Meet Me Halfway

Aubrey

I was in my room, sitting on my bed listening to the most depressing music I had on my iPod. Lauren had been in the hospital ever since we got back home for winter break – three weeks – and things weren’t looking up for her. Every day I went to go visit her; every day my heart would race and skip a beat and create this horrible pain that I feared was a heart attack. I stopped keeping my phone nearby, scared that they would call and give me the horrible news.

I tried so hard not to think that way and to try and stay positive, but deep down I knew her time here with us was fading oh so quickly. I kept JR updated on everything by the request of Lauren’s parents. I didn’t want to and I knew how selfish that sounded, but after talking to him day after day, I was glad, because it helped a lot – to deal with it all.

I checked the time on my iPod and noticed it was already visiting hours at the hospital. I quickly shoved my iPod in my purse, grabbed my phone, and noticed I received a text message.

LV 4:00 PM: Aubrey this is Claire Vosteen. Just wanted to let you know Lauren is home now and wants you to come by.

I smiled at the text message. Just hearing Lauren was home made me feel so much better about everything that was happening to her. As I drove to her house, I envisioned her smiling brightly as I entered her bedroom and us just laughing and talking the rest of the day. I rang the doorbell and was welcomed by Mr. Vosteen, who wore a friendly smile on his face.

“You know where to find her,” he said closing the door behind me.

I thanked him and quickly ran up the stairs, making my way to the last door on the left. Her door was slightly open and I could hear music faintly flowing through the crack. I grabbed the doorknob and slowly opened the door. I felt my face fall into a frown as I looked at Lauren.

She smiled weakly at me. “What’s that look for?” she whispered.

I gulped loudly and tried my best to compose myself, but instantly felt my eyes fill with tears – it was no use, I knew I was about to cry.

“I-I thought…” I couldn’t even finish my sentence without breaking down and running towards her, flinging my arms around her sobbing into her shoulder.

She soothingly ran her hand up and down my back, comforting me, when it should’ve been the other way around. “Shh…Trigo, we knew this day would come soon. I’m just not strong enough to go on anymore,” she whispered, struggling with her words.

I finally let go and looked down at her. She was so pale with dark circles under her eyes and her lips were cracked. How could it have gone from her being well, taking finals, to coming home and relapsing?

I bit my bottom lip and shook my head. “I just thought you coming home was a good sign. I’m not ready to let you go; you’re my best friend. This isn’t fair.”

“Trigo, I’ll always be with you, you know that. No matter what, we’ll be best friends forever.”

I woke up panicked from the memory that haunted me in my sleep. It was a memory I had been repressing since it happened. I could feel the tears escape and stream down my cheeks.

“Aubrey what’s wrong? Are you okay? Does your head hurt?” I looked to my side and saw JR rising from his sleep.

I stared at him with a puzzled look. “Why are you in the same bed as me?” I asked.

A flash of red spread across his cheeks and he looked away from me for a bit. “I uh…sorry. I must’ve fallen asleep. The doctor said to keep an eye on you, so I um…thought it was easier if I was next to you,” he explained.

“The doctor? I was at the hospital?” I couldn’t remember much from yesterday.

He nodded his head. “Yeah. The ambulance took you straight over there. Do you remember anything?”

I sat there thinking about yesterday, trying to remember what happened, but all that I could recall was falling off my board and hitting my head. Ugh my head. I winced and brought my hand to it and felt the soft gauze covering the spot where the pain was.

JR grabbed my hand, forcing it away from the wound. “Hey, don’t touch it. Is it hurting you?” I nodded my head looking at him.

I became embarrassed as he got up and revealed to be only wearing boxer briefs and I quickly averted my eyes in the opposite direction. He returned back, handing me a pill and a bottle of water.

“Here, take this. It’ll help with the pain.” I thanked him and took the pill.

“So…what happened? I don’t remember anything after hitting my head,” I asked setting the water on the end table.

He settled back into the empty spot next to me, covering himself after noticing how naked he was. I smirked and waited for him to speak. He turned his head in my direction and I turned mine in his.

He gave me a half-hearted smile. “I figured you wouldn’t remember much. This is the first time you actually woke up. I mean you’ve woken up, but you were pretty out of it,” he said pushing back fallen strands of hair away from my wound.

I blushed uncontrollably and felt my heart race in my chest. I forgot what it was like to feel this way; to have a guy make you feel beyond nervous. I cleared my throat. “I um…um so who got me from the water?” I asked.

He smirked and lowered his eyes towards to the sheets, then back up at me. “Me.”

