Sincerely, Dr. Cruz

Fourteen: City Lights

Chapter Fourteen: City Lights (Neal’s POV)
Neal’s House: East Providence, Rhode Island

Reina had fallen asleep.

Now, sleeping is necessary to live. Our bodies recharge when we sleep. It was totally natural for her to fall asleep.

Then why was it that when she fell over with her head resting on my shoulder that I felt this jolt of tingles rush through my body?

Maybe I was thinking about it too much. It was 10:30, and I figured she would enjoy going back home.

Then I realized that she got dropped off today.

Which meant that I had to take her home.

I gently maneuvered Reina so that I could get up and she could fully lie down on the couch, adjusting Ben in the process too. I stepped outside and hopped over the fence and walked to my neighbor’s house, where Cindy (a woman in her mid-forties) answered the door.

“How are you Neal?”

“I’m fine. I realize that it is really late but could you do me a huge favor and watch Ben? The uh… babysitter needs a ride home.”

“That’s totally fine with me.”

This was what I loved about Cindy. No questions asked. She just yelled at her husband Bob and told him where she would be going before closing the door and following me across the yards to my house.

Reina was still fast asleep.

“Oh, well isn’t she cute!” Cindy whispered excitedly.

What was I supposed to say to that? Yeah, she’s very cute and I’ve thought that more than once but I have no idea why?

“Uh... okay.” I said awkwardly.

“I mean look at her, she sleeps just like your son does on his side! Her hands are all balled up and her lips are parted ever so slightly like babies in Gerber commercials!”

Cindy was officially too excited about this. Then again she was right.

I walked over to Reina on the couch and gently shook her. “Reina, wake up.”

Her eyes drifted open slowly and I suddenly saw the intense green looking directly at me. “Huh?”

“I’ll take you home. Let’s go.”

“But—“

“It’s okay. I don’t want to bother anyone else. Come on.”

She sat up slowly as if she were too tired to argue. She grabbed her stuff and followed me out the door and suddenly stopped when we got to my motorcycle.

“Uh…” She said, a little more awake now.

“Relax, it’ll be fine.” I said, amused by her hesitancy to get on.

“But—“

“Just get on.”

“Fine.”

I got on, and then she did. She instantly froze up when I lifted my legs onto the rests and turned on the motorcycle.

“Just hold onto my shoulders. You’ll be fine I promise.”

“Is this thing safe for the highway?”

“I’m still alive aren’t I?”

“Dang it Neal. You with your sarcasm.” Reina muttered as she gripped my shoulders firmly.

“What’s your address?”

After she told me, she let out a short scream when we started moving and began to hold on tighter, but she was fine afterwards. Well she has her death grip but still.

Once we got out onto the highway, I asked her if she was okay. You could tell that she was afraid. She clutched onto my shirt gently, but firmly. She shook every time I accelerated, and screamed every time we stopped. Who knew someone could be so afraid of riding a motorcycle?

She nodded but said, “I still have this horrible feeling that I’m going to fall off and die or something.”

“Hold on to my waist.”

“What?”

“My waist. Hold on to my waist.”

“Oh…”

Slowly but surely she slid her arms around my waist and leaned in a little bit closer, turning her head to avoid awkwardly breathing down my shoulder.

I really appreciated it.

Then, something weird happened. After about five minutes I found that she had rested her head on my back and her grip loosened a tad bit. I felt a jolt of heat rush through my body again.

Now, even though Providence wasn’t as big of a city as New York or Pittsburg, it still took a decent amount of time to get from one suburb to another. Basically, it took half an hour to get from my house in East Providence to Reina’s apartment in Warwick.

I don’t know what it was—maybe the breeze that carried out through the bay area of Providence or the fact that Reina was still squeezing the life out of me, but the entire experience seemed surreal; especially when Reina fell asleep holding on to me along the way there.  I realized this when we stopped at a stoplight in inner Warwick, and she jerked along with the movement of the motorcycle. That and the fact that she had her head leaning against my back made sense now.

I drove on gently, not wanting her to actually fall off. I got quite a few honks, even at 11:00 pm.

Once we pulled up outside her apartment, I noticed that it was one in a series of quaint, cute little buildings with porches and individualized mailboxes. A jolt of cold air brought me back to my senses.

I had to wake up Reina, no matter how awkward it was going to be.

“Reina… Reina.” I shook around trying to wake her up to no avail. She was still clutched around me tightly. I gently pulled her hands off of my waist and managed to get of the motorcycle while holding her up. I shook her then, and she instantly responded.

“Huh…?”

“Reina wake up. You’re home.”

Realizing what state she was in, she got off the bike in a hurry and thanked me for taking her home. I told her it was no big deal. She smiled at me and walked up the steps to her apartment. She turned around and waved before stepping in.

I waved back, and for some reason, I didn’t exactly want to go back alone. Loneliness?   

I don’t know, but it was a feeling I had only felt once before—three and a half years ago. 

AN:

Thanks yous for reading :D