Painful

Bringing a special visit

I woke up by a tingling feeling on my face. I opened my eyes with a little effort and saw Joey's tale on my nose. "Joey!" I whined. His happy ass turned around and now I saw his cute face. I cuddled a little with him and stretched out. I went to the bathroom and did my morning routine, you know brushing my teeth, washing my face and combing my hair. "Yo Joey. What are you doing?" I asked before walking out the bathroom. I laughed when I saw what he was doing. He tried to catch his tale and it looked so cute when he got dizzy and fell down. I grabbed him and walked downstairs. Joey went immediately to his food and I made my own breakfast. When we were done I decided to learn him some tricks. It's a smart dog you know. After half a hour he already knew how to sit and we played a little.

I putted on some descent clothes and went for a little walk to the park with Joey when I got a call. "Hello?" "Hey Emma, it's me Alex" she said. "Hey how are you" "fine, but I'm bored. Rosie gave me the day off" I chuckled. "You're addicted to work. But you can come over, if you want. You can come meet Joey" I heard Alex gasp "oooh, who's Joey? Your new boyfriend?". I smiled "no, Joey is my puppy. I'm walking with him in the park right now" "really?! I'm on my way! Meet me by the fountain" she said enthusiastic. "Alright, I'll see you soon" I hung up and started running with Joey. When we arrived we waited on the grass for about five minutes till I saw Alex approach. "Hey!" She gave me a hug and turned around to Joey. "What a cutie!" She said "I know! I'm starving, should we go to my place? We can order food" "sure, I'm starving too". We immediately called to the best food place in this city (in my opinion) and started walking home.

We sat down in the garden with some drinks and our food. Joey was playing with his toys and running around. "So where did you get the puppy?" Alex asked. "Nate bought him for me" I said happy "what?! No way!" Alex screamed enthusiastically "when?". I smiled by the thought of him "yesterday, he invited me to his house saying he had a surprise and afterward we went swimming" "omg! You like him" "what?! No!... Maybe". My cheeks started to heat up and I quickly took a sip from my drink. "Come on, you don't have to lie. I already knew it would come to this" I rolled my eyes "alright.. maybe I do like him, but I've never said it out loud". Alex's face went from happy to serious "what are you going to do next? Are you already a couple?" "No, I can't make him fall in love with me. I will be gone in a week or less. I don't want a relationship right now, because I know it will tear me apart" Alex sighed deeply "poor you". She stood up and gave me a hug. Damn, it felt relieving to say, but now my emotions were getting annoyingly deep. "It's too late, I'm already torn apart, because I've to leave all of you" "come on stop it, you're going to make me cry... what if he tries to give you something to come back for?" I looked questioning to Alex "what do you mean?" "The paintball, the puppy and just the two of you went swimming. I think he wants to give you a reason to come back, because he loves you" she said sad. I thought for a while and it was silent. The silence broke when Alex's phone went off "hello? Yeah. Alright I'm on my way, bye" she said over the phone. When she hung up she turned to me "I have to go. I'll see you later" she grabbed her stuff and I walked her to the front door. "Thank you for the talk" I said "always" she answered and walked away.

I shut the door and walked to the garden to clean up everything. I played a little with Joey and watched some Netflix. But I couldn't stop thinking about what Alex said 'I think he wants to give you a reason to come back, because he loves you'. Why does life has to be so hard? I really want him, but he has to live too and what if she isn't right, what if he doesn't love me? Maybe he's just trying to be nice. I don't know. I couldn't sleep that night. I doze off 4 in the morning...

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'Ring Ring'

I heard a ringing sound, but didn't want to get up. Instead I grabbed my pillow and put it over my head to block the annoying sound. Apparently it didn't help. My phone kept ringing and with a deep sigh I picked up the phone. "Hello?" I tried to say as casual as possible. "Hey sunshine, am I waking you up?" I heard a familiar voice say. I looked at my phone and saw it was already 12 o'clock. A big smile appeared on my face when I realized Nate was calling. "Actually you did. So what is your excuse mister?" I joked. I heard him chuckle silently "I'm taking you to someone really special today. So get your pretty ass up princess" "woah, what's with all those names you give me? You sound a little too happy today" I laughed. "I'm sorry. Is it too much?" He said lowering his voice what made me feel guilty "what? No, I didn't mean that.." " I'm just kidding. I'll be there in ten" he laughed.

I hung up and felt really embarrassed. I shouldn't have said that. I felt my cheeks blush a little and hid my face in my hands. I stood up and made myself ready. I quickly checked on Joey and ate breakfast. You know sometimes I'm really happy that I don't wear make up, because if that was the case I wouldn't be ready in years.

I heard a car arriving and quickly putted on my shoes. There was a knock on the door and I opened the door for Nate. "Hey" I said and he gave me a quick (and awkward) hug. "Where is Joey?" He asked and I pointed to the living room. He followed my direction and looked for Joey. When he found him they both hurried to each other, what made me laugh. Nate played with him while I was still putting away my dishes. "Ready" I said. He stood up and made sure Joey had enough food "now I'm ready too". I laughed and followed him to his car. We drove and drove.

"Can you please tell me where we are going?" I asked as kindly as possible, because he refused to tell me. "Nope" "please" I asked this time acting as sad as possible. Nate looked in my direction "don't do that". I saw he was struggling not to say it so I asked again "please". Nate growled low "ugh, you're too cute" he said looking back to the road with a smile. I blushed a little, but was happy when he finally surrendered himself. "We're going to visit your grandmother" my heart skipped a beat. "We what?! I can't, I don't know her and she didn't want to see me I assumed" I said in panic. "Calm down," Nate said trying to calm me down "you don't understand. She did want to see you, but she couldn't. She lives in a retirement home". I was speechless. How could I not know? I didn't even try to get some information about her. "..and by the way you don't know her, but she knows you and who knows maybe you'll remember her" he argued.

We arrived and walked inside. We got instructed to her room and when we arrived I stopped for a moment taking a deep breath. "It's okay" Nate said. I knocked on the door and walked inside. A woman was sitting by the window. She was reading a book, but her eyes were now on me. She gasped and stood up as quickly as she could. "Emma" she gasped making her way towards me. When I saw her face I recognized her. Tears were in my eyes and I ran over to her. Her arms were around my waist and I tried to hug her back as tightly as I could. She looked at me and she brought her hand to my face and I leaned at it, looking at her. "You're so beautiful" she said with tears in her eyes.

We talked a little and grandma explained why she was in a retirement home. Apparently she started to have symptoms of Alzheimer and it would be dangerous to live on her own. There was a knock on the door and we all turned around too look who it was. There was a nurse standing in the door opening. "Ma'am visit hour is over. Unfortunately you have to make an end to your visit" I nodded and she left the room. I turned back. "Grandma I'll be back soon, but you have to know I'm going back to the army in a few days" she looked sad at me. "Sweetheart, you should follow your heart. If you want to go, go. But if you want to stay, stay. I think you and your handsome partner would be a perfect couple" she said winking to Nate. "Grandma!" I said glancing at Nate, who was smirking. "I'll miss you" she said and I gave her a hug "I'll miss you too".

We left and outside I gave Nate a surprisingly big hug. I know I startled him, because he stood there for a few seconds with his arms in the air. "Thank you" I whispered. He put his arms around me and whispered back "you're welcome". He brought me back to my house and I couldn't stop thinking about what he did for me. Isn't this boy just amazing? And handsome by the way.