Heart Attack

17

Jesse

She came. I've only seen her reaction to the flowers once, other times people were in the way. But I saw a tiny smile tug on her lips. Seeing that smile made me think, go big or go home. So, I went back to the flower shop. I wrote a new note or more of a letter and asked the professor to read it in front of the class. I had no doubt he would do it because he's a sucker for romance books. And that way the whole class would know what she meant to me. I'm not hiding her anymore; I'm not hiding my feelings for her again.

When I got back to our house, the whole team knew about it already. Jake grinned wide when he showed me the video on his phone. That was already going viral. I didn't care. I was too nervous to think about any of that. Afraid she wouldn't come. Bryn had seen the video too but didn't say anything about it to me. He just had a curious expression on his face. I could imagine Amara seeing this video with an I-told-you-so smirk plastered on her face. I'll probably hear from her later.

She was ten minutes late, and I was ready to give up. It felt like my heart broke in several pieces. But then her breathless voice was heard behind me, and it was like it glued back together instantly. I needed her in my arms, so I just ran up to her and wrapped her in my arms before she finished speaking. And gods, when she kissed me, I thought I would lose it. She kissed me! It was even better than I remembered.

We were now driving in my car. Lennox watching the white road anxiously. I took her hand in mine, giving it a little squeeze. "Hey, you okay?"

"Uhu." She nodded unconvincingly.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?"

She loosened our hands and started playing with my fingers. "I'm not a fan of driving in the snow." She admitted. "That's why I was late. I couldn't use the car."

I swallowed my sudden dry throat. "Does it have anything to do with what happened to your mum?"

"No, she died... I'm not really ready to talk about that."

"That's okay." I squeezed her hand again.

"You remember I told you I didn't have any friends growing up beside Jake and Bryn?" I nodded. "That was half the truth. I had a friend once, just one. Nick and I were friends before we moved to Manningtree. He was my next-door neighbour in Hastings. When we were four, his mum took me and Nick to a large indoor playground. On the ride back, it was snowing heavily. Only a block from our street, the car started to slip. We crashed against a high curb and the car started tumbling. I don't remember how many times the car flipped but we eventually came to a stop. Nick's mum was quiet in the front seat. Then I looked into Nick's lifeless eyes before I passed out. I woke up a week later. Nick was gone and his mum survived. But Melodie was a single mother, her son was everything to her. She killed herself before the funeral, so they could be buried together."

When she said, I had a friend once, I had parked the car in an empty parking lot and fixed my attention on her. Thank goodness I did that because she broke down. I unbuckled both of our seatbelts and pulled her into my lap. She buried her face in my neck, and I stroked her hair softly. I knew words weren't going to help with her grief. Nothing I could say would do any good since I have no idea how it must feel for her.

"I don't remember much from that day. Just how Nick and I cried laughing in one of the climbing stations. But I remember the crash. Almost every single part of it. I still have nightmares about that accident. When I lost my best friend, we moved not long after because we lost our mum back in Hastings, but I also lost my best and only friend there."