Special Friend

Chapter Eight

Oakland: If I could go back in time, and change one thing, it would be the night of the accident. Graduation night.
One Month Earlier
"Hurry! We're going to be late!" I yelled up the stairs.
She came bellowing down the stairs in her knee length, blue, floral dress, white 4 inch heals in hand. I only know they're 4 inches tall because it makes her my height, making me look short.
"We aren't going to be late," she says rolling her eyes. "It's our graduation. They wont start without us." She slides on her heals, buckles the straps on the sides, and makes her way towards the door, grabbing my tie and pulling me with her when she passes me. "Let's go pretty boy."
"I thought you said my bike was prettier than me?"
Her eyes roll practically to the back of her head but I can feel the grin on her face. Her hair is in two fishtail braids on both sides of her head, small strands curled on the side, framing her face and her bangs swooshed to both sides. They're slightly uneven, the right side containing a bigger section of her bangs, but I don't bother telling her because its not noticeable. Plus, I like it, it's a small touch that shows that she isn't perfect, but makes her stunningly beautiful.
Our gowns are in the car from the last night. She wanted to make sure we didn't forget them, so her mom steamed and pressed them yesterday and threw them in the car.
We make it to the ceremony just in time. We are about to take our seats. I look over at here and whisper in her ear before we separate to our spots in the line "good luck."
. . .
"We're finally free!" She exclaimed, "no more going to that hell hole!"
I laughed, watching her jump and spin, throwing her hands in the air in celebration. Her smile is wider than ever before, her hair slightly a mess, strands hanging in her face, and her grad cap falling off of her head make me want to love her for all of eternity. But I know I can't. I know she's leaving and theres no prolonging it. She's going and I'm staying.
A brute force knocks me out of my head. I look slightly down, finding her wrapped around me. I can feel her chest rising and falling, her heart beating. My heart beats faster, my breathing becomes rigid. I pull my arms up to hold her. Placing a hand on the back of her head thats resting on my upper chest and my other around her lower back, I hold her tight. We stay like this for a long while. Soon, our breathing matches up, and so do our heartbeats.
Just as she lets go, before she can really separate from me, I adjust my hands. I squat down slightly, placing both of hands on opposite sides of her waist, wrapping my arms around her lower back for support. I pull her up and off the ground. Her upper torso is about a head and a half higher than me, as she looks down at me, another wide eyed smile appearing. Her hands place themselves on my shoulders to help keep her up. I spin us, watching as her curled, frizzy, chestnut, hair flow freely in the wind. She had taken out her braids right after the ceremony because she didn't like how her braids felt. Her eyes sparkle with joy, and she laughs a deep and warming laughing, I can feel it in my core.
As we spin, I lose my footing and trip over myself. I pull her down as close to me as possible before we hit the ground, covering her head with my hand. We hit the ground hard and for a second we're silent. That is, until her giggling interrupts the silence. She starts to sit up straight. Once she's up right, I see tears in her eyes. She's crying? She's laughing? My face must give away how confused I am because she laughs even harder. I smile slightly, a small chuckle escaping my chest.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" she waves her hand, the other covering her mouth. "It's not funny."
Still confused, I move to sit up straight. I don't realize that she's quite literally straddling my lap until I'm upright and inches away from her face. I go red but she doesn't seem to notice, and if she does, she doesn't care. She just keeps laughing, swatting away her tears. Her being the most elegant and beautiful women I've ever seen isn't helping my situation either.
Her laughing fit continues on for what seems like an eternity. Her body moves in various ways, causing me trouble that she still doesn't seem to notice. I try shift myself under her to keep it PG-13 here, but that just makes it worse.
Her laughs come to an immediate halt, her body no longer moving. She looks over at me and I avoid her gaze, my cheeks probably redder than a cherry. I can feel my face heating up, her gaze not lifting. Soon, I can feel her breathe on my cheek. She had moved towards me, still on my lap, now off of me enough to where I can calm down. My eyes stayed glued to the concrete beside me.
"Oakland," she whispered so low, I could barely hear it. Her hands raised to my cheeks, cupping my face and turning it towards her, forcing me to look at her.
I study her face before I meet her eyes. Her lips look soft and warm, her cheeks rosy red, her small amount of freckles poking through her makeup, and her skin, clearer than ever. I meet her eyes, and I'm immediately met by sadness. She tries to cover it with some glints of joy or love, but the sadness is pertinent. Her eyes start to swell with tears, glistening in the evening sun. Tears spill over and she moves on of her hands to swipe them away, but I grab her wrist before she can. I dont want her to think she cant cry in front of me. I want to see her tears, her trust in me that I won't judge her. I love her to much to judge her. All of her flaws, her imperfections, arent what she sees them to be. They are what make her, her. I want her to see that.
I slowly guide her hands back onto my face, to which she accepts, gently placing it on my cheek, using her thumb to caress my cheekbone. I sit up so that I'm not leaning on my hands to keep my upright. This rocks her back onto my lap, which excites me, but I ignore it. I place my hands on her lower back. She gasps slightly, keeping her mouth ajar. Her forehead touches mine and we sit like this for what seems like an eternity. Suddenly, her lips are on mine. We melt into each other, her hands race through my hair, pulling me closer into her. I move her hips closer to me, which forces her entire body to be right up against mine. We're so close together, the only thing keeping us from being completely involved in each other is our clothing. We want to tear it off of each other, but we don't. Too soon after, our lips part, our heavy breathing matching up. I want to kiss her more. I know she wants to kiss me more.
She pulls back from me. I can feel her detaching herself. "I can't."
I swallow the lump in the throat. I nod, and she gets up, taking a few steps back after shes off of me. I remain on the ground for a second before getting up myself.
"I still want to be your favorite boy," I say under breath, just loud enough for her to hear.
"You'll always be my favorite," she reassures me, but her body language says otherwise. Her eyes say otherwise.
We stand in silence, only a few feet away from each other, but it already feels like thousands of miles. She turns around and starts to walk away from me, back towards the school. I watch her walk away, and I can feel her fading away.
I text her that she can leave without me, I'll be walking home. I look up and see her check her phone. In that moment, she pauses and turns back to me. I smile and hold my hand up to wave goodbye, a tear spilling over my cheek. I watch and she returns my goodbye with a smile and small wave. She turns around, pocketing her phone, and starting towards the school again. I watch as she continues to walk away until she disappears around the side of the school. She didn't turn back once. Soon after I make my way over there. I know that by the time I get there, she'll be gone.
I reach the side of the school in no time, as I have longer legs than her and take longer strides. I turn the corner only to be met by Allen and a bunch of other guys. Allen is bare handed, but the others are holding tire irons and bats. I have a feeling something bad is about to happen to me. Allen takes a step closer to me, a dark smirk appearing on his face. No words are exchanged between us, but we both know what's about to happen. I turn and take off as fast as possible, but before I can get far, a pair of hands yanks me back straight onto the ground. A sharp pain sparks in my lower back, my legs become numb. I look up to see his disgusting grin before I see his hand ball up in a fist and come for my face. Soon, everything is dark and I'm in excruciating pain.