Charlie's Angel

35

End of January

Chris

One of the scariest things I've ever experienced was when Lauren had a seizure, the first of many to come. It hurt to watch, knowing you can't do anything to make her stop and feel better. Shit, the only thing that her nurses could do was somewhat restrain her so she wouldn't harm herself. But the noises that she made were probably the worst thing about it; they sounded like a deranged animal, something inhuman that you would only hear in a horror movie about an exorcism or some shit. Hell, even I had to be restrained to the other side of the room while they did everything they could, but I felt like it just wasn't enough for her. I writhed against them and cried out for her until finally they just kicked me out of the room until they sedated her and she calmed down.

I had nightmares for weeks and didn't sleep because of them; I was a walking zombie. People would say things to me and it would take me a few seconds to realize they were talking to me. It got so bad that my body shut down on me completely and I slept for fourteen hours straight. And you can imagine how hungry I was and how worried Charlie was.

Speaking of Charlie, we were now officially a couple. I asked her to be my girlfriend back in July on the one year anniversary of the day we met. I took her to the same restaurant and everything.

"Baby, you've been shaking since I picked you up," I chuckled as I merged right onto the freeway. I glanced over at her and smirked, lacing my fingers between hers; her hands were shaking–of course–and warm to the touch, and she smiled down at them before she blushed. "You good?"

She nodded quickly before looking out the window to her right, "Uh, yeah. It's just, um, cold."

Now she know damn well it ain't cold in my car. But to make her feel better, I adjusted the dials that controlled the heat. It was the middle of summer, and she talkin' 'bout it being cold. She and I both knew that she was nervous because I had told her I wanted to take her out to lunch for something special.

I kinda felt like a bitch because I knew what day it was, and I felt like she didn't remember; it's usually girls who remember this shit but hey. This is all me this time. I felt proud of myself that I was finally in a relationship–not officially, of course–that was worth it.

As I increased my speed to keep up with the surrounding traffic, I blushed when I felt her thumb stroking my hand. It was unintentional and she didn't know what she was doing, and that made it even better. Charlie and I had grown really close lately, and we practically finished each other's sentences. Ya know, all that corny shit that girlfriends and boyfriends do. Honestly, I never thought that I was meant to be in a long-term relationship or get married–I thought that just wasn't meant for me. But here was I was falling in love with this girl, and I hadn't even made her mine yet.

Bruh, I was slacking.

I squeezed her hand gently and she jumped, looking down at our hands and her mouth turning into an 'O', "Oh, sorry about that," she murmured.

I chuckled at her, "Nah, you good, baby." I looked at her and offered a smile. "Keep doin' that, it feels good."

"Christopher, where did this country accent of yours come from?" She giggled at me and watched me turn a shade of crimson.

I changed lanes to get around a slow-ass car in front of me, "Come on, man! Why you in the fast-lane when you goin' so gotdamn slow?!" Charlie giggled at me and rubbed my hand until I looked at her and smiled. "I've always had it, baby. I just had to get used to you."

"So it took you almost a year to get used to me?" She challenged playfully.

"Coming from the girl who's still afraid to change clothes in front of me," I retorted with a chuckle, both of us laughing out loud. "It ain't nothing on you that I haven't seen."