Don't Stop Believin' (COMPLETED)

20. You Raise Me Up

YOU RAISE ME UP - JOSH GROBAN

Athour's Note:

So this is the last offical chapter... It's very short, but I felt like it was a good way to end it. There will be an epilogue though so stay tuned :)

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The pulse was pounding in my temples and the neck collar on the shirt I was wearing suddenly seemed to have become too small. My palms were sweating of nervousness, my head pounding from overwork. Everywhere around me were happy couples and Jonas had already left with his date out onto the dance floor where both danced to the beat of the music.

Self, I stood alone inside the entrance doors, like a lost little puppy.

My jacket was scratching at the neck and the tie felt unusually unpleasant. The music in the background felt very distant and the only thing my brain could focus on were the people who came through the door in front of me.

Katie and I had agreed to meet at the prom, although I had been more than happy to pick her up. She had blamed it on that her parents would start to ask around, but I don’t think that was the biggest reason. She was probably just as nervous as I was. I still felt extremely bad about what I had forced her to endure during the months we have known each other, that I hadn’t recognized her. She had said that she understood and that it didn’t matter anymore. The main thing was that I knew who she was now.

It still hurt inside of me to think of it. If there had been a reversal of roles, if she had been the one who didn’t remember my face and I was forced to sit at the same table as her every day, I had finally flipped out and screamed it out in front of everybody. I didn’t understand how she had been able to keep quiet about it and the fact that she though I didn’t remember her because I had been too drunk stabbed me in the heart. That certainly was not the reason that I didn’t remember her.

The only thing I could recall from that night was pain. The pain from the bullet and then the uncertainty after all painkillers. That was what dominated my memories, that was what had pressed aside my memories of Katie ...

I couldn’t help thinking that the whole thing was a miracle, a strange move from Fate. Katie and I were meant for each other. It couldn’t mean anything else. Fate had brought us together, torn us apart and then brought us back together. Perhaps there was a reason we had been apart for so long, maybe our love had grown stronger in the other's absence. It had done, I knew that.

Why couldn’t she just arrive? I couldn’t wait any longer. What if she wasn’t going to come at all!? What if happy conversation we had yesterday after graduation ceremony had been just a great act to torture me as much as I had tortured her ...! I wouldn’t be able to cope with that. I would be crushed, wouldn’t ...

"Derek?"

Katie's voice awoke me from my thoughts and I looked up just to have my breath taken away. She shimmered in the candle light; her hair was in golden curls over her shoulders. The blue dress she was wearing was perfect and got her gray-blue eyes to look even bluer than usual. She looked straight at me and smiled wide as she started walking towards me with slow and insecure steps. She was longer than usual, but still a couple of inches shorter than me, which reminded me a lot about her in Los Angeles. She had been wearing a blue dress then too, even though it had been light blue, short and the one she wore now was dark blue and long. But she had been wearing heels then too.

"Hey ..." I breathed, still overwhelmed by how good she looked. "You look ... incredible..."

She blushed a little, but didn’t let me go with her eyes.

"Thank you ..."

"Come on ... It's something I want to show you ..."

I grabbed her hand and started to drag her with me out on the dance floor just to pass all the dancing couples.

"Where are we going ...?" She giggled when I laughed at her somewhat confused facial expression. She was so cute when she didn’t understand.

"Come on ..."

She followed me out through the glass doors in the back of the room without asking anything more. The night air hit us in the face when we stepped out on the stone steps and looked out over the beautiful rose garden that adorned the back of the large property. The moon gave the red roses are a brand new glistening surface, made them look much more fragile than usual, just like Katie's skin ...

"Wow ...," she breathed beside me. "It's beautiful ..."

"I know ...," I smiled at her.

And so I leaned towards her, put my arm around her waist and pressed our lips together. When Katie slowly put her arms around my neck, just as she had done that night so long ago, it felt so needlessly interfering right.

Everything felt right, all problems were solved.

Everything would be fine, no matter what happened.

Everything would work out, if only Katie and I got to be together.

Everything would be fine.

For none of us would ever stop believing.