Your Guardian Angel

RRRRRIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGG! I ran to my room to answer the phone.

“Hello?” I asked.

“Hey, stranger,” said a deep voice that I immediately recognized.

“Oh hey, Eric!” What’s up?”

“Not too much. I just wanted to know if you want to catch a movie with me today. Are you up for it?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Ok so I guess I’ll pick you up around 1:00?”

“Sure.”

“Cool. I have to go now, so I’ll see you then.”

“You better.”

“Bye.”

I heard a click on the other end, telling me that he hung up and I decided to go in the shower. When I came back, I saw that the light on my cell phone was blinking, letting me know that I had missed calls.

2 missed calls: Jesse, 11:30PM

I sat down on my bed and let out a long sigh. I picked up the picture of him and I on my night table and stared at it for a long time.

**FLASHBACK**

My mind rewound the past few months and I found myself back in my hospital bed, dreading what was to come. The door opened and in walked the nurse, pushing a wheelchair.

“Time to go,” she said as she helped me out of bed and into the wheelchair. She helped me gather all my things and then wheeled me out of the room. I found my whole family, including Jesse, waiting for me by the front desk of the hospital.

“Hey, Sweetie!” my mom said as cheerfully as she could because she knew this was going to be hard for me. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling a lot better,” I responded.

My dad lifted up his arm and looked at his watch. “I think it’s time we go,” he said. “It’s going to take awhile for us to get there and there might be a lot of traffic.”

I just quietly nodded my head. “Jesse, would you mind wheeling me out to the car?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t think of doing anything else.” With that, he walked behind me and started to push me towards the automatic hospital doors out to the parking lot. I tried to stop the water from pouring out of my eyes, but this was an almost impossible task; the time to say goodbye had finally come and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Pretty soon, we reached the car and my tears came faster and faster. Jesse rubbed the tears away from my eyes while trying to hold back his own. “Don’t cry.”

“I can’t help it. I’m going to miss you so much. We don’t even know when we are going to see each other again.”

“Yeah, but this isn’t goodbye forever. You can still call me any time you want. Just because we can’t see each other as much doesn’t mean that we can’t still be there for each other. A little distance will never change the fact that I love you and would do anything in the world for you. We will still be able to see each about once a month and we will just have to try to be strong when we can’t be together.”

“It’s going to be so hard to leave you.”

“It’s going to be so hard to watch you go. The day I met you was the best day of my life and I want you to know before you leave that you have changed me so much. I didn’t even know what love was before you came along.”

“You changed me too. You helped me in a way that no one else could; you helped me move on from Josh and fall in love again and that’s what I needed most. You are my soul mate.”

“Ditto.”

“I hate to interrupt, but, Riley, we really have to go,” said my dad.

“Ok, ok. I’m coming,” I said.

Jesse helped me to stand up and I leaned on him a little.

“I just want you to know that I will never forget even one precious moment we had together,” said Jesse.

“Neither will I,” I replied, tears still pouring down my cheeks.

I looked up into his now watery, deep, beautiful, green eyes and we kissed for the last time in a long time. After that, he helped me get into the car and then shut the car door. I looked out the window, not daring to blink because I was afraid I would miss the last second of seeing him. The car started to move; I turned around and watched him walking into the middle of the street waving while wiping the tears from his eyes. I waved back until we turned a corner and he disappeared from view.

**END OF FLASHBACK**

“Riley!” I heard my mom scream, bringing me out of my daydreaming.

“What?” I asked.

“Where did your mind go? I’ve been trying to ask you a question for the last few minutes, but you were completely out of it.”

“Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about…things. What were you going to ask me?”

“I was wondering if you have any laundry that you need me to wash.”

“No, I’m good, but thanks.”

My mom smiled. “No problem, Sweetie. Are you ok though? You seem kind of down.”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

“Are you doing anything tonight?”

“I’m going to the movies with Eric. Is that ok?”

“Yeah, that’s fine; just don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“Ok and I’ll be sure not to do anything you would do either,” I said, laughing.

“Hey!” my mom said, pretending to be offended and throwing a pillow at me, which hit me directly in the head.

