Save Your Heart

It was almost midnight. My room was dark except for a few pink Christmas lights dangling over my bedpost and a green lava lamp that was glowing over in the corner. I picked at a hole in my jeans as I thought long and hard about what my answer could be.

“C’mon, there has to be something.”

“I honestly can’t think of anything that makes me that happy.”

Derek’s jaw dropped. “No way. That’s the saddest thing ever!”

I reached over and slapped his leg. “It is not!” He quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me on top of him. I felt his hands creep down to my sides and dig into my ribs. My laughter echoed throughout my bedroom as he tickled me for what seemed like forever. After a few minutes, I managed to pull his hands away from my sides and roll over next to him. We laid side by side waiting for our breathing to become normal again.

Derek broke the silence. “What’s something you’re passionate about?”

Immediately something came to my mind. I rolled over onto my side that was facing Derek and rested my head on the palm of my hand. “There is one thing I have always wanted to do, but never had the time or the motivation to do.” Derek watched me intently. “Photography.”

“Why haven’t you pursued it?” He asked. He looked so interested in what I had to say. It was like nothing else mattered in the world to him than what I was about to say. He didn’t even have to say anything, the look on his face made me feel important.

I shrugged. “I’m not sure. I guess I never thought I would be good at it.”

“Maybe you should prove yourself wrong.”

“Maybe I will.” I gave him a big smile. “What about you? What’s your passion?”

“Music.” He replied without hesitation.

“Cool! I love music. Do you play instruments or something?”

He laughed and bit his lip. He looked as if he was thinking hard about something. I stared waiting for his response.

“I’m in a band...” He replied nervously, as if he wasn’t sure if I would be okay with this fact or not. At this point, I didn’t care if he was a garbage collector or a sky diver, he was one of the nicest people I have ever met and I wasn’t going to let go of this friendship we were developing anytime soon.

“That’s even cooler.” I playfully nudged his shoulder. “You big rockstar, you.”

Derek nudged me back and we laughed. The rest of the night was spent with us laying on my bedroom talking about anything and everything. I’ve never talked about this much with anyone before, let alone has anyone been interesting in talking to me this much before. Even though we’ve only known each other for about five days, I was beginning to think that Derek was the best friend I would ever have.

At around three in the morning, I was dozing off on the floor when Derek said that he should probably go. We got up off the ground together and hugged. I walked him to the door and we said our good-byes. I sighed with happiness as I closed the door. Right as I closed the door, Natalie opened it. She had a purse and an overnight bag in her hand. She must have been with one of her guy friends.

“Is it just me or is he your boyfriend?” She said throwing her things on the couch. Her hair was in a messy bun and her make-up was smeared. She was definitely at a guy’s house.

I rolled my eyes at her. “Well hello to you, too. It’s just you.”

She placed her hands on her hips. “This is the like the eighth time I’ve run into him in our hallway. I think you’re pulling my leg.”

“I’m not pulling anything. We’ve only known each other for five days.”

Natalie curried over to me like a little mouse and squeezed my cheeks. “Aw! Ry has a crush!”

I slapped my hands off my face and walked away from her towards my room. I heard her singing about me having a crush and dancing behind me.

“Goodnight, Nat!” I shouted before I shut my bedroom door.

Whatever Natalie thought was wrong, I knew it. The way I felt about Derek wasn’t a crush. I’ve had a crush before, I never want to put myself in that situation again. I was just simply happy that I had a person like him in my life now. The past few nights I’ve spent with him have been so relaxing and nice. I’ve had friends before, I’ve had a lot of friends actually. I consider Natalie one of my best friends. I don’t think I have ever had a friend as kind-hearted and caring as him.

Derek and I hung out almost every night after that. Sometimes we would go out to eat or see a movie, but usually it would just be the two of us in my room together just talking. Sometimes we would tell each other secrets or talk about nothing at all, just fluff. Everyday we would laugh. Not many people could say that about their day, but I could, and I considered myself so very lucky.