I looked down and read the title:The Five Love Languagesby Gary Chapman.
“What the hell is this?” I asked.
“This is the key to making Shay fall in love with you. It’s a book that makes you understand the different ways people love. It saved mine and Hank’s relationship a few years ago. You see, I thought he was being all sexist and old school and stuff when he was always trying to pay for our dates, and I’m all, ‘Psh, please. I am an independent woman, and I can pay for myself.’ And we got into a heated fight over it, and it was actually kind of cute. The night of the fight, he was wearing that button-down flannel I hate, the one with the—”
“Can we fast-forward to the point of all this?” I cut in,knowing Raine could turn a short story into a full novel with her roundabout way of talking.
“Oh. Right. What was I getting at? Oh yeah! The languages. There are five love languages: receiving gifts, acts of service, quality time, words of affirmation, and physical touch. Each person has a love language. Mine is quality time—rom-coms with Hank, for example—and Hank’s is acts of service, which is why he always changes my oil and carries my books at school and buys me dinner. That’s how he shows his love. Now all you have to do is read this book and then read Shay. Shay’s story is there; you just have to do some digging to unlock it. And who knows? Maybe at the end of the day, you’ll realize you two have more in common than you think. Maybe you have the same love language.”
Hard to believe, but whatever. I knew Raine wasn’t going to give me any more details outside of a cheesy book—not with her rom-coms on the line—so I had no reason to stay any longer. I thanked her for the little details she had offered me.
She frowned. “Landon, maybe a good starting point is you showing her the parts of you that you keep hidden from the world. Maybe that will help her show you her own shadows, too.”
“Yeah, all right.” Not a fucking chance.
“Just read the book. I swear, it will help.” She gave me a stern look. “But that’s not me getting involved. Again, I’m smelly Swiss cheese over here. You and Shay are none of my business.”
“Message received, Raine. I won’t ask you for anything else about her. I swear.”
“Good. Good night.”
“Night.”
I walked down her driveway, and she shouted my way, “Landon! Landon! One more thing!”
“What?”
She bit her bottom lip and groaned, slapping her palm to her face. “Shay loves peonies!”
“Penises?” I echoed. OK, those were the kind of details I could work with.
She groaned even louder. “No, you sick jerk. I said peonies. They are her favorite flower, but you didn’t hear that from me!”
How the hell were peonies and a book about love languages going to help me make Shay fall in love with me? Hell if I knew, but my dumb ass started reading the book the minute I made it home.
13Shay
I wished I could’ve enjoyed the triumph of torturing Landon for a longer period of time, but when I made it home, my house was a war zone once again. It was official: Dad was using again.
The fighting lasted straight into the next school week, and I was exhausted. I was struggling through my rehearsal that afternoon after suffering from a morning of arguments in my house. The yelling had come back, and no matter what, it seemed my father couldn’t do anything right in my grandmother’s eyes. With good reason.
I was exhausted from all the anger swimming throughout my home, and it was affecting my sleep patterns. I couldn’t think of the last time I’d had a decent night’s sleep, truly. Most of the time, whenever I laid my head down, I wondered if Dad was OK or not.
My lack of sleep led to me stumbling over my lines during rehearsals and lagging behind. I felt how clouded my brain was, and I was having the hardest time clearing the fog. By the end of our session, I was kicking myself for messing up so many times. I’d have to rehearse on my own at home to make up for being so awful.
“You kicked ass today,” Landon said as I packed up my bags to head out for the night. He said the words, but he was completely wrong. I’d missed my marks. I’d hiccuped over words. I’d forgotten my lines, and yet still, there he was, telling me how well I’d done. I couldn’t help but think he was being hisnasty self when the words left his mouth. I wasn’t really in the mood to play our back-and-forth game at the moment, though.
I was mostly in the mood to tear up and cry.
“You don’t have to mock me, Landon. I know I messed up all rehearsal.”
He cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head, but he didn’t say anything. He simply paused his steps and stared at me, looking completely baffled.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing.” He shook his head. “Just wondering if you’ve always been your harshest critic or if this is a new development.”
“It’s not easy for me.”