That One Friend

Chapter 2

After about 20 minutes of us just sitting there in silence, Jasmine sat up and rubbed her eyes. 

"I think we should work our way home," she said as she giggled. "My dad will throw a fit if we stay out too long."

"Why?" I asked as I laughed back.

"He's convinced you're going to try to make a move on me. He's so paranoid," she replied. "It's ridiculous."

"Yea," I said as I laughed nervously. The rest of the walk to my car was silent, other than the sound of a guy playing guitar on a street corner for cash. For about a third of the car ride, Jasmine and I stayed quiet. There was the occasional cough but that was about it. To break the awkward silence, I decided to put on some music. Our favorite band was some small name group that was slowly becoming popular. The lead singer of the band was the main character in a show on Disney Channel, and the band was comprised of him, three of his siblings, and his friend. I pulled out my phone, turned on my Bluetooth, and hit play.

'You like mismatched socks, with polka dots, you like your pizza cold, I think that's hot.' I saw Jasmine's face light up and the song continued. 'You like to swim at night, when the moon is full, you say that makes you strange, I think that's cool.' As the music played, I could only think about just how much that song made me think about her. Once that song finished she turned off the sound.

"Nice way to try and break the silence by way of R5," she said and giggled. "You know how much I love their music."

"Yea, I guess so," I replied awkwardly. I was hoping she wouldn't see blush, but I had to keep my eyes on the road.  When we got to our road, I parked the car in my driveway, and we got out and I walked her home. It was pretty convenient that we were neighbors, though our houses were still almost half a mile apart . We walked closely together and our hands slipped into an embrace. We looked each other in the eyes. It seemed weird for this to be happening, because we had been the best of friends for so long. As we gazed into each others eyes, we could both tell that the other felt this was weird, but neither of us wanted it to end. Jasmine had dark amber eyes, the kind that were soft and inviting, but strong and powerful at the same time. I didn't want to look away from them, but as I was looking in to those amazing eyes I tripped on a raised area of pavement in the road. I fell on my face, receiving a huge cut in the side of it from a rock that was on the side of the road. 

"Fuck!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, holding my hand over the gash.

"Oh my God, are you alright?!?" Jasmine asked, alarmed.

"I think I'll be fine...," I hesitated.

"Lemme see it," she said, pulling my hand away. "We need to get you to a doctor."

"How bad is it?"

She took a picture with her phone and showed it to me, then she helped to my feet and the rest of the way to her house. 

"Mom, I know I just got home, but I'm taking the car," Jasmine said as we walked into her house. Her mom stepped into the room, took one look at me, and waved us off, telling Jasmine to take me to the E.R. When we got there, the nurse didn't even bother asking for any information, she just opened the large, electronic wooden doors for us. The staff was quick to get me into a room and get me seen. After just a few quick questions, and requiring my I.D. which was in my coat pocket, they rushed me to an operating room to get some pretty large chunks of rock out of my cheek. While I was being operated on, Jasmine stayed behind to give a nurse all of my information. I had a wound the size of an AA battery in my cheek, and the best they could do until morning is tape it up. 

"I'll call your mom and tell her I need you to stay overnight so we can sew you up in the morning," the doctor told me. "Meanwhile, you are free to go home, young lady."

"No happening," Jasmine replied. "I'm staying right here."

"Okay," the doctor said simply, and he left. 

"Jazz, you should go home," I told her.

"Hell no!" she snapped at me. "I'm staying right here with you."

"Thank you," I said, as I started to drift off to sleep. Jasmine pulled out her phone and out on some music, R5 of course, and we both drifted off to sleep.