Behind These Bruises...

Behind These Bruises...[Part 6]

"Uh...hey," I said awkwardly. I brought my hand up to my hair. I looked like crap, my hair undone, no make-up. He gestured toward the seat across from me. I nodded and he sat down. The waitress brought over his coffee. I looked at the time on my phone. It was almost 1 in the morning. We both sat in silence, each for the other to speak.

"So where's your friend?" he asked, idly turning his coffee cup around in circles.

"She was on a date. She's probably home asleep now," I replied.

"Oh," was all he answered with.

"What are you doing out late?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"Kyle had a party. He turned 18 today. Well, yesterday I guess, since it's Saturday now," he answered, looking at his phone. I nodded, not knowing who Kyle was. "Kyle plays center on the soccer team," he added, as if knowing what I was thinking.

"Is it over now?" I asked. He shook his head.

"I think it's just now getting started. They all went to a club. That's not really my scene," he answered, looking me straight in the eyes. I nodded.

"Same here," I replied. We sat again in silence, sipping our now-cold coffee. I pondered about how odd it was. Here I was, sitting with one of the star soccer players at the boys' academy. We were sitting here, late at night, just talking. The only person I ever really talked to was Alisha. I guess that's what made the situation so odd. And it was just about to get stranger.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" he asked, shaking his cup and looking through the little hole where the liquid came out of.

"Sure," I shrugged, not really knowing why I obliged. We threw our empty cups away and headed out. We walked in silence for a bit, making our way to the shore where we had our first real encounter.

"You're cheek healed up," he said, his voice quiet compared to the noise of the waves. I nodded.

"The medicine you gave me really helped," I replied. His hand brushed mine by accident. We both folded our arms over our chests. "So you want to be a doctor," I began, trailing off. He nodded. We sat on a rock a bit away from the water. I took my shoes off and rolled my pants legs up and stuck my feet in the water.

"What about you?" he asked, leaning against his arm. I shrugged.

"I want to be a lawyer slash social worker," I replied. He nodded.

"What about music?" he asked.

"It's sort of just a side thing. I like playing guitar. It relieves stress," I said.

"Same here," he replied. We sat in silence again, watching the night. A random shiver went down my back and I rubbed my arms for warmth. He saw this, took his jacket off and offered it to me. I smiled shyly, taking it from him. "You should come to our game next week," he said. I raised my eyebrows at him. That was random. But then again, so was the rest of our conversation.

"When is it?" I asked.

"Friday," he replied, tilting his head slightly. He glanced sideways at me, waiting for an answer.

"Ok," I agreed. His face showed no emotion, and it was too dark to read his eyes. We sat together for a while in silence, not saying anything. After what seemed like hours, and was hours, I yawned. The coffee's effects had worn off. He noted this and stood up. I picked up my shoes, took his hand as he helped me down, and we began walking. Then I glanced at the sky and grabbed his arm. "Wait," I said. He stopped. I pointed to the sky. You could just begin to see streaks of sunlight. We stood next to each other silently and watched as the sun rose. I smiled slightly. It was absolutely beautiful and in a way uplifting. Watching the sun rise had a completely different meaning that watching it set. It signified a new day, a chance to start over. Instead of the sky turning dark into night, it turned light, into morning. It was amazing. We squinted in the bright sunlight as the sun came up and illuminated the sky with streaks of orange, pink, and yellow. I took a breath and looked at Derek. He looked down at me, his expression soft, and not intense.

"I'll see you later," he said in a quiet voice. I nodded. And then we parted ways; he went to his home, I went to mine. My soul felt uplifted, my mind clear, my heart content.