The Boy Next Door

"i think i like you as well"

Thunder, it wakes me up. It's so loud, ringing in my ears. It's the middle of the night. I can't think straight. All I can think of is how the car swerved off the road and the white hot pain on my shoulder. Tears burn in my eyes. I see a flash of lighting outside, and thunder cracks again. My breathing is short and shallow. My hands are trembling. I back into the corner of the room and put my face in my hands. The blinding lights of the car colliding with my door play over and over again in my head, and then the collision. I can't do this anymore. I'm trapped in my head. I use the wall to shakily pull myself to my feet. I take small shaky steps into Caleb's room and close the door behind me. It's pitch black. "Caleb?" I say weakly. No response. He's asleep. I take a few steps in his room and find the first beam supporting his loft bed, and then the latter. "Caleb?" I say again. He moans, and then wakes up.

"Ebony?" He says, and then leans over to turn a light on, and then dims it down so it's not too bright. I can only see him out of my right eye, my half blind eye only can see fuzzy blobs and colors. He looks at me with my red puffy eyes with concern. "What's wrong?" He helps me up into his bed where he wraps a blanket around my shaky body and I sit at the end of his

"Well... I was in this... Accident in the summer going into 5th year and..." I tell him everything, crying the whole time. I spill my guts out to him and he listens the whole time. "And the outcome was my eye going blind and this scar." I pull my hair away from my shoulder to show him my thick scar. I take a shaky breath and wipe my eyes. I don't know what he's going to say so I look up at him. His eyes are soft and he holds his arms out. I fall into them and he holds me. We lock eyes and he leans in, his mouth slightly open. I lean in and our lips touch, and it becomes a kiss. His lips taste like Razzles candy and he smells like artificial blueberry. I melt into his body and kiss him back. We pull away and look each other in the eyes, then look away. I just had my first kiss, and it was amazing.

When he looks back at me he says, "I have something to tell you, Eb."

"What?"

"I think I like you." He smiles, and I smile as well.

"I think I like you as well." I say.