Everything We Always Were

Twenty Four: Upward

I stare at the text on my screen, nerves bubbling up.

There really is no reason for me to be nervous at all, but anything that has to do with

Delia makes me nervous nowadays. When the little words show read under my message, my heartbeat speeds up, and then those three dots pop up.

Not up to anything.

The response is so bland that I have to remind myself that she is my best friend, and I have no reason to be nervous. I send my reply quickly before finding a pair of good walking shoes and a jacket and heading out the door.

I get to her house a bit earlier than ten minutes, so I send her a text to let her know. She comes out the door, briefly turning around to lock it, and then hurriedly walks across the lawn to the passenger door and gets in.

"Where are we headed?" She asks, a smile on her beautiful face.

"I know a spot,"

"Is that so?"

I nod but don't indulge her in any other details. Instead, I turn on music, the songs that I

know she will sing along to. The smile on my face is unwavering as she sings along and bounces along to the songs.

Like old times.

This is the first time my mind isn't cluttered with anxiety-ridden thoughts or muddled with rage in years. I can breathe and when I do, I can smell the grass, the trees and their leaves, and everything else that surrounds us. Every time the wind blows, I get a puff of her perfume under my nose.

Finally, after many near-death experiences from Delia, we arrive.

That may have been an exaggeration, but it was still stressful for me.

I catch my breath and look at her as we stop walking. "Wow."

Smiling, I watch as her eyes scan her surroundings. The creek, the moss under our feet, and the treetops high above us. The moonlight was just bright enough so that we weren't impaired visually as I began to guide her towards the creek. "This isn't all." I hold my hand out for her, prepared to keep her from tumbling down. "Watch your step."

I can feel her trust in me through her hand in mine, she grips my fingers tightly and every time I look over at her, she is focused on watching where she is walking. She doesn't slip one time.

"Okay, we made it."

"This is so pretty." Her voice is soft, and it reminds me of how she used to speak back in middle school. She used to be so soft-spoken, but now she usually has a lot of emotion behind her words.

"Mhm." I bite my tongue, holding back what I actually want to say.

"Thank you for sharing it with me," Her smile is big and goofy, and it's not hard to send a similar one right back at her.

"I love sharing with you," I want to share my life with you.

The sky above me flickers with light and I turn my head up, taking notice of the dark clouds about to shroud the moon.

"Looks like those clouds are heading to us," I point upward, though I know she probably already saw the clouds. "Should have checked the weather beforehand, sorry."
"It's fine, this was still so cool."

We look at each other for another second before I turn and guide her back to the path that we came from. At first, the rain was just a drizzle, what we usually see at least once a day this season, but then I began to hear the raindrops hitting the leaves and twigs above us, louder and louder until my shoulders were wet.

Not far from the truck, I notice that she is shivering.

"Are you cold? You never wear a jacket," I laugh, shedding my coat and draping it around her shoulders. She doesn't protest, and I think I see her smile.