Wild At Heart

--His POV—
I couldn’t take her back to my place so I started driving in the direction of hers, praying that no one would be home. My prayers were answered as I pulled into an empty driveway and turned off the ignition to my car. “Ame,” I grabbed her hand lightly, “do you have keys to get inside?” She nodded slightly and handed me her purse. “Okay now stay here; I’m going to open the door.” She remained motionless so I quickly trudged up to the front porch and swung the door open before running back to open her side of the door. “Can you walk okay?” I asked and she nodded turning her body to face me and slid out of the car. As soon as her feet hit the ground she slipped and fell straight into my chest. I sighed and supported her body weight with my own while I shut her door and locked the car before positioning her arms around my neck and swinging her legs up into my arms and carrying her bridal style into the house.
“Is your room upstairs?” I asked into her hair, and she nodded, “Which one?”
“Blue,” she slurred, barely understandable.
By the time I reached the top of the stairs I was breathing heavily and about to drop Amy when she pointed to a door on the far right. I pushed through the door backwards hitting the light switch with my shoulder before walking over to the queen size bed and placing her gently atop it. I stood looking at her for a moment, scratching the back of my neck unsure what to do. I took a deep breath and turned to walk towards the door.
“Don’t leave,” she said quietly.
I walked back over to the bed and sat on the edge so I was closer to her, “I’m just going to grab a glass of water, I’ll be back in no time,” I said gently rubbing her back in small circles like my mother had done to me the many times I had been sick.
“Promise?” she asked her eyelids peeling back revealing sad, red, eyes.
“Promise.” I nodded and smiled. She hesitated for a moment before nodding back.
I quickly walked down the stairs and turned to head towards what I believe was the kitchen. I searched the cupboards for a moment before I found what I was looking for, and then turned the tap onto cold water and filled the glass to the brim. I turned to leave the kitchen when something caught my eye. Held onto the fridge was a picture of two girls; one I knew to be Amy but I had no idea who the other was. They had their arms wrapped around each other, Amy with a smile on and the other girl with her head thrown back into laughter. They look so happy and carefree, I thought while I examined the picture a little closer. A door shutting upstairs brought me back to reality so with one last glance at the picture I headed upstairs to Amy. I walked into an empty bedroom and placed the water down on the bedside table in a panic. I walked back out into the hallway about to go on a search for her, when I heard the toilet flush. Breathing a sigh of relief I returned to her bedroom and sat on the foot of her bed, waiting for her return. I looked at myself in her mirror, I was in a t-shirt, my hair was a mess and I looked tired as hell. I was pulling my attention away from my reflection when another picture caught my eye; this time lodged in the side of the mirror. I walked towards it and gently pulled the picture off of the mirror and into my hands. It was the same two girls this time both smiling brightly clad in blue and yellow graduation gowns, hats on their heads, diplomas in hand. Now that they were both facing the camera head on I could see a resemblance between the two. Not twins but definitely sisters. Funny, I thought, Amy never mentioned having a sister.
“I wasn’t always like this you know,” Amy said quietly, suddenly appearing at my side, “she changed me.” She gently took the picture from my hands and ran a thumb over the two faces. I watched in silence as her eyes clouded up and a single tear slid down her face. She quickly wiped the tear away, and eyes never leaving the picture walked over to her bed and slid underneath the blankets. She looked up and me and smiled a sad smile before sliding over to one side of the bed and patting the other space with her empty hand. I hesitated for a moment, “come on superstar, I’m just drunk, I’m not going to bite you.” I smiled lightly and walked over to the bed, sliding under the covers beside her.
“Who is she?” I asked quietly my eyes firmly attached to the picture.
“Jessica,” she said in a whisper, “my sister.”
I nodded but remained silent.
