Won't Stay Down For Long

Chapter 21: Awkward Apology

Abigial's POV

I could feel my cheeks become redder and redder the longer that I sat at this bench staring up at Eric sitting in a tree right above me. Eric broke our stare by grabbing onto the branch he was sitting on with his one hand and swung down with an ice pack squeezed against his chin and his chest. He swung down with ease; landing quite unbalanced a few feet in front of me. He had to take a few side steps to make sure that he wasn't going to fall down onto his side.

Once he had gained his balance, he pressed his ice pack against his heavily bruised cheek that Brett had caused earlier that day. I sat on the bench totally dumb founded by the situation. What should I say? Should I yell at him? I wish I wasn't so tired; I could just stand up and walk away if I wasn't. We kind of just sat or stand awkwardly staring at each other.

He broke the awkwardness by asking me in a shaky voice," Um... So I see that you can walk now. When did you get those?" He pointed towards the crutches that I tightly gripping in my hand making my knuckles turn white.

I looked down at my crutches which sparkled in the bright sunlight. I loosened my grip on them and leaned back farther into the park bench making myself look more relaxed than I actually was. "Ya my doctor dropped them off before I got home from gymnastics and then my mom gave to me."

Eric let the ice pack fall down to his side. He shifted his weight back and forth between his feet while he thought of something else to say. The ice pack shifted between hand to hand also. I could tell he wanted the conversation to keep going, but he doesn't want to say anything that would offend me. He looked back up to my face and asked in a whisper, "You look pretty tired; are you going to need some help walking home?"

My first reaction was to spit in his face and tell him to leave me alone, but the thought of having to walk up that tall hill by myself made my stomach start to flip. The decision went back and forth in my head. Should I really give him this chance, only days after I found him cheating on me? My tiredness took over me when I told him, "Ya I'm going to need some help home, but I'm need to sit here for a few minutes to catch my breath." I scooted over to the far left side of the bench; leaving him some room if he would like to sit down.

He nodded at me and slowly lowered himself down to the far right side of the bench; leaving a large gape in between us. We sat in silence while I tried to catch my breath. My throat made raspy sounds every time I tried to breathe in. I don't remember being this tired in a long time and all I did was walk down my hill.

A family with a younger girl and boy played on the play set in front of us. The little screamed every time the boy got even close to her. The parents were constantly telling the little girl to be quieter then though they were outside with no one near them except for us. A small smile formed on the corners of my lips.

"I'm sorry." Eric told me in a whisper. His body was facing me with his ice pack and hands moving around in his lap. "If you let me explain I'll tell you what happened. It’s not what you think though." His voice rose from a whisper, but not by much.

I could feel the heat start to rise to my head. I snapped back at him, "All I hear is it's not what you think. Don't tell me what to think. Even if you did tell me what happened, how will I know that you’re telling me the truth?"

"Abby just let me tell you what happened. What can I do to make you believe me?" he asked me in a begging voice.

I could feel the guilt gnawing at my heart. I really hate being mad at anyone, but I need to make myself look like I'm not easy. "You can tell me while I walk home, but that doesn't mean that I will believe one word that you tell me." I pulled myself up from the bench with a little bit of difficulty, but I made it. I slowly started to walk down the concrete path to towards the edge of the park.

Eric quickly caught up to me and walked right next to my right side. I could smell the faint whiff of sweat and the cologne I had bought him surround me. I looked down at the ground while he explained, "Okay this is how this whole thing went down. Brett had sent me to go grab some exercise equipment from the storage room. Mia must have followed me in because when I turned around she pushed me into the wall." He paused for a second and looked down to the ground as he kicked a rock to the side. "She told me that I deserved better and that we would be perfect together. That if I dumped you; I wouldn't have to deal with a handicap person."

I could feel my eyes start to water as he explained. This would be totally something Mia would do and I truly do believe him, but should I. He continued explaining, "I wanted to push her away, but she is stronger than she looks and I didn't want to hurt her either. She then kissed me and that when you came. Abs I'm sorry and this is truly what happened. Can you forgive me?"

 We had made it halfway up the tall hill and sweat beads were starting to drip down my forehead. My vision started to blur a little, but I ignored it and continued on. "Eric I want to forgive you, but how will I ever know that you are telling me the truth. I know that this is something that Mia would defiantly do and I believed that." I told him.

Eric grabbed my upper arm softly and stopped me in front of him which wasn't very hard to do. He moved his hand to my cheek were it made small circles against my jaw bone. I closed my eyes for a brief second. He looked deep into my and said, "Abby I can't do anything to change your mind. All you can do is look into your heart and decide if you believe me or not. I understand that this was totally not acceptable, but you have to believe me that this didn't happen on purpose."

He pressed his forehead against mine and I felt my knees become weak. I crumpled onto the gravel road with Eric's arm underneath of me. The world went black for only a few seconds I think before I opened my eyes again to see Eric's face looking down at me.

"Abs can you hear me? Are you okay? Do you want me to carry you home? Oh my gosh Abs I'm sorry that I did this. Why am I so stupid?" he rambled. 

I told a deep breath and told him, "I'm okay it wasn't your fault; I'm just tired. Can you carry me home?" 

"Of course. Of course." He told me while he carefully picked me up in his arms and pressed me against his chest. My crutches dangled from my arms; probably hitting him in the leg every time he took a step. My body bounced up and down every step he took. "Were almost home."

He looked down at me. I closed my eyes to try to make the world stop spinning. "I believe you." I whispered to him, but I don't think he actually heard me.

A few seconds later he whispered back to me, "Thank you."

It felt like forever, but I somehow made it to my leather couch. I was in that stage where I'm half asleep, but I can still hear everything that is going on outside of my head. 

"What are you doing with her?" my mom snapped.

"I was walking home that it is all." 

"Okay well thanks Eric. I just want you to know that Abby really does miss you."

"Well thanks Ms. Gray. Have Abby text me when she wakes up."

"Will do Eric. Say hi to your folks for me."

The front door closed slowly behind Eric. I miss him already.

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