The Ghost That Saved Me

I decided that I was going to start talking to my parents again. They didn’t deserve to be punished by me anymore. They already lost a child, I didn’t want them to feel like they were losing me too.

The heavy feeling in my chest didn’t go away and I knew that it wouldn’t for a long time, but I kept my strength up for Marek; that’s what he would have wanted.

I didn’t say much to my mom, I only said good morning to her and that I was feeling a little bit better. She tried to make small talk but I sort of brushed her off. Marek and mom always clashed, she was hard on him and he didn’t like it. I guess that’s why I was a little harsher to her.

With my dad it was different. My brother always got along with my dad, even though they didn’t see eye to eye all the time, I knew that their bond was special. My brother adored our father, he just never came out and said it. But I could tell he did.

I broke down in my father’s arms and told him I hated that Marek was gone. He hugged me tight and told me that he did too. And that was it.

I went back up to my room to finish getting ready for school. I didn’t want to go, but I already missed enough classes. School was almost over but it seemed like summer was so far away.

I felt like a zombie sitting in my classes all day. All I wanted was to feel normal again. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. And I stopped going to my school counselor because she honestly sucked as a person and as a therapist or whatever the hell she was. She made me feel worse, so I had no intensions on going back to see her.

My composure was kept pretty much all day…until the very end of class. That’s the time where I would call Marek and ask him to come get me. But I couldn’t do that, I couldn’t even call him to hear his voicemail. His phone was destroyed in the crash. I’d give almost anything just to hear his voicemail say ‘Hey….just kidding I’m not here. Leave a message!’ But at least I could hear it in my head. That would be good enough for now. It just had to be.

I walked outside and took out my phone to call my parents. But before I could do that I did a double take; I could have sworn I saw Liam across the street. It couldn’t be…he didn’t even know where I went to school.

But only it was him. He waved to me and I waved back slowly. It didn’t look like he was going to come over to me, so I bravely walked over to him instead; making sure to carefully observe the street before I crossed.

“If I didn’t know better I’d say you were stalking me,” I said jokingly, but almost half serious.

His smile made my cheeks flush. I had no idea how he could affect me like that. He just did. His teeth and lips were just so perfect I couldn’t help but be sucked into his smile.

“You wish. Nah I’m kidding. Believe it or not, I actually used to go here. And I need my transcript for a college I’m applying to. What a coincidence huh?”

I instantly felt stupid. How could I even think he was capable of stalking me? I just nodded and tried to smile. I was glad that he didn’t take me seriously before, because if he did than I would be more than embarrassed.

“I had no idea you went here. When did you graduate?”

He smiled again and I swear my knees got weak.

“2 years ago, but I didn’t graduate at this school. It’s a long story. But anyway, why don’t you wait here for just a second, and when I come back we can grab some food? If you’re not busy I mean.”

I think I shook my head yes way too quickly after he asked. What a loser.

“I’ll wait here,” I said with my cheeks probably redder than ever.

He only flashed me yet another smile and told me he’d only be a minute.

During the short time that he was away, my mind wandered a little bit. He must have been in an internship program in order to be my nurse at the hospital, which meant that he must have been smart. He was already starting to seem too good to be true.

“Hey I’m back, see I told you it would only be a second,” he said and winked at me playfully. “Where do you want to go?”

I bit my lip and thought about it for a moment. I wasn’t really all that hungry, but I didn’t want him to change his mind about spending time with me so I pretended I was.

“How about Starbucks? Or do you not like coffee? Because I’ll go anywhere really. Wherever you want.”

I was babbling and making a fool of myself, and the more I talked the more I wanted to shrivel up and disappear.

“Starbucks is great. I’m a nursing student, of course I love coffee. I need it to function,” he said with a genuine laugh.

I laughed too and pushed my hair back behind my ear. I always did that when I was trying to be flirty, I hoped he picked up on it.

I realized that I really liked driving in the car with Liam. It relaxed me in a weird way. One would think I would be terrified of being in a car after what happened but I actually wasn’t. I was surprised that I wasn’t afraid but hey it was a good thing so I wasn’t going to complain about that.

Liam was nice enough to offer to pay for my coffee but I wouldn’t let him. But after I ended up paying for myself I kind of regretted it, not because I was cheap or anything like that, but because it seemed like he really wanted to do something nice for me and I didn’t let him.

I wasn’t good at this whole friendship thing, but I was willing to get used to it. It sounds weird but my brother was my legit only friend- I didn’t need anyone else. It was about time I started to open myself up to new people; like Liam and Brady.

Speaking of Brady…I totally forgot that he was coming to visit me after his class. I instantly felt bad but inside I was hoping that maybe he got too busy or maybe even forgot. I would feel horrible if he showed up to my house and I wasn’t there. But I didn’t want to leave Liam either.

I laughed to myself because I thought about how Marek would react to me spending all my time with two boys. He’d flip out and probably beat the crap out of both of them.

“What’s so funny?” Liam asked, making me add this moment to my list of ‘Rayne’s awkward moments.’

“Oh nothing I was just thinking of something silly. How’s your coffee?”

Come to think of it, I wonder how Marek would feel about Liam. I’m sure he’d like him, especially if he knew how happy he made me.

“It’s perfect. How about yours?”

I sipped my drink and smiled.

“Same.”