Winter Wishes

Chapter 2

"Joy why are you upset?"

"I didn't say I was upset."

"Really?" He puts his hand on Joy's arm, which she responded by slapping his hand away. He raised his eyebrows. She looked away in annoyance. They continue to drive in silence.

"Babe?"

"Don't."

"I'm sorry?" Joy sighed, looking at the passenger window to hide her smile.

Observing from the backseat, Aaron's mouth dropped open.

"I never knew she smiled when she looked away."

"Yeah...she wasn't lying when she said-" Elyssa was interrupted by a sigh.

"I can never stay mad at you."

"Are you sure??" Aaron was still worried.

"It's just— I just— I fail at everything."

"Joy that's not true..."

"Yes it is."

"You're a great figure skater." He scrunched his face in confusion when the girl frowned.

"If I was, I'd be chosen to compete, but since I'm not one of the top three women skaters, I'm not picked to compete in competitions."

"Why not? I've seen you skate before and you're amazing. You have so much passion compared to the other girls I've seen skate. If your coach doesn't think you're one of the best then you should find another skating—"

"I already did! And they rejected me! All they said was that I wasn't what they were looking for." She started crying and Aaron pulled into Pizza Galore.

"It's Wednesday," she began.

"I know," he reached over and hugged her. "Screw the rules." Figure skaters had a special diet to make sure their body was as light as possible, but strong and healthy. Food like pizza was not ideal. A smirk was starting to crawl on his face when the girl started digging her face into his chest. He leaned back to see her face to kiss her cheek and wipe her tears away with his thumb.

"C'mon, I know you're hungry when you're upset." She gave away a smile.

"God I love you," she said diving into his chest once more.

"I love you too." He kissed her head and they went inside to eat pizza.

"It wasn't always sad," Elyssa commented. "You were a good boyfriend."

"Not as good as I wanted to...I wasn't always there for her. I—" He wanted to say something among the lines last priority but it hurt him too much to say it.

***

Becky rushed over as soon as she heard about the car accident. Aaron, what the heck? His mother was in the same room, laying side by side. Becky gasped as if the room was capable of taking all the oxygen out of her lungs. Mrs. Heasly was awake, only a cut above her right eyebrow, but Aaron was covered with grape and cranberry colors on his forehead, a few little patches on his nose, and a neck brace.

"You're a friend of Joy and Aaron," she said.

"Yes," an awkward pause; she decided to take a step toward the mother. "How is Aaron?"

"He's a—" her voice cracked at the same time her eyes threatened to leak water, "Well the doctors said he's in a coma," she started to lose it and Becky rushed to her side.

"It's okay Mrs. Heasly, Aaron is a strong guy, he'll make it."

***

"Joy talk to me."

"What do you mean?"

"Why weren't you at lunch today?"

"I was in the library." There was something Joy wasn't telling him, he could sense it.

"Oh, doing what?"

"I had to finish work before fourth hour." Aaron squinted his eyes in suspicion.

"Is it because of my friends?"

"No, I just had work to do."

"Well you never seem to be around them."

"Well they're not exactly my friends, they're your friends. I don't think they're terrible people or anything, I'm just not comfortable around them."

"You can talk to them at lunch?"

"About what Aaron? Sports? Videogames? Those are things I know nothing about. Besides, they don't exactly talk to me either. They talk to you."

"Hannah, Karen, and the other girls aren't always quiet at our table." Joy's face was getting red and hot.

"Why do you want me to be like everyone else? I'm not like Hannah, Karen, and them. Stop trying to be like everyone else. Just because they do certain things, doesn't mean you have to too!"

"I'm not acting like everyone else! I'm just acting normal."

"Oh, so what, I'm not normal? I'm not normal because I don't play videogames as much as you, or play the same sports as you and your friends? May-"

"That's not what I said at all."

"It's not? Then what did you say?"

"I'm just wondering why you don't talk to my friends. I talk to yours with no problem."

"Because when I introduced them to you, I actually paid attention to you and invited you to join our conversations. Things that you could relate to: assignments in classes, stupid things people do, the weekend. You and your friends don't do that with me, and that's fine." Joy and Aaron started to fade like someone destroying a watercolor painting and then someone was erasing a comic strip.

"I'd do anything to have that memory gone...the other bad moments too. I was so caught up in succeeding my fantasies of what a relationship would be like for me, I forgot what really mattered. But now that she's gone, she'll never know how sorry I am. I was a jerk to her the last few months."

"I know you're sorry Aaron, I forgive you."

Aaron whips around a 360 degree angle. He could see the outline of Joy, but her form was transparent. Right now, she reminded him of a mix between an anime character and an alien.

"Joy?" A tear escaped his left eye and then his right. She smiled willingly. He crept forward, but Joy put her hand up to signal him to stop and shook her head.

"Don't come any closer, I still have to ah," she put her hands up in question and looks at her body. Aaron nods.

"We have one more pit stop," Elyssa says. Aaron didn't look over, his eyes were fixed on his dead girlfriend.

"Go with her Aaron, I won't leave you...I never did." So she won't, he thought to himself. Through the entire walk down memory lane, she was there, not in just the memories, but in spirit.

"Okay."