Forever & Always?

Chapter Eighteen

It was now Thursday. I decided to go to school.

M: will you pick me up?

D: of course

M: thank you.

D: (:

I waited in my kitchen for him to pull up. He pulled up about three minutes after I sat down. However, he did not wait in the car. He came inside. When he stormed through the door, he looked around anxious. I had not seen him for three days; since the hospital.

"Marie," he said, sighing. He slowed his steps and walked to me, grabbing my hands.

"Baby, I know you're scared. But it is going to be okay. As long as I am a part of your life I will never let anything bad happen to you." I looked into his eyes. They were serious. His tone of voice did not match his face.

"Thank you, Daniel," I said forcing a soft smile. He gave me multiple little pecks and we headed for the car. I got in. His car still smelled like weed and hookah. Never would that smell that I embraced on the first day we started talking, be back. Never would his car smell like the old Daniel. Never would Daniel be the old Daniel again. I liked the old Daniel. I looked straight ahead.

"Why didn't you come by?" I asked, my tone changing faster than the gears on his car as we pulled from the sub to the highway.

"What?" He asked completely caught off guard.

"Why haven't you texted me? Why didn't you come inside the day I passed out? You couldn't spare five minutes? Why?"

"Marie. Calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down, Daniel. Never tell me to calm down," I said, angrily. Why was I being so suspicious? I was not sure. However, I decided to trust my gut. My anger remained in my chest and kept my face warm, despite the chilly breeze.

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice sad. We were silent until we got into the school parking lot.

"Nice job on quitting drugs for me," I said sarcastically, slamming my door.

"Marie," he sighed loudly. I kept walking.

"Marie," he almost whined. He grabbed my waist. I tried to get away. He picked me up from behind. I kicked my legs, trying to be released from his firm grasp. He held me with one arm as he opened the backseat of his car. He sat down and closed the door. I lay helplessly in his lap. I just lay there, my head on his shoulder. He smelled faintly of weed. I did not care. I loved him. I began to cry. I curled up on his lap, one hand being used to hold his hand and my other hand being used to stroke his hair. His hair was thick and dark. My fingers easily got lost.

        We were late that day. However, we did not listen to the mocked voices of Cam or anyone else as we walked in 20 minutes after fourth hour had begun. We just sat down quietly. I was not sure if I was upset or not. The only thing I knew was that Daniel was here and I was not letting him go

   ***

        "So he didn't even tell you why he was being so distant?" Jackson asked.

"We got off topic," I said, slightly trying to defend him. Shelby stepped in.

"What the hell? He can't just leave you like that. He was being distant and that's not good, especially when you are going through something like this," she insisted. She was right. I decided to talk to Daniel and figure everything out.

"Hey," I said to Daniel that day in choir.

"Hi, beautiful," he smiled. He was sitting on the risers and I was standing in front of him. He looked up at me, his blue eyes shimmering. I now knew how it felt to be taller than him. I liked it.