February Love

Chapter Five

It had been a week since the accident. Sam was still recovering from the wound on his forehead and Sarah was back to school. We preferred not to talk about the accident. The only thing that had changed was that Sarah was too afraid to drive now. I had to pick her up for school every day and drop her back. Sam was grounded so I also had to sneak Sarah into his house every night. Among school, my job, volunteering and helping Sarah, my days were always packed. Hark and I barely got any time to talk about anything.

"Here are your donuts Jared."

Jared looked at me with a big smile, "You are the best."

"Hey Donnie, what gossips do we have today?"

"I am not gossiping with you anymore."

"I swear it was not me who told the nurse about your cigarettes."

"You also never told me about your date. I called Sarah after you left yesterday and she told me that you were on a date the night she was injured."

"It was not a date. We just went to eat dinner and while we were coming home, I got a call from Sarah."

I told her everything Hark had told me that night. About his family, his brother and his girlfriend. I told her how he stayed with me the entire time at the hospital and dropped me home later.

"I think he sounds like a keeper. Poor boy has been through a lot. Will I ever get to meet him?'

"I hardly think so."

I drove back home a little early that day. It was movie night at the Home and everyone was sitting together in the video room. There was not much to do. The breeze was cold that night. All through the drive, I kept thinking about my first actual date. I went to Curby's with Harry. We had the best time. We talked and laughed about how in past six months we had never gone out alone but always with Sarah and Sam. He never told me that it was his last night in town and that he wanted to see me for the last time. He never came back. We never talked again.

I was in bed after a long tedious day when my phone chimed. It was a text from Hark.

'How are you holding up?'

'I have seen better days.'

'Sarah seems to be doing fine now.'

'She is. Sam is still home bound.'

'Yeah. I dropped by his house yesterday.'

'Oh.'

There was a long pause.

'I can see Nina through my window.'

'You must have a pleasant day and night.'

'I keep my curtains closed all the time. There is more watching from her side than mine.'

There seemed to be a lot of silence between us.

'Are you in bed?'

'Yeah.'

'The stars are beautiful today.'

'I like to lay in my garden sometimes at night to look at them. I haven't done that in a long time. Describe the sky to me.'

'The sky is dark blue. There are no clouds in sight. Stars are brighter than other days. If you look at them close enough, you can see them twinkling. It is all just perfect.'

'Nothing is perfect.'

'I have started believing otherwise.'