Page-Ramay- I know I just meet you, but knowing that I had an awesome beta reader to read the book and get back to me so quickly, it made my day! You are an honest person and I can tell by how quickly we got along that we are going to be great friends! Thank you for having faith in me, you have no idea how much that truly means to me!

  Angel Steel- You have no possible earthy idea about how much this means to me to pick me up at the very last minute to do the formatting for me! You are a life saver! I owe you big time!

  Everyone else, thank you so much for your support, you have NO idea how nervous I truly was when I started this book. And even though it’s out now, doesn’t mean that the nerves have gone away. They are just much stronger!  I love you guys!

  Dedication

  To my great grandmother, for showing me that you can't always hold yourself back from the things you want.

  Grandma, This yellow rose is for you, for showing me that there is a new beginning for everyone.

  R.I.P. 11/29/1916-10/06/2011

  Chapter 1

  Chloe

  “Chloe, are you almost ready, babe? Your breakfast is getting cold!” Jay hollers to me from the kitchen.

  “Who would have thought?” I mutter to myself as I stand in my apartment, preparing for my first day of college. After graduating, I told everyone that I didn’t want to go back to school. However, after serious thinking, I decided that I would go back to become an ER nurse. After Jay and I got married, I figured, why not? During my year off after high school, I thought of little else. I check myself over once more in the mirror. Perfect.

  “I’m coming,” I yell back as I walk out of the bathroom. I round the corner into the kitchen.

  “Wow, don’t you look nice.”

  “Well, Thank you, I’m really nervous about today.”

  “Don’t be! It’s your first day of college! Don’t freeze up on me now! What did you say after we got married? Now that we have tied the knot, you’re going back to school to pursue your dream.”

  “Yeah but that was over a year ago! Do you have to work late tonight?”

  “Yes, I have appointments ‘til midnight. Can you see if Riley can give you a ride home?”

  “Yeah I’ll just text her. She is probably freaking out by now. I haven’t texted her all day. I don’t see why she can’t just move in here with us! She has no one since her dad passed away.”

  I can see by the look on Jay’s face when I mention Riley that he wants us to have our privacy, but other than him, she is my best friend. I just hate that she has to live in the dorms with someone she doesn’t even know. He starts mumbling something under his breath as I dig for my phone.

  C: Hey Ri, busy after school? Study and pizza at my house?

  R: HELL YES! I need some girl time! This roommate is getting on my nerves!

  C: lol, tonight is it then. See ya in a few.

  I look up in time to see Jay moving toward me.

  “You know, I think it’s better this way, with her living there. She really went crazy in high school after her dad passed away.” He looks down at me with those ice blue eyes and leans in to kiss me.

  “I know, but if it wasn’t for her calling you out that day in gym, we would have never gotten together and you know it!” I look up, smiling at him. Riley knew that I had a crush on Jay and Riley kept saying that Jay liked me, but I just shoved it off like I did with most things. Eventually, she caught Jay staring at us, so she told him to go ahead and ask me to out, saying she didn’t want to keep watching him look at me. I was so embarrassed.

  He laughs as he thinks of the memory. “I was getting around to asking you out, but you were always with your friends and you know I don’t like causing a scene.. sort of like she did that day.”

  “Okay, you win. She did go a little crazy after her dad passed but she has cleaned up a lot! I think that’s why she wants me around so much, so she won’t fall back in her old habits.”

  “She will do fine, Chloe. But we better get going if you’re going to meet Riley before class.”

  As soon has those words came out of his mouth, my phone starts buzzing in my purse. I go to dig for it, cursing myself four different times after getting stabbed with pencils and other objects. Jay laughs at me as I glare at him.

  “Why don’t you just keep it in your pocket for now on, hun…” He says, laughing.

  “Yeah yeah, keep it up. Found it!” I look down, and sure enough, Riley is waiting for me. “Speaking of the devil, it’s her. Let’s go!”

  ***

  I walk up to see Riley talking with a really cute guy. I’ve never seen him before. He has buzz cut hair and is wearing a polo shirt and blue jeans. He seems too simple for Riley. She doesn’t know I was behind her until the guy stops talking and looks at me over her shoulder. She turns around and has a smile on her face that I haven’t seen in such a long time.

  “Chloe! Oh, my, god, where have you been!?” She pulls me close to her side. “Chase this is my best friend, Chloe.” This guy looks really familiar, but I can’t seem to pinpoint who he is.

  I put my hand out to shake his hand, “Hi Chase, it’s nice to meet you.” He just looks stunned. Finally he shakes my hand, clearing his throat. “It’s nice to meet you too, Chloe. Um.. Riley I will see you later.”

