Teardrops

Chapter 4: The Daydreamer's Confessions

Chapter 4

("Okay so when I was a kid...")

"... I had a guy friend name Adam. We used to do everything together... I met him in third grade and he introduced to his favorite book series (which I now own the whole series on my bookshelf) and he taught me how to play basketball and was my escape from the bullies-"

I had meant it as a casual explanation of why he was so important, but Lexi got upset.

"BULLIES???"

"Ummm yeah. And-"

"Haven't you told anyone???"

"Ummm my mom? I went home crying every day for 2 months in kindergarten and hadn't really cried since until last year. But I don't cry often, even now." Lexi stared at me with a dropped jaw.

"And she didn't do anything?? That's not right!!" I shifted uncomfortably under her glare.

"Anyways... Yeah so he was my escape from... The people that were mean to me, because they were never mean to me when he was around. As far as I know, he never asked them to stop though..." My voice trailed off with a hint of unhappiness. Something kept my voice going, however. Something in me kept spilling my guts out.

"He used to sing to me..." my eyes were filling with rare tears but I still refused to let them drop.

"Bad Day." A chuckle escaped my lips, "Peanut butter jelly time..."

I took a deep breath and stared at the ceiling.

"And then there was this boy... when I woke up from passing out he was carrying me and it felt so...right." I struggled to convey my meaning without sounding like I was completely crazy or making things up.

"At first I thought that he was just a teacher or something and that being carried was what felt right, not the person, but then I noticed that he was cradling me to him, not just merely carrying me from one location to the other. And he was breathing into my hair ever so softly and it just felt... well, it felt wonderful." I felt a blush coming across my face.

"I heard them talking and found out he was a student who had volunteered to carry me. I don't know if he was in my class or if he saw them walking me out of the classroom or something. I never saw his face, but as he was putting me down his lips brushed against mine ever so softly..."

I carefully avoided looking at Lexi's face, scared of what I might find there. Finally, as I wasn't able to restrain myself any longer and as I couldn't think of anything else to say, I glanced at her. She was staring towards the right of me, where I assumed a bedside table must be if I sat up and turned around to look. My attempts to do exactly that immediately caught her attention and she looked at me quickly.

"Wait!! Don't hurt yourself!!" She jumped up and sprinted to the side of me as I eased back down to my pillows. I assumed she had picked up something because I heard her moving slowly back to the foot of my bed. as she turned the corner, she put a vase of pure-white roses down and threw a single red envelope at me.

"Who-?"

"Anonymous sender. You going to open that card or not?"

"Not." I retorted, seeing her curiosity. To occupy my own curious mind, I examined the vase closely. At the bottom were little pale blue stones that looked almost like raindrops. Or teardrops.

"How many roses are there?" I asked, and Lexi obligingly counted them.

"13."

"That is one of my favorite numbers..."