Your Guardian Angel

That night, I was so exhausted from the first day that I went straight to sleep. As usual, I had flashbacks of the previous years.

**FLASHBACK**

It was a year and a half ago. At that time, I was 15 years old. That morning, I missed the bus, so I was already off to a bad start. When I got to my locker, I could not get it open, no matter how many times I tried the combination. I was starting to get really frustrated when he walked up and started tickling me from behind. I could tell right away that it was him because he used to do that to me every day.

“Stop it, Josh!” I said angrily, “I’m not in the mood today.”

He stopped tickling me and asked me what was wrong.

“Nothing,” I said, “I’m just really tired. You know how I get in the morning.”
“Sadly yes,” he agreed.
“Hey!” I laughed.
“Here, let me help you,” he said, noticing the trouble I was having with my locker.

I stepped aside as he opened my locker on the first try. It always amazed me how he automatically knew when something was wrong every time and he would always find a way to help me. That was one of the reasons why I loved him so much. That and the fact that I loved everything about the way he looked. I loved the fact that he had big beautiful green eyes that anyone could easily get lost in and the fact that he had long, shaggy blonde hair that came down to above his eyes just made his eyes even more noticeable. He was lanky and had the most heartwarming smile I have ever seen. There wasn’t anyone else like him and I thought there never would be again, but I was wrong.

“How did you do that?” I asked.
“I turned the dial to the right numbers. I think you must have missed the last number and that’s why it wouldn’t open.”
“Oh man, how stupid of me!” I chided myself. “This really isn’t my morning.”
He laughed and said, “Chill out, Sweetheart! This sort of thing happens to everybody,” and gave me a comforting hug.

I smiled up at him and gave him a kiss.

“Thank you for opening my locker,” I said.
“No problem.”
“So I’ll see you later?”
“You bet!”

The bell rang so we gave each other a quick kiss goodbye and then went to class.

The school day went by in a flash. Before I knew it, it was time to go home. That night, Josh and I were supposed to go to the movies, since it was Friday. Beforehand, we had made up that he would be there to pick me up by 5:00PM.

As soon as I got home, I went upstairs to take a shower and get ready. I decided to wear a white tank top with black cupris and a black jacket to go over it.

Whenever I went out with Josh, I always went to extreme measures to make sure that I looked as perfect as possible for the occasion. I would always take my time doing my makeup, and if I messed up even once, I would start all over. I also brushed my hair at least ten times until I was completely satisfied.

When 5:00 came, I went downstairs to wait in the living room. At 5:15, I began to get impatient and wondered where he was because he was usually never this late. I decided to turn on the TV to distract myself, so I turned on MTV. The next time I looked at the clock it was 6:30PM and he never showed.

I tried to call his cell phone, but he never answered, so I left him a very mean message asking him where in the world he was and letting him know just how mad I was at him. When I hung up the phone, I started to cry. I felt so hurt by the fact that he had completely forgotten our date. That wasn’t like him to do something like that to me.

I didn’t want to stay in the house the whole night, so I decided to ask Amanda if she wanted to go shopping with me. Also, I really needed to get my mind off of what just happened. It was decided that we would carpool; my parents would pick up and hers would drop off.

“Hey,” she said as she got into the car. “What’s wrong? You don’t look too good.”
“That’s probably because I have been crying for the past few minutes.”
“Why?”
“Well…” I paused and then more tears came out.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Josh…Josh st-stood me up,” I stammered, trying to talk through my tears.
“He what?” Amanda asked, amazed.
“You heard me,” I said, wiping tears from my cheeks. “I tried calling him, but he never picked up his cell phone. I don’t know what to do.”
“Maybe something is wrong and that’s why he couldn’t come,” Amanda suggested.
“I don’t know whether I should say ‘I hope so’ or ‘I hope not’ because, if something is wrong, then at least he didn’t do this on purpose. On the other hand, of course I don’t want there to be anything wrong.”

Then, we arrived at the mall. We thanked my mom for taking us and then went inside. As soon as the door slammed in back of me, I stopped dead in my tracks. There, right in front of me, stood Josh. His face was red and tearstained. When he saw the angry look on my face, his expression was blank and then he suddenly looked alarmed. He nervously walked up to me.

“Riley…” he trailed off.
“Why did you stand me up like that?” I asked angrily, getting straight to the point.
“Uhm, Riley,” interrupted Amanda, feeling very awkward. “I’m going to go sit on that bench over there and wait for you.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’m sorry; I promise we won’t be too long.”

She walked over to the bench she had indicated before, leaving the two of us alone.

“Anyway, where were we?” Josh asked.
“You were just about to tell me why you stood me up tonight.”
“Oh, right, that. Just as I was about to leave to come and get you, I got a call. It was my best friend Matt’s mother telling me that Matt had just got into a bad car accident because he was in the car with his dad, who was driving drunk. Matt was in very bad condition and his mother told me that he really needed me to be there. As soon as I got off the phone, all I could think about was getting to the hospital and I completely forgot about our date. I am so sorry; I feel so guilty for hurting you. I should have called you and I am so sorry that I didn’t. It’s just that I was so scared that Matt was going to die that I wasn’t really thinking of anything else.”
“Wow. I am so sorry to hear about Matt. I hope he makes a full recovery. I know how close you two are and I would definitely do the same thing if it was my best friend going through that.”
“So do you forgive me?”
I smiled. “Yeah, I guess so. So, is Matt doing any better now?”
“Well, he made it out of surgery, but he didn’t wake up yet. I just had to get out of the hospital for a few minutes, and since the mall is only across the street from the hospital, I decided to come here.”
“Well, I’m glad you did otherwise we wouldn’t have run into each other.”
“I think I’d better go back now. Besides, we are keeping Amanda waiting.”
“Okay. Please let me know how everything goes with Matt and I’m right here if you need to talk, or need a shoulder to cry on.”
He smiled. “Thanks. I’m so glad I got to see you tonight! I definitely needed it.”
“Me too.”

I gave him a comforting hug and we shared a sweet kiss goodbye. Then, I watched as he went back to the hospital to be with his best friend. After that, I went to spend some quality shopping time with my best friend. I had more fun that night than I had in a long time.

Later, Josh called to tell me that Matt would be fine; we were both extremely relieved.