“Oh no, you did not just do that!” I got up and threw a pillow right back at her and a full on pillow fight started. We couldn’t stop laughing until the house phone rang and my mom had to run downstairs to get it.

An hour later, it was 1:00 and Eric’s black jaguar pulled into my driveway. I quickly got in the car.

“Hey,” he said as soon as I got in.

“Hey,” I repeated. “What’s up?”

“Not much. How are you?”

“I’m ok, but I could use a little bit of cheering up.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just that I feel like I need to get my mind off of some things that I have been thinking about a lot lately.”

“I think I might be able to help you accomplish that.”

I smiled. “Thanks for understanding.”

“That’s what friends are for, right?”

“Yup. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have you; I would have no friends.”

“That’s not true.”

“Yes it is.”

“But you’re friends with Courtney and Samantha.”

“Yeah, but that is only because of you. You are the person that introduced me to them.”

“Oh, right.”

“What about you? How are you doing?”

“I’m ok I guess.”

“No you aren’t.”

“What do you mean?” he asked. “I’m fine.”

“Tell me what’s wrong. You have that sad puppy dog look in your eyes again and it drives me crazy.”

“Ok well I think I’m in love.”

“’That’s great! How is that a bad thing?”

“I think the girl I love is in love with somebody else and I don’t know what to do. I just can’t get this girl out of my head. I’m not sure if I should tell her if I like her or not. What do you think I should do?”

“I think you should tell her. The absolute worst that could happen would be if she told you that she doesn’t feel the same way about you as you feel about her. You might end up getting your heart broken, but at least she would know and you wouldn’t have to keep it in any longer. If she rejects you, then you will be able to move on with your life sooner.”

“I always knew I was friends with you for a reason. You really know what you are talking about when it comes to this stuff.”

“You’d better believe it,” I said, smiling.

We arrived at the movie theater, bought our tickets, and sat down just as the movie was starting.

Two hours later, we walked out of the movie still laughing at what we just saw. We got back into his car and were on the way back to my house.

“Oh man!” exclaimed Eric. “I don’t think I laughed that much in a long, long time.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, “it was really funny. I love that part when the bag of cocaine ripped accidentally and the scent went into the air and all the people got high off it and started running around and acting like total morons and one guy knocked himself out by running headfirst into a door.”

“I loved that part.”

We spent the rest of the car ride talking about the movie and then he pulled into my driveway.

“Do you want to come in for a little bit?”

“I would love to.”

We got out of the car, went into the house, and went up to my room. Eric looked around my room interestedly.

“You have a very nice room here,” he finally said.

“Thanks,” I replied. “So, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t really care, but there’s something that I have to tell you.”

“Ok,” I said, sitting down on my bed and patting the spot next to me, telling him to sit down.

“You know how I told you in the car earlier that I’m in love with a girl who is in love with another guy?”

I nodded.

“Well, that girl is you. I love you, Riley.”

“What did you just say?” I asked, completely shocked.

“I said that I love you. I’ve loved you ever since the first time I saw you.”

I got up and started pacing back and forth.

“Wow. This is huge,” I said.

“You’re telling me,” he responded. “How do you feel about me?”

“Eric, I’m really sorry, but I only like you as a friend. I’m completely in love with Jesse. I hope this doesn’t hurt the friendship we have built because you are really one of the best friends I’ve ever had.”

As soon as I said this, his face completely dropped. “Prove it then.”

“Prove what?”

“Prove that you don’t love me. Kiss me and then look me in the eyes and honestly tell me that you don’t feel anything for me. I won’t stop until you do.”

“Eric, you know I can’t do that.”

“I won’t believe that you don’t love me until you do it.”

“No, I can’t,” I said, looking down at the floor.

“Fine. I’ll just have to do it myself.”

He pulled my chin up and my lips met with his. He kissed me passionately, but I didn’t kiss back. I tried to break free, but he held a tight grip around my waist. I heard a familiar voice coming from behind me.

“I thought you loved me,” it cried, “but I guess I was wrong.”

As soon as Eric let me go, I turned and saw Jesse’s red and hurt face.

“Jesse, it’s not what you think. Please believe me!” I pleaded.

“Save it for someone who actually cares.” He turned and fled; I ran after him.