Strike-Out

Will You Be Mine?

Chapter 8

With my father's right arm hooked to my left, and my mother's left arm hooked to my right, I hobble down the sidewalk to my front porch, where they practically drag me up the stairs. I look behind me to see my brother trailing behind. He smiles at me, and I would smile back except I don't realize we have reached the door, and as I turn my head, my face meets with the wall.

I immediately rub my cheek. It hurts, but not enough to leave a bruise, thank God.

My parents loosen their grips on my arms and tell me to go upstairs and shower, I do as I am told.

I am surprised that the doctor didn't demand my showers to be supervised. It seems like a logical reprimand.

After my short shower I tie my hair back in a sloppy braid. Katniss Everdeen [Hunger Games] could do a better braid than me while she's at the Games. I slip on some old sweatpants, a t-shirt, and include a little mascara.

Sometimes you just have to live to please yourself, even when you're bumming it.

I feel fresh for the first time in weeks. I felt so gross laying in a hospital bed without showering. It is still the beginning of July and man, am I glad to be home.

I walk downstairs, but the house is empty. Not a soul in sight... well, no one in the household has a soul apparently.

Oh, no. I think. Not this again. I call for anyone, but no one answers. I walk into the kitchen and grab a soda. While pulling a can of Root Beer from the top shelf of the refrigerator, I see movement in the corner of my eye, directed towards the back yard, which could be fully seen through the glass door next to the fridge. I walk to the glass door with my soda in tact. I can't believe my eyes.

"Welcome home!" Everyone shouts as I open the door. I step back and take a breath, since it was ever-so-surprisingly gasped out of me. The entire baseball team, along with Eva and Jaime are in my backyard. Most of them have red solo cups in their hands, and I find myself praying it isn't alcohol. That's the last thing we need. My parents are in the back with a few other family friends. It is like the birthday party I never had. I want to cry... really. I want to curl up and bawl like a baby.

Everyone races towards me, which makes me feel uncomfortable and popular at the same time. I can't decide if it is a good or bad thing. The first one to reach me is Moon, and I'm not surprised. He is one of the fastest guys I know. He wraps his arms around me as if I had just come back from the dead...

okay, maybe I did.

But anyways, Moon never treats me like this, ever. He is just one of my brother's teammates, and now he was my friend. It's a hard concept for me to grasp. Popularity never meant much to me, now I feel like without it, I would be nothing.

A line of hugs follow. Kyle, Robert, Jaime, Eva, a bunch of other teammates, and lastly, Isaiah. Not only did he hug me, but drag me over to the table where gifts upon gifts upon gifts were stacked. He reaches into the pile, pulls out a particularly small gift and hands it to me.

"It's not time to open gifts yet, silly." I say, smiling and shoving the gift back to Isaiah.

"Just open it, please?" He pleads. Curiosity got the best of me as I took the gift back and held it.

People began to crowd around me as I tore away the layers of wrapping paper that protect whatever was underneath. As I reach the gift itself, I'm not shocked at what is inside...A small jewelry box of some sort. I run my thumb over the little box.

Before opening it, Isaiah walks to me, and looks me in the eyes and smiles. I give a wide grin back at him. I am both scared and nervous to open it. It could be anything really... jewelry-wise, that is. I open it slowly.

Inside is a necklace with a heart on it. The heart is 3D, and looks as if it holds something inside. Upon closer inspection I realize there was a hole on the side. I try not to look disappointed, though I was.

But then again, it could be a locket, or just a piece of metal junk that he picked up from one of his many exes.

"Thanks!" I say, hugging him, but he pushes me off. I give him a pouty look because he never neglects my affection. He always seems so desparate for it.

"Wait.." He says. He reaches underneath his typical Hollister t-shirt and pulls out a thicker silver chain with a key attached.

That's it! I think. The little key would fit perfectly into this necklace.

I wrap my hands around his neck to undo his necklace, making sure it is alluring. I pull it from him, making sure I brush his neck as I do so. I take the key in my hand, gripping it so it won't fall through my fingers like water. I slowly slide it into the hole. Nothing happened. No click. Nothing.

"You have to turn it." Jaime says. Of course she would know, its probably the same one she had received from him, though I never seen one like it on her.... not that I payed any attention.

I turn the key, while praying something would happen.

Instead of the necklace splitting in two, like I expected it to, I finally hear a click.

"Pull it out slowly." He commands. I do as he says. The key feels a bit heavier and harder to pull out. I am confused, until I see why. Attached to the key, magnetically I believe, is little pieces of silver that are held together by a single thread. As I pull the key out the pieces begin to lay flat. They are each engraved with a word. If that's not cute I'm not sure what is.

Will...

I pull further.

You...

Be...

I struggle to get the last piece in its position.

Mine...

My jaw drops in awe unintentionally. Of all of the possible ways to ask a girl out, this has got to be the cutest. I look up at him, his grey eyes glisten in the sunlight. They are squinting at me as a wide smile appears on his face. I am speechless. I have no words for him.

It is too soon... I think. Way too soon.

It is like a smack in the face.

I just come home from the hospital because I almost drowned in a bathtub , and you overwhelm me with things that my brain can't even handle?

Damn you, Isaiah Lee.

Part of me wishes I was still in that coma, and not here. The other part of me wants to just pull him close and kiss the heck out of his baby lips.

I know I want him, but I never really considered having him as more than this guy that randomly sneaks in my house to kiss-and-tell.

Just when you think you have it all figured out...

you don't.