Saying Goodbye to Yesterday

Chapter 3

The only thing I could do was stand there, staring at him with this ridiculous half smile. I didn't know what to do. My stomach didn't know what to either, for it dropped and twisted. Eventually butterflies came over it.

"Christian!" Mom said walking over to the boy with her arms opened wide.

The unnamed boy now was not. Christian.

"Mrs. Montgomery!" Christian joyfully said to her, looking away from my eyes to look into hers. A cute grin formed over his lips. He hugged my mom like it was no big deal, however it was a big deal to me. A boy, who I did not recall in my memory, was hugging my mom. He may have been cute, and he may have been in the pictures in my room, but I still have no idea who he is.

"So good to see you again," She said releasing him from the hug. She looked at me on the stairs, "Avery, why don't you come downstairs? We have lots more to talk about."

I did as I was told, came down the stairs, and went to the living room. I sat where I had before, as did everyone else. Except this time Christian sat where Baylor had before.

"Christian," Aubree began, "you know about Avery's condition, right?" He nodded. "Her whole condition?" He nodded once again.

"Well, then, I guess it'd be a good idea for you to say some things about yourself," Mom said to him but it came out more of a question.

He grinned at my mom and turned his beautiful blue eyes to me. "Hi, Avery. You don't remember me, right?" I could tell he was nervous by the way he talked, but he tried to look confident.

"Not at all," I told him.

"Well, I'm Christian Mathews. We've been best friends since kindergarten. We've done practically everything together since then. I've been there for you whenever you needed me, and you've been there for me whenever I needed you," he looked down and stopped talking indicating he was done speaking.

Mom looked at him at him confused, she quietly said, "you're not gonna tell her about-"

He shh-ed her and shook his head. His eyes widen as he did so. What were they not telling me?

"What's going on?" I spoke up. They didn't say a word; they only looked down.

"What are you guys not telling me?" I tried again a couple seconds later.

Mom took a loud deep breath in and changed the subject quickly, "well I'm going into the kitchen. Aubree, care to join?"

"Yes, I would," Aubree spoke fast and stood up as soon as Mom did to go to the kitchen.

As soon as they were gone, Christian came over and sat beside me on the couch. He looked me in the eyes. His blue eyes were sparkling.

"So you don't remember anything? At all?"

"Nothing before this morning."

"Do you want to know what happened before that?"

"As if that's even a question."

He chuckled to himself, "you're still as sassy as you've always been," he took a pause to laugh. "Anyways, even though we've been best friends for longer than I have ever been friends with anyone before, I started to develop feelings for you awhile back, sixth grade to be exact, but I never told you."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"I was too scared to tell you. I was afraid you weren't gonna feel the same way and I'd ruin our friendship. Our friendship meant more to me than my real feelings toward you. So, I watched you fall for other guys-guys who didn't even deserve you, might I add. I listened to you go on and on about these guys. Then, I watched you date them. I was so heartbroken every time I saw you with them: kissing them, hugging them, even holding hands with them. But I learned to get over it. I knew I couldn't have you anyways. I tried to get over you as best as I could. I dated other girls, but none of them ever compared to you. After long, the girl I was dating and I broke up. It never really affected me that much, though, to be honest."

I never expected that to come out of his mouth. I didn't know what to say.

"I know what you're gonna say. It does suck and it's not your fault. You never knew," he said looking down, guessing what I was going to say next. He was right though.

"Well I know now," I finally said, looking at him. He looked me in the eyes again, gave me a smile, then looked back down. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, anything."

"How long have I been asleep?"

He sighed, "a year and two months."

Had it really been that long?