He Led Me To Life

Chapter 11:

     When we arrived at the charity center, Samuel and I got out and said goodbye to his mom. We went in and met Nancy at the front counter.

     "Good afternoon! I'm glad you two are here; it's always a big help when you come."

     "Hello, it's nice to see you!" I said, looking into her kind, welcoming eyes. "What can we start with?"

     "Well, we just had a big food donation that desperately needs attention; if you want to go start on that."

     "Sounds good!" Samuel and I said at the same time. We made our way over where there were many boxes of recently donated food.

     "Well, I guess we better get started," I said, opening a box.

     "I'll get us some gloves," Samuel said as he went to get some out of a supply cabinet.

     "Okay," I replied as I looked at all the work we had to do.

     "Here you go," he handed me some gloves that were probably two sizes too big.

     "These are huge!"

     "That's all I could find," he shrugged with a smile.

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Samuel's POV:

     I looked into her deep greyish-blue eyes lifting her hands to show me the baggy plastic gloves I had given her. I haven't known her long but for some reason, I felt something different in my friendship with her. It's like God was orchestrating our relationship. The last couple of days I have been thinking of asking her to be more than friends but I've been nervous to talk to her about it. I don't know how she'll react or what she thinks of me.

     "Hey Samuel, could you lift this up so we can start sorting?" Sadie looked at me. " You were staring off into space."

     " Oh, sorry, " I said and lifted the box which was quite heavy. She probably thinks I've been acting weird which is just adding to my nervousness. I really want to talk to her about it but I just can't bring myself to say it. "This is a lot of food!" I tried to change the subject on my mind.

     "Yeah, it is! We definitely can't sort this all today. How long do you want to stay?"

     "I can text my mom to pick us up an hour later than usual," I offered while throwing away some rotten fruit.

     "Sounds good to me." Sadie agreed with the offer. "Ow!!!"

     "What's wrong?" I looked over at her in worry. I saw blood. "I'll get the first aid kit."

     Sadie sat on the ground and I could tell she was holding back tears. I quickly went to find something to help her.

     When I returned, she was a little panicked. She obviously cut herself on something but I still didn't know how. I could tell she didn't want to look at how bad it was; hopefully not too bad.

     "Will you let me take a look at it?" I said trying to keep a calm voice.

     "Okay, " she replied her voice cracking.

     She uncovered her bleeding hand and it revealed a long, deep slice, oozing blood. I washed it off with mild soapy water and had her hold gauze on the wound.

     "I think you need stitches," I said helping her get up off the floor. I got her a chair to sit on.

     "Well, I guess we can't work an hour longer," she smiled weakly. "Can you call my mom and ask her to come to pick me up?"

     "Sure." Sadie handed me her phone.

     "Ring... ring... ring... ring..." I heard the phone calling but with no answer.

     "She's not answering. What do you want to do?" I looked at her with concern, wishing I could just fix it myself.

     "I don't know. Could we just wait for your mom to pick us up and she can drop me off at the emergency room?"

     "I guess we can," I said hesitatingly. "How bad is the bleeding?"

     "It's not bad. I just need to keep my hand still."

     "I guess I'll keep working then. Are you alright?"

     "I'll be okay, maybe a little bored though and this cut hurts pretty bad. I'll just watch you work to keep sane."

     "Alright then, I'll try to be as entertaining as I can." I looked into the box Sadie had begun sorting and found a huge, sharp kitchen knife with its blade sticking up in between some of the food. It and the food surroundings were covered in blood. "I found the culprit," I said pulling the knife carefully from the box.

     "I can't believe someone would carelessly throw a knife into a food donation box!"

     "Well, now we know to be extra careful while sorting food. It's a very dangerous job." I said matter of factly. "We should make a sign or something titled (caution may contain sharp objects)," I made gestures with my hands as if casting a vision for a new idea. "That way no one else will get hurt."

     "I think that's going a little too far. How often do you find a knife in a box of food." She laughed.

     "Well, this is the first time I've seen one so I guess making a sign would be unnecessary." I felt myself smiling.

     I looked into her playful eyes which still had a lingering hurt look in them from the cut. I wondered how I could tell her about the way I felt. Now probably wouldn't be the best time; but why not now?

     "Samuel?" Sadie was looking up at me.

     "Yeah?" I was still looking into her eyes.

     "You're staring again. You seem a little spacey today."

     "Well, I've had something on my mind that I wanted to tell you," I started to speak before my mind could have a chance to overthink what I was about to say. Well, I guess now is as good as any time.

     "Well, tell me then." She sat there looking at me expectantly, almost like she knew what I was about to say. My nervousness was trying to creep back into my stomach.

     "I know we haven't known each other long but I feel like our friendship has grown so fast since that one day I found you helpless on the sidewalk."

     "Don't remind me," She laughed. "I was so embarrassed."

     "Anyways, I don't know if this is too soon but..." The butterflies in my stomach started to choke me. "I was wondering if you would be my girlfriend?" I said it. Only a couple of seconds had passed but the silence before her reply started to kill me.

     "Of course I will!" Her eyes beamed. "I know this might sound weird but I feel like God brought us together."

     "I have been feeling the same way. My feelings for you have felt different than what someone would call a normal crush. I never even noticed you before that one day you were out for a walk and I officially met you."

    "I have to admit, I was crushing on you long before that day, but it was different after I started to get to know you." She said with a confident smile on her face and I felt that from this moment God had something in store for us in the future.