I was a bit surprised. “You did?”

He nodded his head. “Yeah, when I got to shore, the instructor and I looked back to see how you were doing, but you weren’t anywhere. Then your board washed up and the leash was broken – I started to panic. The instructor pointed to the last spot he saw you and I started to swim.” He paused for a moment fidgeting with his hands. “Then someone yelled and I turned to where I heard them and saw you floating. You looked so lifeless and I freaked out. I swam to you; you weren’t breathing, you had this gash on your forehead and scrapes on you arm. I tried my best to resuscitate while getting you back to shore and the lifeguard took over when we got there. The ambulance got there five minutes after and it was the longest five minutes of my life.”

I grabbed his hand and smiled at him. “Thanks. Seems like you saved my life.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah. I’m just glad you’re okay.” He removed his hand from my grip. “So um…you should read your letter and see if you’re up for whatever Lauren has planned for us today.”

I nodded my head. “Um it’s in my bag. Do you mind getting it for me?”

He once again got up and rummaged through my bag and returned back with the letter. “There you go,” he said sitting back down.

I opened and read it:

Hey Trigo!

I hope surfing was everything you hoped it would be; if not well…don’t stop trying. Anyways, not only is Huntington Beach known for its fantastic surfing spots but also for its natural beauty. The Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve is such a gorgeous place that I hope you find some inspiration there. So you and JR should take a stroll through there and enjoy nature.

Love always, LV

“So am I allowed to take a shower?” I asked pointing to my head.

“Does that mean you wanna go?” he asked.

I nodded my head. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

“Okay and of course you can take a shower, but you just can’t get it wet. I don’t know how you wanna do that. You could use the sink or I could help you wash your hair over the tub,” he suggested.

“While I’m naked?” I jokingly asked.

“What? No, no. You still wear your clothes and all.” He looked freaked out.

“JR calm down, I was kidding. Not like it really matters. I’ve pretty much seen you naked. You don’t leave much to the imagination,” I said looking down at him.

I heard him chuckle a little. “Well I could say the same for you.”

I looked down at myself and then at him. “Did you change me? Is that why you could say the same?”

He held his hands up in defense. “No I didn’t. I let the nurses do that. I was talking about your swim suit.”

I laughed thinking how true that was. “Whatever, go take a shower and I’ll decide what to do about my hair.”

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I had to agree with Lauren, the reserve was absolutely beautiful. It wasn’t terribly hot and the atmosphere conveyed happiness from everyone on the tour. JR and I had been enjoying the walk around the reserve and for once weren’t arguing about something stupid; it was kinda…nice.

“Can I ask you something?” I said looking down at the ground.

“Yeah. What’s up?”

“Do you ever think about the day I called you to tell you the bad news?” Just talking about that day made me tear up.

“Sometimes,” he whispered. “I really don’t like to ponder on it a lot. Why? Do you?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No. I kinda buried it away, but the reason I woke up in a panic wasn’t because of my head. It was because I dreamt about that day. It felt like I was reliving the moment and I didn’t want to.” I felt JR wrap his arm around me, pulling me close to him. “Did you cry?” I looked up at him.

“When you told me, I didn’t want to believe you. After we hung up, I sat there for a bit trying to convince myself she was still alive, but once it set it and realized she wasn’t coming back, I cried…a lot,” he admitted.

“I thought so. You never hold back your feelings. I remember at your Olympics Trials when you got injured and Lauren and I went to visit you at the hospital, she asked ‘how much did it hurt?’ and you said it was unbearable. And I made that snide comment about that’s why you were crying so much, but you said…” He interrupted up to finish story.

“I said ‘I wasn’t crying because of the pain, but because I felt like my dream was shattered and I wouldn’t be able to skate again’.” I nodded my head.

“You’re a strong person JR. I wish I were as strong as you,” I confessed.

“You are too you know. You’re just dealing with everything the wrong way. You don’t need weed or alcohol to feel better about what happened.”

“It’s not that easy,” I whispered. “You have short track and your company to keep you busy and help you cope with her death. I don’t have that.”

“You still have photography. What happened to that? The Aubrey I remember would’ve bust out the camera and started snapping shots of this place left and right. I mean there’s a freakin’ dark room in the beach house. Startup photography again. I bet it’ll help you smile some more,” he said pointing his finger to the corner of my lips, causing me to smile.

“I’ll think about it. Now let go before someone thinks we’re together,” I said removing his arm from around my shoulder.

“What a cute couple,” an old woman said to her friend as they passed us.

“Too late,” I said rolling my eyes and JR just laughed.