Friday, October 30th around 9pm
James' POV:
Everything makes sense now, the panic attacks, the name calling, the whispers, and stares, the ostracizing, the ex friends. She's been through so much and she's stronger because of it.
We are still holding each other, and I can't help but silently cry for all the shit she's gone through.
She just hugs me harder and whispers "it's ok, I'm ok, I'm better now." "I should have been there, I'm sorry for not protecting you." "James, look at me" I do and she wipes away my tears and says "there's no way you could've been there, but you're here now so that's all that matters." I kiss her forehead and say "There's nothing I wouldn't do for you, I hope you know that." She says "I'm starting realize that now."
We put on a movie; We move into a more comfortable cuddling position because I'm not really ready to let her go at the moment. We are laying next to each other, with her tucked into my side, her hand on my chest and her leg over mine. I rest my head on top of hers and cover us with a blanket. She falls asleep soon after getting comfortable, and I run my hands through her hair.
I feel myself starting to drift to sleep, when I hear a whimper come from Marisa. Then she starts shaking and screaming "no, no, please, stop!" I try and wake her up as fast as I can.
She opens her eyes and I say "Marisa, it's just me, it's James, You're ok, everything is ok." She crumbles into me and apologizes. "nightmare?" She nods her head in my chest. "It's ok, I've got you." She mumbles a thank you. "Don't thank me for something friends should do anyway."
A few moments later she says "Wait a sec, you drove here, but you don't drive. What? How? Are you ok?" "Marisa, I'm ok, you were my first priority." "Why don't you drive?" "Well I'm not as perfect as people make me out to be, I'm damaged." "What do you mean?"
"Well you opened up to me, so now it's time I open up to you."
~FlashBack~
Thursday, September 24th of Last year
I just got my license, I'm so pumped and my parents got me my dream car for my 16th birthday. I wanted to go show my best friend,Michael Burton. My parents let me go even though is 9pm.
When I get to his house, I text him to come outside. He comes out and says "no way, dude this is amazing!" "Wanna go for a spin?" "Let me ask my parents." He comes back and says "let's go!"
We drive for about 30 minutes until I decide to get him home.
We are sitting at a red light and it turns green, so I wait a couple seconds, and then go through it. The next thing I know a car runs the red light going far to fast and t-bones my car on the passenger side. My car flips a couple times, I hit my head on the steering wheel; the last thing I remember is that the car that hit us drove away.
~End of Flashback~
"When I woke up, it was a month after the accident. I was still in the hospital. They told me I was in an accident and a coma for a month while my injuries healed. I asked how Michael was, and everyone grew silent. I told them I needed to know. My mom told me to not panic, but he was left paralyzed from the waist down. I couldn't believe it, I had caused my best friend to be paralyzed. He was a great soccer player, that was his future and I took it from him. I couldn't bear to see him after what I'd done. I was homeschooled until we moved here. I still blame myself to this day."
She puts her hand on my cheek and says "I'm so glad your ok; I understand why you don't drive, I'll be here to help if you ever decide to try." "Thank you." "Should we order pizza?" "Sure"
We stay cuddled until dinner comes. She asks me "This may be too much to ask, but do you think you could stay the night? I don't really wanna be alone right now." "I would love to, I was honestly hoping to stay over, since I don't really wanna leave you alone anyway; I'll call my mom. She said I could stay." "Cool, You can borrow some of my brothers clothes since he's at college." "Also, I can stay on the couch, if that makes you more conformable." "James, we have fallen asleep together before, hell we were even cuddling; I would say I'm pretty comfortable sharing a bed with you at this point, unless you don't want to." "Oh yea, you're right, I'm good with it."
It's around 11pm when Marisa decides she's gonna change into pj's, and bring me some. She comes back in a oversized T-shirt and running shorts; she looks so cute especially since the shirt is dwarfing her.
She also brings me a T-shirt and shorts that are her brothers. She accidentally drops the shorts and when she bends down to get it, her shirt rides up and I get a glimpse of her toned stomach. I swallow harshly, but then I remember about her ribs. "Hey, how are your ribs doing?" "Oh, they are better but it's gonna take another couple weeks to heal." As she says this, she lifts up the right side of her shirt and shows me the scar that runs down her ribs. I subconsciously reach out and run my fingers over it, and ask "does it hurt?" "Sometimes" My brain goes fuzzy, but I quickly snap out of it and say "it looks like it's healing well; I'm gonna get changed." I get to the bathroom and take deep breathes to calm down. She has no idea what's she's doing to me.
When I get back, I settle down on the left side of the full size bed since Marisa is already on the right side. I only have a twin sized bed so this is heaven.
She leans over, kisses my cheek And says "thank your for everything, night." "Goodnight." She turns over so she's facing away from me and falls asleep.