  He walks away, Riley turns to me. “Okay, who was that?” I ask. She put her arm around me as we walk to our first class. “That, my friend, is a really hot guy that I met at orientation. Since my best friend decided to go to the earlier one and leave me by myself.” I feel bad, I knew Riley didn’t know anyone, but I figured she can’t always rely on me.

  “Look, Riley, I know you got upset with me, but you know I had to unpack everything, Jay came down a week before me to start work and to start unpacking our place. I couldn’t let him do everything his self.”

  She smiles at me. “Okay you’re forgiven!”

  As we walk across the lawn to our first class, some guy came running across the lawn like something is on fire, running smack into Riley. I
can see already this isn’t going to end well. Riley has always had a mean streak and a short temper, and she doesn’t mind showing it.

  “Can’t you see people are walking here? Jeez, where is the fire at?!” She bends down to gather the books that wouldn’t fit into her bag, along with her schedule.

  The guy helps her gather her belongings, “Oh god, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to run into you. I’m really late to cla…” he stops speaking when his eyes meet Riley’s. All that anger she had disappears. She just stares into his eyes.

  She broke eye contact as she stands up, clearing her throat. “It’s okay. We have to get going before we are late to class also.”

  He hands her the things he collected, “Here you go. Again, I am so sorry; I’m Mason, by the way.” He smiles. Riley turns and grabs my hand, pulling me away.

  I don’t know what to think... Riley hasn’t been that shy since before her dad passed away. After he passed away, all she had was anger, so it was easy to make her mad, even unintentionally.

  I pull my hand free. “Are you going to tell me what that was about?”

  She keeps walking, trying to avoid that subject. We near the class, and she still refuses to talk.

  “You can’t just ignore me Ri! Something happened when you looked into his eyes! What happened?”

  I pull her to a stop and make her look at me. She starts to speak and then shut her mouth. “When I looked into his eyes, it was like that piece of me that died when my dad passed was alive again... I can’t explain it.”

  I hug her tight as she starts to cry. “Riley, you can’t be scared, you left that part of you behind when we graduated, remember? When we graduated, you didn’t go out any more. You started getting serious about your life.”

  “I’m not scared, it’s just…. I can’t do this now. We’re going to be late to class.”

  We walk into class just as the professor started talking. I look at Riley and smile at her. I could tell by the sparkle in her eye that the old Riley was coming back.

  Chapter 2

  After the lecture was over, we gathered our belongings and start out the door. Riley grabs my hand and pulls me in the opposite direction. I look back. I don’t understand why she is pulling me, but then I see him. Mason. Why is she avoiding him so much? It was one run-in. I walk to keep up with her. As soon we hit the doors to exit the building, we both hear it.

  “RILEY, WAIT UP!” She freezes. This guy has some sort of powers over her. I pull her away. “Riley, just keep walking. You don’t have to speak to him. You don’t even know him.”

  We start walking again, and then she pulls me into a run. I’ll probably have to ice my shoulder due to the ferocity with which she yanks my arm. As we near the commons area, Riley finally calms down.

  “I think we lost him. You can chill now,” I gasp as we stand in line for lunch. I smile at her. She starts laughing.

  “What has gotten into me? I haven’t felt alive since before… and now one time someone runs into me one time and I feel like I have my life back. That’s impossible!” Riley says as she grabs a salad.

  I move to speak before I notice him behind her. I just smile at her. She looks at me, “What? Do I have something on me?”

  I start laughing and shaking my head. “If you had something on you, I wouldn’t smile, I would tell you.” She looks so confused.

  “Then what is it?”

  I start to snicker, “Nothing! Why don’t we pay for your food and find a table?”

  I hand the cashier my ID card and pay for our things. We find a table by its self, far from everyone else. Riley is taking a swig of water right when he speaks to her.

  “Excuse me. May I sit with you?” She goes wide eye and spits her water all over the table, coughing.

  “You okay, Riley?” I ask as I pat her back. Riley turns around to face him. Mason. “Um…. Ye…. Yes you may...”

  As Mason starts to eat, she stares at me, expecting me to read her mind. She looks so scared. I actually feel sorry for her. It is really awkward and quite, so I speak up.

  “So Mason, funny meeting you here! Do you make a habit to run people over and then chase them down?”

  I realize how harsh it sounds after I say it, even though I didn’t mean it that way. He starts to blush. Is he embarrassed?

  “Actually, after I ran into Riley this morning…” but she cuts him off before he can continue.

