Ain't No Mountain High Enough

"Here Comes the Rain Again"

One thing that happened soon after I got out of the hospital was a bunch of legal crap. I felt pressured to sue the man who had hit me, or rather his family since he had died in the wreck. But hey, that was not really his fault, and who wants to be hit with a lawsuit right after their loved one dies? It sucked, but I went on ahead with it since we didn't have enough money to cover the hospital bills, let alone buying a new car. For some reason that still eats at my conscience. The fact that we sued, I mean.

Unfortunately for us, we got sued, too. Apparently the family of the other guy who had died, the one who had crashed into me, felt as though the wreck was entirely my fault. Even more unfortunately, this ended up going on for nearly a year. Of course, during that time, I was still getting used to the wheelchair and everything. With keeping the lawsuit as a side note, I'm going to go back to just a couple weeks after I got out of the hospital, because things were starting to get a little more dramatic for me.

I found out real quick that everyone thought I was completely helpless. Whenever I was trying to do something, someone rushed to do it for me. I was apparently incapable of doing anything from getting a glass of water to turning on the TV, and I was getting fed up with it very fast. I was paraplegic, not a toddler!

Oh, but the worst was yet to come.

Arjun's birthday came, and we all decided it would be a good idea to have a surprise party for him. Naturally, we started decorating the apartment with streamers and balloons and whatnot. Valerie and Veronica went out to get the cake, and I stayed with Keto to finish with the decorations.

I was just minding my own business and tying balloons in random places. One gave me trouble, and it was only because the string was too short to tie a good knot into and I couldn't get it to stay put. So Keto came over and grabbed it.

"I'll handle the rest of it," he said nonchalantly, giving me a smile that made me feel like I was being babied. "You don't have to do this."

I furrowed my brow. "I want to, though," I said. I tried to keep the frustration out of my voice, but I just couldn't. "You guys really think I can't do anything for myself, don't you?"

Keto tied the balloon in place and used tape to make it stay. "What makes you say that?"

I rolled my eyes. Was it not as painfully obvious to them as it was for me? "Hm, let me think," I said. I ticked the evidence off my fingers. "Whenever I try to do anything, someone comes running to do it for me, even simple things like opening a door, turning on the TV, and other nonsense like that. Yes, there's things I do need help with, but I will let you know when that comes around."

Keto frowned. "Oh...sorry man," he said. He ran his hand through his curly hair. "I guess I wasn't thinking."

No matter what, Keto had this weird way of making the other person feel bad without even trying. I don't know if he had some natural manipulation that he wasn't even aware of, or what. Either way, it annoyed me. And I was annoyed enough as it was, so now I was worse. "Forget it," I said, huffing. "Just let me do the balloons. I'm perfectly capable of decorating the apartment." I wheeled myself around to grab another balloon.

Keto tossed the tape roll onto my lap. "Why didn't you say anything before?" he asked.

I pulled off a bit of tape to stick a blue balloon to the wall. "Because I didn't want to sound ungrateful." It was the truth, I guess. "I don't want to talk about it right now. We better finish with the decorations, because the girls will be back any minute, and Arjun won't be far behind."

Even as I said it, the front door opened and the girls walked in. Veronica held a large white box, and was grinning ear to ear. "Hey boys!" she said.

I felt my mouth go dry when Valerie stepped inside behind Veronica. Her eyes instantly went to me, and I could just feel the heat crawling up my neck. She came over as Veronica and Keto went to the kitchen with the cake.

"Um...hi, Valerie," I said, rubbing the back of my neck.

She was wearing that pink peacoat that she wore the night we all went out to celebrate our high school graduation. I could still picture her in it that night in the back of my mind. And...other things had happened that night between us, too...

"How are you feeling?" she asked. I don't know why I was annoyed by that question.

"Good, I guess," I replied. There was an awkward silence between us, then I gestured around the living room. "Well? What do you think of the decorations?"

Valerie glanced around the room. "It's nice!" she said, her eyes sparkling. Gosh, she was beautiful. Her brunette hair was pulled into a messy bun, as she usually wore it. She had this smile that I was pretty sure could bring world peace. My eyes glanced once at her full lips, then I looked away when I felt myself starting to blush again. My heart always beat like crazy whenever she was around...and now we were alone.

"Is there anything I can help with?" She looked back at me.

"No...we're just waiting for the man of the hour, now." I tried to smile, and she giggled.

"He texted a bit ago and said he was on his way." She pulled out her phone and started to fiddle with it. You know, the kind of fiddling where you aren't actually doing anything on your phone, but you're trying to keep out of an awkward conversation. I couldn't figure out what it was, but ever since the accident she couldn't seem to talk to me the same anymore.

"Well," I said after a moment, taking a deep breath. "Tell me what you've been up to. We haven't talked in a while."

Valerie sat down on the sofa. I could see her gears turning, like she was trying to think of something to say. Or maybe how to say it. I started to get nervous, because I had been thinking something was bothering her. I just wanted to know when things would stop being awkward between us. Ever since the night of our high school graduation, our relationship was just...complicated.

Of course, as soon as she opened her mouth to say something, someone knocked on the front door.

"Oh, that's probably him!" Veronica squealed as she came running out of the kitchen.

However, she opened the door and someone I didn't know was standing there. It was a man, probably about my age, with blond hair shaved close to his head and a toned physique that screamed he was an athlete or something.

Valerie suddenly stood up. "Oh...yeah," she said. She laughed nervously and went over to the door as the man came in. I didn't like the way he smiled when he saw Valerie.

"Veronica, Randall," Valerie said, "this is my boyfriend, Stephen Callahan."

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Check out the Eurythmics song, "Here Comes the Rain Again"!

Peace ✌ ~ A.J.