The Letter, The List & Everything Between

Chapter 4

"Can I read my letter yet?" Ashton folds his hands next to my face and begs.

"I want to walk for a while. Just around here. Is that okay?" I give him a half smile.

"Anything for you," He takes the crutches and places them next to my bag on the floor. He takes my hands in his and leads me into the middle of the aisle. One, two. One, two. I repeat the same thing in my head over and over as I look at our feet moving. I try to take another step and I fall into Ashton. I growl and stand back up, but he holds me by the elbows.

"I can't do it," I roll my eyes. "Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like... like..."

"Like I want to do this," He leans in and his lips are about to brush mine when a high pitch voice is heard behind him.

"Is that Ashton Wheeler?!" She squeals. Ashton sighs and runs his hands over his face. I stumble a little, but he grabs my hands and leads me back over to where our stuff is. He hands me my crutches.

"It's okay, go talk. I'll look at the shoes," I say with half a smile as I push him away. He smiles at me and walks back over to the girl.

I start walking over to the shoes and sit down. I take off my shoes and socks and put on a pair of their thin sock nylon things to try on heels. I grab the pair of light pink heels with laces and try to put them on. "Damnit, just go on my feet already!"

"Are you alright?" A boy my age asks. He looks my age anyway.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I sigh and kick the shoe off.

"Whenever a girl says she's fine, she isn't."

"Wait! You... You were there! You were at the accident!" I point my finger at him.

He puts his hands in his pants and gives me a sheepish look before looking at the ground again, "I was. I remember you too. I was going to come with you, but they wouldn't let me into the ambulance since I wasn't related. I was gonna pull the boyfriend card, but I didn't want to get into trouble when you woke up and if you had a boyfriend. I'm sorry."

"You're fine. I'm Cher."

"Oliver. We play soccer against each other in the summer."

"Not this summer we won't be. I had a crushed femur and tibia and they had to replace the bones with metal. I can barely walk without these crutches. I'm trying though."

"Oh. So, do you need help?"

"If you don't mind, I would like some help with my shoes. I can't get them on and I need a pair for a party."

"A party?"

"I found a letter with a list from my brother when I was cleaning out his locker. It's a long story."

"I've got time," Oliver says, a glint of sadness and pity in his eyes.

After that, I ended up telling him everything about the accident to the letter to the list he wanted me to complete. That whole time, he helped me try on some shoes and even bought me a pair of converse since I can't wear heels yet.

"Thank you for that, Oliver," I say as he types his number into my phone and texts himself.

"I'm always around to talk if you need, Cher," He nods, hands me my phone and walks off. I look down on my phone.

To Oliver: It was great talking to you. Dinner sometime? You'll pay after hours of arguing. I smile and laugh a little at the message he tried to write in my point of view.

From Oliver: Of course! Where?

To Oliver: I won't go unless I can help buy. I'm pretty stubborn and convincing. I'm about to say more, but Ashton walks over. I hit send and shove my phone in my pocket.

"How was your shoe shopping?" He asks.

"I got some for the party that Ben wants me to eventually go to. Oliver bought me shoes too," I shrug. "How was catching up with whoever that was."

"Hm. Not the best. Wait, don't you play soccer against Oliver?"

"We did. I'm not playing anymore. Remember? I'm pretty hungry, how about that sushi and I'll let you read your letter."

"Ah, of course," He swings my bags on his shoulder and wraps his arm around my shoulders. Surprisingly, I can still walk with these annoying crutches with his arm there. I know that he's gonna need this when he reads his letter.

We walk to the food court and get some food from the sushi buffett Ben always went to. I'd always give him dirty looks when he'd eat there. I wouldn't ever try the food because I hate cooked fish and never tried it raw.

"Will you just wait in line with me? I want you to try just one!" Ben pleads. I stand there, arms crossed and shake my head.

"I will never try any of that poison. I will wait for you at a table," I turn and walk over to a two person table and pull out my phone. I start looking through my feed and send streaks on snapchat. When I look up again, Ben is back and he puts his food in front of me.

"Just try one."

"No. It's dusgusting, Ben. It is raw fish! No!"

I sit down at the table I sat at that day and wait for Ashton to come back. I figured that he came here enough times with Ben that he would know what to get me. I told him to get some for himself and some of Ben's favorites. I wanted to start with those.

"Letter?" He holds out his hand after sitting down.

I hand it to him and study his face as he reads the letter. He starts off okay, smiling even, and then it goes down hill. His eyes glaze over and his smile falls. He folds it up and puts the letter in his pocket.

"Just because he's gone, doesn't mean I won't leave," I whisper. He rubs his hand against his mouth and nose and down his chin.

"I know," he says. Tears fall down his face. This is the only time I have ever seen him cry. I don't think I will ever see him cry again, but I don't say anything. I will ponder this moment because he is quite beautiful when he crys. Peaceful almost. "I know." He grabs my hand on top of the table and our hands stay like that for a while.

As promised, Chapter 4 (The longest chapter so far!). I did have to change my schedule a little because of family coming over for Christmas. I ended up being a lot more busy that intended. This weekend I will be out of town again, but I will try to post on January 1st again. 

I don't know my schedule with January yet, it all depends on Exams coming up. Yep, we have exams after break which is different than most schools. I will try my best and I will get as many chapters up as I can.