Why Me?

Epilogue

Noor:

            “Noor, you’re gonna be late!”

            “He’s the one coming to pick me up, it’s fine!” I called out, poking at my hair one last time.  When I was sure that not a single strand was out of place. I looked in the mirror again and when I was satisfied with what I saw, I ran from my room and went downstairs, skipping some steps.  Sophia turned from the kitchen with a cookie in her hand.

            “Noor!  Why aren’t you dressed up?” she whined, eyeing my jeans and tshirt.

            “We’re not going anywhere fancy, just McDonalds,” I said annoyedly.  Sophia started choking on the cookie she was eating.  I looked at her worriedly then lunged at her and grabbed the cookie.

            “That's mine!” I cried out, stuffing it into my mouth. Sophia stared at me in disbelief.  “It was mine,” I repeated after a moment of silence.  Sophia shook her head and rolled her eyes.  Then her eyes suddenly bulged out of her head.

            “Wait, so did you say you guys are going to McDonalds?” she asked me incredulously. 

            “Yes, I believe that is what I said...”

            “What?  Why?  That cheapstake can’t even take you to a regular restaurant?”  She smirked at me.

            “No!  We just think McDonalds has good ice cream.”  Sophia read my face carefully, searching to see if I was lying or not.  When she didn’t find any reason not to believe me, she let out a little huff of air.

            “Well, have fun on your date at McDonalds,” she said, smirking again.  “By the way, should I go wake up Mom?  It’s almost twelve,” she said, looking upstairs worriedly. 

            “Umm...yeah, good idea,” I said absentmindedly, my mind already racing ahead.  Drew would come any minute, and then we would go to McDonalds and maybe to the small bakery across the street.  I already felt butterflies in my stomach at the thought of seeing him.  We had been dating for almost a year now.  He asked me out a few weeks after Miranda and Jerry got married, and I immediately said yes.  I now clearly remembered everything that had happened before my memory was erased, it was almost as if the effects had been undone.  I figured that they probably were, since Drake was now gone.  An involuntary shiver ran through me at the thought of him.  A few more weeks after Drew had asked me out, Jasper had simply disappeared one day, not leaving a thing behind.  When Sophia and I went to check his apartment, someone else had already occupied it.  My only guess was that he didn’t feel like he didn’t need to stay around to protect me anymore, since the threat was gone.

            I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard footsteps pounding down the stairs.  Sophia stopped at the bottom right in front of me, out of breath.  “Noor,” she said, panting, her eyes filled with tears.  “Its...it’s...”

            “Sophia?” I asked worriedly, not even having the slightest idea what was wrong.  I reached out a hand comfortingly.  “What’s wrong?”

            “It’s May 16th...”

            I suddenly felt like I was punched in the stomach, and hard.  I took a step back from the imaginary force, feeling tears start to fill my eyes as well.  How could I forget?  May 16th.  A year since Luke had died. 

            Just then the doorbell rang.  Sophia ran to the other room and I could hear her trying to muffle her sobs.  “One minute!” I called out, my voice suddenly hoarse.  I went and grabbed a tissue, wiping the tears from my eyes but they kept refilling.  I gave up and just went to the door, holding the tissue to my eyes to cover them.  I unlocked the door and opened it.  I heard Drew jumping up and down excitedly.

            “Noor!  Hey!  Ready to - are you okay?” he asked, his tone changing quickly.

            “Yeah, I’m fine, I just...”  My voice suddenly broke, contradicting what I had just said.  I sobbed into my hands, the tissue drenching in my tears.  I looked up for a second to see Drew staring in shock at me.  Then he reached over and hugged me, pulling me over the doorstep so that I was standing outside with him.  He rubbed my back soothingly, but I could still tell he was confused as to why I had suddenly broke down. 

            After a few minutes I pulled away, wiping away my tears.

            “Sorry,” I sniffed. “It’s just, Luke died today one year ago.” I sniffled again as understanding dawned on Drew’s face.

            “Oh, I'm so sorry Noor. We can cancel our date if you want. We could-”

            “No, no it's fine. I’ll deal with it,” I said, giving Drew a small smile. He was so caring.  At times.

            “Are you sure? We could reschedule-”

            “No I'm sure. I really want that ice cream,” I said in an attempt to lighten things up.

            “Okay. Lets go.”  Drew held out his hand for me and I took it. He walked me to his car and as I got into the car, thinking about wonderful ice cream as I sniffled one last time, it seemed like life was perfect and there was nothing I would do to change it.

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