The Only Thompson Girl

19

"Nate?" My voice was now a whisper, one that I could barely hear. His soft gray eyes turned and looked at me. I froze. It had been months since I had last saw him in person and I couldnʻt handle it. Every memory we had together came back to me filling me with emotions I thought I had let go of. He looked shocked to see me but angry at the same time.

"Casey?" His voice, I missed it. The way my name rolled off his tongue shot tingles up my spine. I nodded and walked closer to the bed he was sitting on. He followed every move I made and watched silently like an attacker watches its prey. I made sure not to make such sudden movements due to his condition.

Dr.Stover had briefed me on Nate. He was in critical depression. He said it was from a mixture of something going on with his parents and our break up was just the icing on the cake. I never thought that a break up could affect him as much as it did me, worse actually. I took a seat near him but not to close.

"Hi Nathan, how are you?" He looked away from me and faced his head to the ground. "Is that why youʻre here. They told you about my condition." His eyes were back to mine, but there was no emotion behind them. They were just blank.

"Yeah." He nodded and then moved a little closer to me. "I've missed you a lot Casey." He put his head down on my shoulder and rested it there. You would think that it would have been uncomfortable but it wasn't. It felt right. Seconds passed and neither of us were talking. We just sat there in a comfortable silence waiting for the other to talk first.

"They're telling me I'm getting better." He lifted his head higher to meet my eyes. There was that emotion again, the one I couldn't figure out. "I think you should leave." My eyes widened in shock. The moment he says something its to tell me he's doing better and that I should leave.

"Nate, I don't want to leave." He looked taken back by my question but he lowered his gaze to the floor.

"I'm not you problem anymore, don't waste your time on me." So that's how he felt. Like I was only here because I felt obligated to be. The truth is that at first I did feel obligated that I should make sure he was okay but the moment I saw him I knew that I wanted to be here, with him.

"Nathan, I will be here for you from now on. You may not be my problem anymore but I want to be your's." I put my hand on his cheek to raise his face up to meet mine. He leaned in closer to my touch and closed his eyes.

"I've missed you so much."

****

I spent an hour or so with Nathan. We just talked about everything, it was like we never missed a day apart. I could see the color coming back into his face as we talked and it made me feel happier to know that with us just talking he could be getting better.

After a while Cody came back in with Dr. Stover. "Casey, it's time to leave. Nathan needs his rest." I nodded and stood up. Nathan grabbed my hand and spun me around to face him.

"I appreciate you coming her Casey, a lot." He hugged me tight and kissed me on the forehead. " I still love you." Before I could respond he smiled down at me, his award winning smile and laid down on his bed. I nodded and walked towards Cody who was standing at the door.

"You okay kiddo?" I smiled up at him and nodded. I was okay actually I was a little bit better than okay, I had just had the closure I had been wanting for a while now.

"Well lets go get some food and maybe catch a movie if you're down for it?"

"Sounds good to me." We left Dr. Stover with a nice farewell and walked out.  We drove to a small Chinese restaurant near the hotel we were staying in and ate until we couldn't't move.  I hadn't realized how hungry I was, considering I hadn't eaten almost all day.  Cody payed for the check and then headed back to the hotel.