Your Guardian Angel

Jesse and I have been dating for six months now and it has been absolutely amazing. Every time my eyes land on him, everything in me just lights up like a light bulb. It has been a very long time since I have felt this happy. My friends have even told me that they noticed a big change in me; a change for the better. I was falling in love all over again and everyone knew it. Well, almost everyone.

It was Fourth of July weekend when Jesse decided to surprise me.

I woke up to hear the phone ringing in my ear.

“Hello?” I said, groggily.
“Hey, Babe! Happy Fourth of July!” Jesse exclaimed.
“Thank you, but do you even know what time it is? It’s four o’clock in the morning!”
“So?”
“So? I need my beauty sleep so that I can actually be awake for the celebration later. Besides, why are you still up?”
“I couldn’t sleep and I wanted to hear your voice.”
“Aaawww. That’s sweet, but goodnight,” I said, hanging up on him. I immediately fell back asleep.

When I woke up, it was about eleven o’clock in the morning. I looked over and found an envelope sitting on my nightstand that hadn’t been there the night before. I opened it and out came two concert tickets and a letter. Here’s what the letter said:

Riley,
Happy Fourth of July! Since today is our six-month anniversary, I wanted to make it special. You have no idea how happy you make me feel. I can’t imagine myself without you anymore. Think of this as a little preview for what is to come.

Love,
Jesse

PS. I’m really sorry about this morning; I just needed to hear your voice.

He always knew the right way to make me smile. I looked at the concert tickets and screamed. He had gotten us tickets to see my absolute favorite band (Simple Plan) in concert. I immediately picked up the phone to call him

“Hello?” came his voice from the other side of the line.
“THANK YOU SO MUCH! YOU’RE THE BEST!” I screamed.
“Ouch! I think I just lost an eardrum.”
“Sorry,” I said laughing, “but thank you so much! This is the best present ever.”
“You’re welcome. I thought it would be cool if we could do something special and since we both like Simple Plan, I thought it would be a good idea.”
“It’s an awesome idea. What time do you want me to be ready by?”
“Well, the concert starts at six, so I’ll probably pick you up around five.”
“Okay, so I guess I’ll see you then.”
“Bye, Sweetheart.”
“Bye, Butthead. Oops! I meant Sweetie.”

I smiled at the sound of his laughter on the other side of the line and hung up before he could retaliate.

I decided to wear my favorite jeans with a black halter-top to the concert. My long brown hair was half way up with two strands hanging loosely in the front. I made sure that I looked as perfect as possible for this occasion.

By the time it was five, I had already been ready for an hour. Jesse showed up right on time and we set off immediately for the concert. I was surprised to find out that we had front row seats.

The concert began right on time and it was a full house. People were screaming all around us. The band opened with “I’d Do Anything.” The crowd went wild. After that, they sang “Addicted,” then “Perfect.”

“How is everybody doing out there?” shouted Pierre, the band’s lead singer.

The fans screamed.

“I can’t hear you…” Pierre said in a singsong voice.

The fans screamed so loud that Jesse and I had to cover our ears not to damage our hearing.

“Now that’s more like it!” said Pierre. “It’s nice to finally be back here in the awesome city of New York! In order to show you guys how much we’ve missed you, we’re going to sing an awesome song that we don’t usually sing at concerts. It’s a remake called “Happy Together,” and it’s for all of you wonderful people out there. It goes a little something like this:

Imagine me and you, I do
I think about you day and night, it's only right
To think about the girl you love and hold her tight
So happy together

If I should call you up, invest a dime
And you say you belong to me and ease my mind
Imagine how the world could be, so very fine
So happy together

I can't see me loving' nobody but you
For all my life
When you're with me, baby the skis will be blue
For all my life

Me and you and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice, it has to be
The only one for me is you, and you for me
So happy together

If I should call you up, invest a dime (Call you up)
And you say you belong to me and ease my mind (Ease my mind)
Imagine how the world could be, so very fine (Very fine)
So happy together (together)

I can't see me loving' nobody but you
For all my life
When you're with me, baby the skis will be blue
For all my life [x2]

About my life (Yeah!)

Call you up
Ease my mind, Ease my mind, Ease my mind!

I can't see me loving' nobody but you
For all my life
When you're with me, baby the skis will be blue
For all my life [x2]

So happy together
So happy together
So happy together
So happy together”

While the song was playing, Jesse and I turned to each other and smiled. It seemed almost as if the song was directed at us. We couldn’t help but kiss because we truly were “happy together.”

After the concert, I fully expected him to take me home, but he didn’t. Instead, he took me somewhere else.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” he said mischievously.
“You’re mean, you know that?” I said, pretending to be angry.
“Thanks,” he said sarcastically.

A few minutes later, we arrived at the beach. People were sitting on beach chairs or blankets. Most of them were holding or wearing lighters around their necks. I finally realized what we were doing here.

“It’s not Fourth of July without fireworks,” he said.

I smiled. How could I not have known this before? Jesse spread out a blanket for us to sit on (he had it in his car the whole time and was carrying it behind his back). He grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. We smiled at each other and kissed. A few minutes later, the fireworks started.

“Riley?” asked Jesse.
“Yes?” I responded, tearing my eyes away from the colorful fireworks exploding in the sky.
“There’s something I want to tell you.”
“Ok.”
“I love you.”

Silence.

“Aren’t you going to say anything back to me?” he asked.
“Please don’t say that,” I said. “Tell me you don’t mean it.”
“But I do.”
“No! Stop it! I can’t take it!”
“Riles, what’s wrong?”
“Everything.”
“You mind cluing me in?”
“I don’t love you.”

As soon as I said these words, I regretted it. I could see that it hurt him. I knew it was a lie, but I could not take the chance of going through the pain that I had gone through a year and a half ago. I could not take the chance of letting myself be vulnerable and then losing everything. I just couldn’t do it.

“You… you don’t mean that,” he choked, trying desperately to hold back the tears I saw forming in his eyes.
“Yes I do,” I stated. “I never meant to hurt you, but I am not ready for this kind of thing. I can’t do this anymore!”

With that, I stormed off crying, knowing I had just made a very big mistake.