Wheelchair Accessible

Part Nineteen

Some things in life came out of nowhere; whether it's an unexpected event, a change in the weather, or the love of your life. The latter of which I would know about, considering a certain annoyingly wonderful girl in a wheelchair that turned my life around. These things can improve your life more than you ever thought possible, make you want to hope, make you want to live. Things might come along that teach you, help you grow, make you feel again.

Okay... maybe that can't be said about the weather.

Maybe that was just Shawna.

Yeah, I'm definitely just talking about Shawna. 

***

               "Are your eyes still closed?"

"Yes," I lied. My eyes roamed around Shawna's room, looking at the stacks of books, the mess of clothes on the floor, and the framed pictures of us all around. I reached for the frame that sat on her bedside table, closest to her pillow, and smiled. It was the one we took at the park where we first met, the one where I was kissing her cheek and she was smiling beautifully at the camera.

I had that one framed in my room, too.

It was crazy to think how worried I had been about things changing, that day when we went to take those photos. And a lot did change since then. But so much was still the same. 

Shawna was still as wonderful. She was still my ray of sunshine when the world felt dark. She still my best friend. 

"You rotten liar," she gasped, appearing in the doorway. I didn't have time to cover my eyes the way I was supposed to have been doing this whole time before she charged in, rolling her chair in front of me.

I slowly placed the frame back on the table. "Oops."

She sighed, "You're a pain."

"But I'm your pain," I fluttered my eyelashes, leaning in towards her.

She pushed me away, playfully. "Suck up."

"So, what's the big surprise?" I asked as she rolled closer, gesturing towards the bed. I stood and picked her up, carefully placing her at the head of the bed against her pile of pillows. "Is my present ready?"

"It is, in fact," she said, watching me. "It's in the little side pocket of my chair."

                "So it's small?" I pretended to complain, as I reached into the pocket and pulled out a large envelope. It was thin and flat besides a small lump at the bottom. Whatever it was, it was small. I shook it, acting like a kid on Christmas morning. "I hope it's a puppy."

I started to open it, but Shawna's hand on mine stopped me, "Just wait." She tucked some hair behind her ear nervously.

It was getting so long now. She was planning on teaching me how to braid it so that she didn't have to. Whenever she brought it up, I would complain, but I secretly kind of wanted to learn. Maybe I could braid it and put flowers in it like that Rapunzel girl in that movie Shawna made me watch.

"I have to tell you something first."

I pulled myself from my Disney related thoughts to focus on the serious look my girlfriend was sending me. "What's up?"

"Remember when you asked if I was going to college?"

I nodded, of course, I remembered. "You said you weren't sure yet."

"Right. Because I wasn't. But um," she started fiddling with the edges of her blanket. 

She was obviously having trouble getting the words out, so I tried to guess what she was getting at. "But... you want to now?"