Saved [boyxboy]

Chapter 13: Full Circle

I can't believe that it's actually been a full year since I've been back in Palmiste Grove. And what a year it's been. 

Last year, I was plagued with dreams of Declan's accident and thoughts of Caleb's death. I was afraid to come back to familiarity, of coming back to stagnantion. I feared that nothing had changed since I had left, that I'd see Declan and memories of our good and bad times around every corner. But now... Now the ghosts of my past no longer haunt me. I have no feelings of loneliness or abandonment. I'm now able to love, to know love and to not be scared of love. And I have Caleb to thank for this.

Saturday was the anniverary of Declan's death. Declan's parents weren't doing another memorial this year, so Caleb and I decided to do something special for our departed friend, all on our own. We packed Caleb's guitar in his car, stopped by the flower shop and picked up a bunch of chrysanthemums, bought a lavender scented candle - Declan's favourite - and headed over to the cemetery.

A familiar face was walking out as we entered the gates of the cemetery, her head down. She looked up, saw us and stopped.

Janine.

The day we broke up, the day he died, I had asked Declan if there was anyone else. He said no. I found out later that that was a lie. Declan has secretly been seeing Janine.

She stared back at us, a mixture of despair and surprise flashing across her face. I hadn't seen her since I got back to Palmiste Grove, largely because she lived just outside of the Grove. She took Declan's death about as hard as I did, I'd figure, probably because she, too, was in love with Declan. That and probably the fact that she blamed me for his death.

Declan's and Janine's fathers worked at the same firm and often invited each other over for dinner or on trips. It made sense that they'd naturally establish some form of friendship.

I found out about Janine at Declan's funeral. We were walking away after they had laid the coffin into the ground, I noticed this girl who I had never seen before standing solemnly at the edge of the crowd. Aviator sunglasses shielded her eyes but there was no disguising the tear marks that stained her cheeks. How she could cry and still be so poised is still a mystery to me; I had no idea how. I remember my Mom asking me if I was alright. I looked at her to let her know that I would be. By the time I turned around, the girl was gone. Vanished into thin air.

Back at Declan's house, I sat on the swings. My Mom had left me to gather my thoughts and Caleb was helping Debra and Don inside. I suddenly felt a presence near me. I looked up and found her, standing over me. She sat on the other swing. "You're the boyfriend," she said, her despair-filled, angelic voice permeating my thoughts.

"I was..." I blinked rapidly and gulped, forcing fown the tears that threatened to spill out of my eyes. "I'm sorry, I don't think I've ever seen you before." She continued to stare straight ahead. I looked at her. "Like ever."

She sighed and hung her head, taking off her sunglasses. She looked at up me, her beautiful gray eyes now red, probably from crying. She was beautiful. Long, brown hair fell from her scalp in tresses, perfectly framing her face. With a demure nose and lips that were just pouty enough, I could see dozens, hundreds of guys drooling over her. "I'm Janine."

"Janine?"

"I'm...an old friend of Declan's," she said.

I hesitated. "Sorry, I don't think we've ever met."

"That's because we haven't," she countered very quickly. I had no idea why but I was beginning to suspect that something was really...odd. She sighed and hung her head again. "You weren't supposed to find out..." she whispered. Thoughts exploded in my head. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."