Au Revoir

9

The phone rang two times before Alex picked up.

"Hey Jess."

"Hey Alex." After saying that I realized my nose was running from tearing up. I sniffled my nose, and wiped it off.

"Are you alright?"

"Oh um yeah. Just fine. So, what did you call to ask?" After realizing and accepting my feeling for Alex I've noticed I get so nervous around him recently. Like I'm worried about disappointing him, or making him sad. Now that I think about it though, was it always like that?

"Well you see... wow this is harder than I expected. Uhh..." As he continued trying to gather his words, I chose to stand up since that felt more comfortable at the moment. I realized right after that it was a bad decision.

I didn't push the chair out far enough which resulted in me slamming my knee into the desk. The whole thing shook, and I cursed in pain. What happened next though seemed to happen in slow motion. When the desk moved the two pill bottles moved.

They tipped over, and one by one loudly fell on the floor. I sat in complete shock. My hand also found its way over my mouth. Alex definitely heard that, and I couldn't lie because he isn't an idiot.

His end of the line was also silent, and it continued to be for another minute. Finally he spoke, but I didn't expect what he said.

"Meet me at the elementary school playground in 15 minutes." Then the line went dead. After processing what he said I shot up and started getting ready. Hopefully my mom won't mind me leaving at 5 p.m. on a Sunday to go to the park.

I get downstairs and my mom is asleep on the couch. Quickly I run to the door, get my coat and shoes, then leave. The playground was about 10 minutes away, so I was right on time. The sun was just starting to set, and everything was silent. No cars. No people. No distractions.

When I got to the spot I looked around for Alex. I saw him on the swings slightly moving back and forth looking down. His red hair gently blew in the breeze, and little puffs of breath could be seen coming from his mouth. The blazing orange sunset made the scene even more perfect. As I stepped closer I realized his phone was playing music.

"Shall I stay? Would it be a sin? But I can't help, falling in love with you~" He was lightly singing along.

For once he wasn't listening to rock or heavy metal which was weird, but it didn't really matter since it still fit him so well.

"Hey." I simply say to let him be aware of my presence.

Alex looked up, and before I could process it he wrapped his arms around me. His embrace was so warm, but he was shaking. We had never really touched each other because we were both too awkward to, but this was so natural. My stomach was doing flips. It lasted about two minutes before he pulled away. Our eyes locked. That's when I realized he had been crying.

I was to shocked to talk at the moment.

"Jess, I was so worried. Please don't go. I need you. I need you Jessie." He grabbed me back into a hug, and continued to sob for another couple of minutes. His words made me think though.

I guess I knew he cared, but I never would have thought he would cry over me. I never would expect anyone to cry over me since I figured no one really liked me that much. Also after seeing Alex like this I realized I don't want to die. I don't want to cause him pain because I want to protect him from it.

"Hey Jess?" He said weakly into my shoulder, still hugging me.

"Yeah Alex?" I mumble back. He pulled away to look me in the eyes. By now he has stopped crying.