On Purpose

~15~

I walked around, trying to tell her the rules, but she kept touching everything.
"No way! you have a PlayStation 5 and a Xbox One?"
I sighed and grabbed her arm.
"Pay attention."
She nods and looks around again.
"You can eat anything you want, I don't care, but clean up after yourself."
"Can I sleep with you?"
I hear her words, but her face tells me that she's joking, so I don't waste my energy with giving her the attention.
"Focus."
She nods.
"You can have the guest room for now."
"Okay." She nods.
"And no guys in the house or friends."
"Darn, I guess I broke that rule."
I look at her with a confused expression.
"You're a guy in here, and you're a friend."
"I don't count, this is my house."
Her shrug said, touché.
"Okay, good night." I said, getting ready to leave, but she grabbed me.
"Stay down here with me. Can we at least play your games?" She asked, her voice not begging, but still needy.
"I have to work, and it's already midnight."
"Sorry." She removes her hand and smiles at me.
"Good night."
I stuff my hands in my pockets, feeling like an idiot for that. She is my friend, I need to at least make her feel welcomed, but I walk upstairs to my room and get into the shower that she interrupted.
While I was in, all I could think about was her, how she looked so scared when she lost her charger. How she looked happy when I showed up. How she held my hand tightly in hers.
As the water poured down on me. I looked at the hand she held and smiled before letting the water wet my hair.
I couldn't leave her alone. Not like this. I don't wanna scare her off how I did my mom. I wanted to show Isabelle that she was important to me now. I wanted to show her that I appreciate her, for walking close enough for me to hit her with a door. For making me laugh and smile when I didn't even need it. For giving me a purpose to wake up with a smile. And not only her, but my dad and Kyle too.
I never knew I'd be here a week ago. I didn't know where I'd be if I never went to Starbucks, or if Bill never gave Kyle my number because he talked too much.
I smiled, thinking about my life and how I added two people into it. So after my shower, I plopped next to Isabelle on the couch. She was hugging her knees and looking at her hands, but when I sat down, she looked up at me with shock.
"Wait, but you said-" Her shocked and happy expression only proved to me that I was making the best decision of my life.
"Which game console do you wanna play first?"