The Best of Me

High For This

Abel

I stroked her beautiful hair while we watched tv. I didn't realize she dyed her whole hair light brown. There are a lot of things I haven't realized. Like when we're out in public, she doesn't reach for my hand anymore. Or when I try to kiss her on the cheek, she turns away. She also stopped taking her pills and almost had a meltdown until I demanded her to take them. I think the whole thing with my ex scared her to even be seen with me. Just two nights ago, she was talking about how she has this feeling that that whole problem didn't die with Valerie, that Valerie has more people with hate for her than she can count. Of course I told her that that's just her paranoia and her fear but she still goes on about it. But today, she's been quiet and affectionate towards me. She also took her pills, no questions asked. I tell you, women are bipolar.

She reached for my hand and clasped it with hers, then lifted our hands and she kissed the back of mine. I'm telling you something is really wrong right now.

"Um... Christina?"

"Yeah babe?"

"Are you...um...ok?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"No reason."

There was a long pause before I decided to get up and get something to drink from the kitchen. When I got to the refrigerator, I saw that we didn't have anything to drink.

"Hey, baby?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you drink anything from the refrigerator?"

"No."

This is really sketch. Considering the fact that I bought a bunch of things from the store yesterday.

"Hey, I'm going to the store. Do you want to come with?"

"Sure."

She got up from the couch and I grabbed the keys and locked the door.

When we were in the car, Christina turned on the radio and we heard In the Night playing. I swear, it's getting harder and harder to listen to the radio without hearing my voice all the time. Don't get me wrong, I was excited about it in the beginning, but now it's just annoying. I heard Christina humming the different chords of the song. That's one thing that I love about her. She knows and understands music. She can just listen to a sing once, and she would already figure out the notes. She reminds me of Prince in Purple Rain. You know, at the part when he's trying to transpose Wendy and Lisa's song onto the piano. I saw her do that once or twice.

We were in a little antique shop and they had a black grand piano just sitting there. Christina looked so beautiful playing it. She played Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, you name it. We were at the shop all day just listening to her play.when it was time for us to go because of the shop closing, I saw how sad she felt leaving. I decided to save up some money to buy her the piano and surprise her for her birthday during her birthday party. When I bought the piano, I wanted to add something on it so she could remember me. I asked a guy if he could put my XO label on the top of the piano. Thank god he complied and charged me nothing for it because of who I am. When I showed Christina the piano, she had the most joy anyone could have. After saying her thank you's to everyone when they left her presents, she started playing Echoes of Silence. I sat down with her while she played, and sung the lyrics. When I got to the second verse, she started singing with...so much emotion. And her hands were so elegant playing the notes. When she was done, tears were falling down her face.