Until I Met Her

Chapter 32

"What about uni?" I asked her once we made it to my house. Mum and dad weren't in and Matias was god knows where...

"I said my dad was having a surgery and my brother was alone..." She laughed and followed after me. "I'm only staying for a week but there's, like, two months until summer break so... as long as I do my stuff in time and all, it should be fine."

When we got to the stairs, Eleanor tried to help me but I shook my head. "I can do it," I told her, asking her to go first.

Eleanor kept looking back, trying to make sure that I was okay, that I was keeping up with her. I wanted to tell her not to worry, to just get up the freaking stairs.

When we got to my room, I could tell that she was shocked by the state of it. Everything she once saw in my room was long gone, the walls were still green but everything else gone. Everything but the board she had sent me. I had it hanging up the wall.

"I really liked it," I told her, pointing at the board with my cane. I walked over to my bed and sat by the edge of it, massaging my knee. "Where are you staying?"

"Your mum said she was okay with me staying here," She said, looking around my room at the empty walls and empty shelves.

"My mum knew? Woah, I feel betrayed."

We stayed in silence. She carried on walking around my room. When she got to the wheelchair, she reached down to touch it but didn't. She then sat at my chair and stared at me and I was growing anxious by the second.

"Did you know dolphins have orgies?" I asked breaking the weird silence.

I had missed her and I wanted her to come back so badly but she was here, and there's something thick and weird in the air around us, it's like there was something between us that wasn't there before she left. Was it all in my head?

"Where did you get that from?" She chuckled.

"Documentaries. There's also gay dolphins," I laughed trying once again to bring down the wall, make things easier for us.

"Trust you to find out about that," She laughed and her comment made me laugh.

We stayed in silence for another minute or so. It was starting to bother me, whatever that was happening, whatever the fuck this thing that was between us was starting bothering me.

"I hate that you didn't tell me," She whispered, looking away from me. "I hate that I didn't know and that I was away for all this— that you had to go through this alone."

I breathed out slowly, calmly. "I think I had to," I said, "I think— don't get me wrong, I hate that this happened but— I'm here, you know? I'm alive and a flipping car ran me over, like... that's not a little thing people just walk away from, you know? But I did. I'm thankful I'm alive."

Eleanor was biting her lip. Harder as the seconds went and then... she started crying.

I stood up quickly and went over to her, I had to make her stand up because kneeling for too long was torture for me. When she stood, I hugged her and brushed her hair back. Oh boy, did I miss doing that.

"It's okay, I'm okay, it was a little bump along the road," She snorted between sobs.

"You call breaking three bones a little bump?"

"Yeah, okay, maybe a big bump," I joked, my eyes were watering when she pulled away, hers were red, so red.

"You arekind of clumsy sometimes."

"I can't be all perfect, now can I?" I brushed the tears from her face with my thumb and I tried hard to smile.

She looked up at me, her lips were quivering. She bit her lower lip hard to stop herself from crying. "Tyler..." Her voice broke a little, she hugged me again and hid her face in the crook of my neck.