“We were only 11 months apart, so we got to be in the same grade and everything. It was amazing, having someone your age always around to play with. We got along great up until we hit high school. I started focusing on school more and she just cruised through life. I was always so envious of her; she could get the good grades without even trying and she was the most popular girl in school. We grew apart in those years, all because I was a workaholic and she wanted to have fun all the time. We were completely different people.” She paused looking at me making sure I wanted to hear more. I nodded in encouragement and so she took a deep breath and started again. “The summer after graduation, she got sick, like really sick. So we rushed her to the hospital and we found out she had cancer. I didn’t know what to do, I was petrified, but she kept going along with things like everything was normal. Aside from the time she spent in the hospital for treatments she was the same old Jessica. She was so strong and nonchalant about everything, and I didn’t understand.” Slowly her eyes clouded over and she closed them tightly trying to fight back tears. “I still remember the one day I asked her why she was so okay with everything. She just shrugged, looked me dead in the eye and said ‘shit happens,’” she chuckled a bit at the memory but it only lasted a second. “We thought she beat the cancer for good, but then one day in the middle of August she just collapsed on the front lawn. I was the only one home at the time and I didn’t know what to do; I was so scared.” She whispered looking at me with wide eyes, while tears cascaded down her cheeks. “I called 911 and an ambulance came taking us both to the hospital. Our parents were out of town and they wouldn’t be able to get to the hospital for at least a couple of hours, so it was just me and her there. I sat with her at her bed the entire time holding her hand, trying to make up for lost time, but I had let the time slip by me. We were watching some cartoon show and in the middle of it she just started crying. In all my years of life with her I had never seen her cry; ever. She just told me that she was so scared. That she didn’t want to die. I just cried along with her, not sure what to say. We sobbed for hours before she looked me in the eye and made me make a promise to her. She said that no matter what happened I had to make the most of the rest of my life. She said, ‘you only get to live once. Make the most of it, take risks and be crazy sometimes. Don’t bury yourself in work or you’ll never get to experience the best things in life. My time here might be short but I don’t regret any of it. I did what I wanted; when I wanted and now it’s just time to move on.’” Her body was racking with tears now so I gently placed my arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to me. “She died a week later, but not before she could give me this,” I watched as she pulled the necklace I had seen her kiss hundreds of times out from under her sweater and into the palm of her hand. “She was buried with the other half.”
I gently took the cold metal in my hand and flipped it over. Engraved on the back side was ‘I’ll love you forever and always – Jessica.’ “This is really nice Ame.” I said with a solemn smile letting the necklace dangle back onto her chest.
She nodded, “I just – I don’t understand why it had to happen to her.” She started crying uncontrollably. “She was my sister, and I know we weren’t that close all the time but I loved her so much. Why her?” She looked up at me while the tears ran down her cheeks and I had no idea what to do.
“Come here,” I said gently pulling her in between my legs and letting her soak my t-shirt with her tears. Her arms latched tightly around my waist as she continued to cry. I was unsure what to say so I just rubbed her back, stroked her hair, and kissed her lightly on the top of her head.
“It’s her birthday next week.” She said quietly glancing at the calendar up on her wall.
“Well,” she looked up at me with puffy swollen eyes, “we better plan something good then.” I smiled at her and she half smiled back at me, nodding. I gently pressed her head back down against my chest and kissed the top of her head once more.
She cried for a while longer before I felt the steady rhythm of her breathing indicating she was asleep. I glanced at the clock which read 3am and realized that not only did I need to be up in 3 hours, but I had to be on the road in 5. I felt horrible for leaving Amy in the middle of the night, especially like this, but I had to get home and at least get a couple hours of sleep. I gently pried her arms from around my waist and slid out of the bed, leaving her in a comfortable position. I walked over to her desk, found a pen and paper and scribbled down a note. I grabbed my jacket off the floor, opting out of taking my sweatshirt and walked towards the door. In the door frame I glanced one more time at Amy and smiled. I walked back towards her and knelt down beside the bed. I delicately pushed her hair out of her face and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead before standing up, turning out the light, and closing the door.
It was still dark out when I got to my car. I hoped in and turned it on, waiting a few seconds for the inside and engine of the car to warm up. I looked at myself in the rear view mirror and sighed. I ran a hand through my dark curls and pulled out of the driveway; accepting the inevitable.
Somewhere, somehow, I had developed feelings for Amy.