Somewhere Between Florida And Heaven

5~ It felt like heaven

I was on my way home riding Nathaniel's bike. It was old and rusty and the fact that he just abandoned his bike on school campus during the summer holidays made me laugh. At least he didn't forget where he left it.

I wasn't ready for Preston to return and still he did. No one appeared to know about him coming back, which makes it even weirder considering he came exactly when school finished.
Did he come to see me?
No... just thinking that seems so egotistic.
He wouldn't dump Montverde Academy for me. As obvious as it is, he broke up with me. Not the other way around.

It hurt. It still does. I expected us to be together for a longer time, but then he put an end to us, because he couldn't handle a long-distance relationship, 'it wasn't for him'.

Douchebag.

He knows how I feel about him. He definitely noticed it when we had a stare down earlier. I must have carried an expression telling him 'hurt me', or else he wouldn't have looked at me like he was about to break my heart again.

I was still on my way home, now riding down a hill.
I intended to slow down but when I was reaching for the brake, it wasn't there.

HIS FUCKING BIKE HAD NO BRAKES.

It was too fast to jump off, and I started to panic. How the hell was I supposed to decelerate?
At the end of the upland was a high fence parting the street from a parc and if I kept driving at the same speed, I would  unquestionably crash into it.

I closed my eyes and quickly positioned my arms in front of my face to reduce the harm this collision will trigger, when I abruptly crashed against the fence.

My ears rang and my vision got blurry. Pain flooded through my body and I wasn't sure where it hurt the most. Did I break anything? Oh god.
I think I bit my tongue because my mouth tasted like blood.

Are you okay?

Was someone talking to me or was that just in my head?
I was laying on the ground, with every move I made I groaned in pain. This definitely didn't feel right. I pulled myself together and blinked slowly. I couldn't see a lot since my eyes couldn't withstand the harsh brightness. When I gained my vision back, my surrounding seemed so tranquil. The birds flying, the palms swaying and the sunny sky smiling down on me.

Never would I want to leave Miami, Florida in general. In moments like these, especially this one, where all sort of pain vanishes, regardless of whether it's physical or mental. The pavement felt warm against my skin and the distant sound of the beach relaxed me instantly.

It felt like heaven.
I closed my eyes and savored this small bit of freedom.

"Are you okay?" someone repeated.

Now I was unmistakably sure it wasn't my imagination.
I reopened my eyes and was surprised by the face looking down on me.

His hazel eyes were searching for mine and his eyebrows were drawn together in worry. His slightly curly brown hair reminde... wait I think I kno--

"Did you hit your head?" he kneeled down and helped me sit up.
I groaned in pain. I wasn't sure what hurt but I knew something did. He got up and helped me stand on my feet, which didn't go well. With his arms holding mine, he made sure I would keep my balance. I looked down at Nathaniel's bike and sighed in relieve. The crash bent the front wheel but otherwise no big damages.

I shrieked when something suddenly touched my leg. Searching for whatever it was, I sighted an Australian Shepherd staring at me, his head tilted to the side, as if he asked me if I was fine.

"His name is Roger" Reed said. I believe his name was Reed.

I wanted to bend down to pet Roger, when he jumped on me and licked my face. I felt a slight pain in my right knee, but right now I didn't care. Reed turned me to face him and asked me again if I was okay. I nodded and when he released me, I stumbled back a little but quickly recovered.

He suggested to drive me home and I nodded. I may know you're not supposed to enter stranger's cars, but I sure as hell was not going to walk the rest of the way home. I gave him the directions, and when he parked in front of my house he interjected "That's crazy. We live in the same neighborhood."
I studied him. He didn't appear to be the kind of guy that stalks you and uses certain incidents to get advantage of you. He had a genuine smile spreading on his face. His soft eyes surely had something inviting.

"I think I saw your dog once, but never you," I replied.

"I didn't go out with him as often as I do now."

"Why?" I asked curiously.

"Well, you might have noticed he's not the youngest dog. He's actually 14 years old now. I just want to spend as much time with him as I can, before he..." He turned his head away from me and looked ahead, his grip tightening around the steering wheel. His face held a melancholic look, as if thinking of something sad.

I interrupted his train of thought "Emm...anyways, thank you for driving me home."

I gave him a small smile and opened the passenger door. He also got out of his seat and walked around his car to open the trunk of his grey VW Arteon. He then grabbed Nathaniel's bike and handed it to me.

"Maybe next time wear at least a helmet." He winked, and jumped back into his car. I was still standing on my front yard and waved at him. I could recognize him smiling at me when he drove off.

Weird.
I wouldn't anticipate him for a player. Nevertheless I only talked to him for 20 minutes.

I left the bike outside and directly headed to my bed. As soon as I through myself on it, all the pain came back up. That's when I decided to take a hot bath to relax my muscles.

This day was truly the worst, and I'm not even exaggerating.
My ex who broke up with me came back, my best friend's brother I hooked up with nearly made me spill my guts in front of his sister, AND I had a near death experience I'm still recovering from.

I guess I could say it can't get worse.