Forever & Always?

Chapter Twelve

     The next day, Shelby and I skipped school. I refused to go anywhere near Daniel. However, neither of our parents would like it if we stayed home because of a boy, so we found ourselves at the mall. Neither of us mentioned Daniel. Shelby was not sure if I would blow up if she even said his name. Quite frankly, I was not sure either. I was still sad, devastated even. However, I managed to make a decision.

"I'm gonna drop him," I said staring off at the far wall. We were sitting in Panera drinking coffee.

"I think that's best." Silence washed over both of us.

"I'm sorry, Marie."

"Ah I'll be fine." I was not going to be fine. I was never going to be the same. I pulled out my phone and deleted his number. I removed him from all social media and removed him from my life. However, I could not remove him from my brain. So I sat there, letting every memory we shared flood through my mind.

***

Days went by. Daniel would not leave me be. He would say my name until he got the hint that I would not respond. He would come to me at my locker, begging for forgiveness. I did not accept. I was sad and hurt because I was not as special as I thought I was. I was angry that he would do something like that to me. But most of all, I was tired. Tired of him cheating on me and tired of worrying if I was the only girl on his mind. Or if I was even on his mind at all. I was tired.

It was now December 18th, the last time I'd be at the hospital for my med careers program before break started.

"Okay now follow me," the nurse that was working with me said. We walked into an inpatients room. The nurse casually walked to the bed side table and wrote down the man's heart rate and his blood pressure. I had to stop. The man lay there, nearly dead. His wife sat next to him, tears in her eyes, singing.

she sang:

"Have I told you lately that I love you? Could I tell you once again somehow? Have I told with all my heart and soul how I adore you? Well darling, I'm telling you now." The beeps got much too slow. Her soft voice stopped singing. The man looked over to her. He could not manage to sing to her, so he said in a very low and quiet voice,

"Have I told you lately that I love you?" He took as deep of a breath as he could.

"Could I tell you once again somehow? Have I told with all my heart and soul how I adore you?" The beeps got even slower. His voice became hoarse and scratchy.

"Well, darling." A silent tear rolled down his cheek as he reached for his wife's other hand. She grabbed it gently.

"I'm telling you now." Flat. No heart rate. He died. He was gone. The nurse gently tugged on my arm as the wife threw herself over her husband. I stared at the woman. I could start crying at any moment. I turned around, slowly, to walk out.

"Excuse me? Young lady could you come here?" The nurse gave me a small nod and proceeded to the hall. I walked up to her.

"Darling, I'm not sure if you are in love or if you need a sign to be in love with someone, but if you do, this is your sign." She continued to look up at me, tears streaming down her face.

"It is not going to be easy and you are going to want to quit. But darling, you must know that love was not supposed to be easy. You need to forgive and move on, you need to love when the other can't. Being able to say that my husband and I made it, is the best damn feeling in the world. And I love him very much." I set my hand on her back as she looked at him.

"Thank you," I said softly. I rubbed my hand around her back before walking out. I did not make it out of the room before a tear rolled down my face.

"Come on, girl. It's alright," the nurse said in a soothing tone. However, she was wrong. It was not alright. God does not send angels to you for no reason. There had to be a reason and something pierced my stomach each second my mind thought Daniel was that reason.

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I set this chapter up long before any of the others. This chapter is a representation of the song "Forever & Always" by Parachute. How do you think Marie will react to this? Keep in mind, she's a smart girl. But...love makes people do stupid things. And besides...everyone makes mistakes...the question is, how many mistakes is Marie willing to forgive? And how many mistakes is her smart personality willing to make?