  “Wait a minute, how do you know my name? I seem to remember walking away from you when you introduced yourself,” she says accusatorily.

  “Well that’s what I was about to say! I was trying to find you because when I ran into you this morning, you dropped your schedule, and I didn’t get a chance to give it back to you when you ran off so fast.” He pulls her schedule from his pocket and lays it on the table.

  Riley starts to blush, grabbing her schedule off the table slowly and folding it up. She looks up at him through her lashes.

  “I’m sorry for being so snappy with you.”

  He chuckles. “Don’t worry about it.” He starts to get up from the table and stops. “By the way, my number is on the back… if you ever want to hang out.” He gives her his crooked smile before walking away.

  Riley hides her beet-red face. I start laughing. “Well I guess I never have to pay you back for calling out Jay in gym class that day! Mother Nature did it for me!” I say with a huge grin on my face.

  “Shut up Chlo. I don’t know what to say to him!” Awe, poor Riley, she is so embarrassed.

  “Why do you not know what to say to him? Any other time, you have no problem telling people where to shove it. So why get shy now?” I ask her.

  “Chloe, you know when my dad passed away, all I wanted to do was drown my sorrows and that is what I did with alcohol and drugs. I slept with every guy that I came in contact with. That was until that day you saw how bad I was going downhill and you saved me. I’m worried if I let him in and let him know the old me. He will run.”

  “You know, not all guys are bad. Who knows, Mason maybe different after all?” I tell her, I grab Riley’s hand to get her attention, as she was looking down at the table. “Well come on. We have to get to class before we are late.”

  “Okay, but instead of studying tonight how about a movie? It’s the first day of college, and it doesn’t look like we will get any homework...” She suggests with her pouty face. I know she hates to study. So I gave in to her.

  “Okay, no studying tonight, just a movie and girl time!” We walk out of the commons, and once again ran into Mason standing outside talking, to a group of guys as he looks at us and smiles.

  ***

  After the first day of college, Riley and I go back to my apartment to spend the rest of the night inside watching movies. I put my bag and books on the kitchen island when I walk in as Riley just throws her stuff on the couch and flops down. My phone rings. The caller ID lets me know that my mother is calling.

  “Hey mom, I just walked in.” My mom was 100% supportive when Jay and I told her that we wanted to get married. Most people thought we were crazy because we were so young.

  “Hey baby girl. I just wanted to see how your first day was. Is jay working tonight?’

  “It was great! Yes, he working tonight, so Riley and I are going to stay in and order pizza and watch movies.”

  She spent the next few minutes catching me up on gossip, and then she lays it on me.

  “Chloe, do you remember that boy named, Chase? You went to middle school with. His dad used to beat him. He and his family just up and moved. Remember?”

  I think for a minute. “Um, yeah, I think I do. What about him?”

  “He is also going to Miami state. Chloe, please be careful. He just got out of jail for selling drugs.”

  “Mom, you don’t have to worry about me. You know I don’t get into that kind of stuff.”

  “I know you don’t, baby, but its Riley. You know how she acted when her dad passed away. I just don’t want her to get mixed up in tha
t kind of crowd.”

  That’s when I put all the pieces together. The Chase guy that Riley was talking to today- that’s him. I have to keep Riley away from him. I know she won’t relapse and go back, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

  “I know, Mom, I get it. I have to go, Mom. I’ll talk to you later. Love you!”

  “Love you, baby”

  I hang up my phone and toss it back in my purse. Riley is on the floor looking at the box of movies we have. I try to decide how I should handle this. I can’t keep her from being friends with him, but I don’t want her to get into that mess again. It took her so long to get out of that stage. Riley looks up at me and smiles, holding up 3 movies for me to choose.

  “Burlesque, Easy A or Cry Baby?”

  “That’s hard to choose from. Let’s go with Cry Baby; I can watch some Johnny Depp.”

  “Okay, do you want me to order the pizza?” Riley asks.

  “You can. I’m going to change really quickly.”

  I walk to my bedroom as I hear Riley ordering the pizza and putting in the movie. I come back just as movie was starts. About 20 minutes into the movie, a knock on the door signals the arrival of the pizza. I get up to get the money, but Riley already beats me to it. She opens the door and there he is, once again. Mason.

  “What is this? Are you stalking me now?” Riley started to get mad again. I can tell she is getting really tired of running into him. I wish they would just talk and get it over with.

  Mason stands there, getting up the nerve to speak. “Hi Riley… I didn’t know you lived here or I would have gotten someone else to deliver.” He says sarcastically. He’s really nerves for some reason. Riley throws the money at him and grabs the pizza shutting the door in his face.