She Will Be Loved

“When I saw you for the first time and how broken you were… I knew that you needed someone. I am so happy to be that someone.” Sometimes Erik’s words made me want to cry. Sometimes they’re happy, sometimes I get nervous. But his words always make me feel something.
“My mom just… she made me feel like I was a freak… like I never added up. And everyone else… just made it worse and made it feel like I’d never amount to anything. Sometimes I wonder if my dad was here… if maybe it’d all be different… but I’m glad it’s how it is.”
“Why?” he looked confused, I thought it would’ve been obvious to him.
“I never would’ve met you.” I felt my face get hot, and I knew I was blushing big time. But now… I didn’t care. His smile lit up his eyes once more as we laid under the tree in the back yard. The sun hit his face in just the right way, he literally glowed.
“So… you’re going to be living with Liz and James… it’s going to be weird waking up without you.” He had no clue. Liz and James decided that since they were already going to put up a fight to get custody of me, that I might as well go live with them.
“Ditto… I’m going to miss you. You better see me every day! I’ll come over after school.”
“I wish you didn’t have to leave… but I’m glad for you, really. It’s just going to be difficult not seeing you eating waffles with me in the morning. When I first saw you with your long brown hair and your big blue eyes that were still watery and blood shot, even though you were hurting, you were the most beautiful thing I ever saw.” I smiled from ear to ear. This was the times that he was so sweet that made me want to be in his arms forever. He held me in his arms as we leaned against the tree trunk. His arms tight around me and my head on his shoulder.
“Really?” He began to lean in.
I felt his soft, smooth lips gently resting on mine. Time stood still, and for a moment so did my heart. His lips were sweet like honey, and gentle as a feather. He made me feel like I was floating on thin air. It was the best moment I ever had in a long time.
“Really.” He replied whispering and resting his forehead against mine, our noses just barely touching. This was a little piece of heaven to me. This was the man that fixed my broken smile.

I laid down on my bed, sketching cartoonish drawings and thinking about school. It would be starting soon enough. My senior year. They’d see me graduate, I thought. My grades were good last year, and the year before. They could be better this year. I thought about the people and how they would scold me and accuse me and tease me. For once, I didn’t care. My life is good, great even! I love it. They don’t need to affect me. I won’t let them be the reason that I’m unhappy, because I have love and friends and an actual family now. That’s all I need. There were three raps on my door. Knock, knock, knock.
“Come in.” I replied to the door.
“Hey Joslin.” James said closing the door behind him with a wide grin. He sat down on the end of my bed.
“What’re you so smiley about?” Not that there’s nothing to smile about…
“Well you know how since Allison died and you don’t have a dad, you’re basically our little orphan?”
“I like where this is going.” I sat up a little bit.
“Since Liz and I placed an adoption request so early, they’re approving it. You aren’t going to any foster care, you’re going straight to us!” I screamed. I couldn’t help it! I was so excited. I threw my sketch pad onto the other side of the bed and jumped onto James and attacked him with hugs.
“Lizzy will be here tomorrow to help you pack. Don’t worry, you’ll see Erik tons. We do, so you will.”
We continued talking on about the move, and the house, and my room. It was so exciting, I felt like I might burst! This was surely one of the best days I’ve ever had. My broken smile was definitely fixed