Changes That Make Us

New Doors Open When Others Close

That night I couldn't stop thinking about Kade. Why now? Why end it now? Did something happen to make him break up with me? I needed answers and I needed to get him back, I miss him too much. I need him too much. I decided to call him, it rang a few times and I paced around my room. It rang some more and then it went to voicemail. I won't give up, I called him again. 

When he didn't answer I left him a voicemail, "Kade, please call me back," then I called him again. 

I couldn't leave things like this, I needed him. He was always the one to cheer me up and be there for me. He can't just leave me like this. I called him for hours. He never picked up once. It was one in the morning when I finally gave up. There was a small breeze coming through my window and it pushed a few papers off of my desk into the floor. I picked them up and then I found the notes Ben and I passed during class that day. His phone number was written beneath his neat handwriting, all I needed was someone to talk to, so I called him. He picked up on the third ring. 

"Hello?" He said warily.

"Ben?"

"Sarah?" He sleepily asked, "Why are you up at this hour?"

"I know we don't know each other that well but I need someone to talk to," I said as I held back tears.

"Okay, okay, meet me at the school in 10 minutes"

"No, not the school, the lake" I told him, I couldn't go back to school yet, it's going to be hard to even see the parking lot.

"Okay, I'll see you soon," he said then hung up. 

Ten minutes, that's not enough time to get ready. I hurried and threw on some decent clothes, put on a little bit of makeup, brushed my hair out, and ran out the door to my car. He probably wouldn't mind if I was a little late but I didn't want to be rude. The road was so peaceful with no one else driving, and the sky was so clear you could see all of the stars. When I got to the lake Ben was already there waiting in his car, and I had managed to calm down a bit. He saw me pull in and got out of his car. We sat in the sand watching the waves wade in and out for a minute. The air was brisk and the breeze made it colder, I started to shiver. Ben noticed and wrapped his jacket around me. 

"I'm sorry I called you here so early," I said.

"It's fine, I wanted to get to know you better anyway so I guess here's my chance," he said and we both laughed. "So what happened? You okay?" 

"Kade, my boyfriend I told you about, broke up with me," I told him and I started to cry.

He pulled me into him and we didn't talk for awhile. He held me close to him and stoked my hair to calm me down. 

"Sarah, you don't need him, do you know how many people love you? All your friends and your family, so don't stress over this one guy"

"Thanks Ben, that means a lot, really" 

We sat in silence for a while just watching the waves. He's right, I don't need Kade, and if this is how it was meant to be, then so be it. 

"My favorite color is yellow," I told Ben.

"What?" He said, I must have caught him off guard.

"You said you want to get to know me, so I'm telling you things about me" 

"Well in that case then, my favorite color is blue"

We talked for hours about basic things like our favorite foods and hobby's, then he told me some personal things. His father died when Ben was six and he's an only child. He told me his whole life story and it was intense. I didn't think his life would be that hard for him. His mom is successful but she can barely find time for Ben and is almost never home. All of the friends that he has had were fake and we're always careful around him because they thought he was "broken" but all Ben ever wanted was someone who cared about him. I thought that it was only fair that I told him my life story too. I told him about how my parents are still together but I was a mistake, they don't love me or care about me, so that's why I cared so much about Kade. He was the only one who loved me. My friends are fun to hang out with but they don't know much about my family or anything outside of school. I can't tell my parents anything because they either don't listen or will get mad at me for anything I do. I had an older brother named John, but he died when I was 12, my parents blame his death on me, I think that's partly why they hate me so much. I asked John to take me to softball practice one day because the person who usually took me, our neighbor Kerry, was at the hospital visiting her husband. On our way to the softball field there was a drunk driver who hit us at one of the intersections. Our car slid and hit a tree, causing John to die. I was only slightly injured but my relationship with my parents was gone, well the little of it that I had was gone. After I had told Ben all of this we talked till sunrise about everything and anything. It felt like we had known each other for years but we had only talked for a few hours. It was almost time for school when we left the lake, I wasn't going to school that day to avoid seeing Kade but I had to let Ben go because he couldn't miss it. I watched him drive off and I sat in my car for a while longer. 

Before Ben left he said, "Let me know if you ever need anything, I'm always here for you, you're not alone" 

I think he's a great person and I'm so glad he was here for me last night. I drove back home after I knew that my parents had gone back to work, I put on a movie, and just relaxed.