Wrists

chapter 2

It was about a week before school started when my step-dad talked to me about showing around a new kid. He was the Vice Principal so it made sense.
My step-dad told me that I would show him around the day before school started and I wanted to object; however, he was the principle and head of our house so I agreed.
Fast forward a few days to the day before I had to show the new kid around. It was a hot summer day and dry as a desert with no oasis. I decided that I would go longboard around my little rural town for an hour or two and hang out at the skatepark. As I walked down the alleyway I breathed in the scent of the little woods around my house and got to the sidewalk. Then I glided my way to the skatepark I lost myself in the feeling of longboarding and the feeling of the vibrations on the board rippling through my body. I feel the rushing of wind rippling through my clothes and I just can't describe the happiness and freedom that I get when longboarding. As I am gliding across the sidewalks my body takes over and I lose myself in my music and the feeling of longboarding and just let my body steer me towards the skatepark where I can be who I want to be and have fun.
Just a few blocks from the park I hear someone following me and trust me it's a terrible feeling to know that someone is following you and you don't know who it is. Then I take my earphones out and hear someone on a skateboard coming right at me. It was obvious he or she wasn't paying any attention to what's in front of them. I try to steer out of their way but I was too late and they ran right into me and we collapsed on top of one another with his face way too uncomfortably close to mine and his body pressed up against mine.
"Oh sorry," he says in a comforting voice that made me feel safe and protected."I didn't see you right there." He helps me up and for the first time as he had his hand on the small of my back there was a light emanating from our wrists so brilliant that one could say it was finer than a thousand diamonds shining in the sun. He pulls away quickly, startled, and for the first time I notice his outfit and features, he was wearing khakis and a blue polo. You could see the faint outline of a tank top under his shirt and he had on a pair of brand new Adidas. My outfit paled in comparison to what he was wearing. I simply had a pair of red tattered Converse, a My Chemical Romance shirt that had the sleeves cut off to look like a tank top, and as for my shorts I had my favorite black running shorts on.
After an awkward silence where we just looked at the person who we were destined to be with for the rest of our life, that's when I felt a sudden surge of fear taking over my body. All the happiness of being on my longboard had disappeared as I looked in the eyes of my future and that scared me. I didn't want my future to come so fast, I loved that feel of not knowing what's going to happen not being tied to someone or something. I don't want someone to take care of me because that means I'll owe them and I would hate to have to repay a debt that I didn't want. I start to get bad anxiety and it feels like the world is constricting around me and I can't breathe. I can't take it anymore and try to run when a large warm hand grabs my arm and the glow on our wrists returns. I try to get away, the weight of the world crushing on me and he still has his hand on my arm. "Let go! Let go! Let go!" I scream.
"No, calm down it's okay," I hear his comforting voice trying it's best to calm me, but it feels so far away. I didn't take my medicine today. He grabs my waist and pulls me into a hug and his touch almost helps, but I start to shake and cry. My soulmate still holds me in a hug trying to comfort me and help calm my ever growing wall of nerves that are ready to collapse on top of me. This hypothetical wall makes me even more scared and did not help my anxiety at all. I collapse and start dry heaving on the side of the road. My soulmate kneeled next to me and his hand landed on the middle of my back and he started rubbing my back. His comforting touch made my hysteria diminish and I lie down with all my energy gone, I needed to sleep. Before I dozed off my true love shook me and asked," Your name's Hope right?"
"Yeah, and I guess you're my Noah?" I wearily inquired.
He smiled what could only be the most charming smile in the world and nodded while his chocolate brown eyes locked with my sky blue ones. We stayed in that position for one more minute just looking into the eyes of our kindred spirit taking in the situation that just happened. "Are you okay," Noah said breaking the silence that I wished could go on forever.
"Yeah, it's just I forgot to take my medicine this morning and you just scared me when you came up that fast and hit me," I replied.
"Sorry about that, I wasn't paying attention I... I... was on my phone," he says hesitant knowing that I may flip out.
"It's fine you just need to pay attention next time you're skating and on your phone,"
"Yeah, I guess so," he said while standing up, and he reaches his hand out to help me up.
"No thanks, I'm a big girl I can stand up by myself" I say with a sarcastic voice because I really don't care about him very much. His clothes suggest that he's at least got a wealthy family and his muscles and healthy tone of skin suggest that he definitely gets fed well at home. He's the exact opposite of who I am. "You're bleeding," I say all of the sudden realizing that when I was having my anxiety attack on the ground he was bleeding really bad. "Come back to my house where I can patch you up. It's just around the corner," I tell him.
"Alright, I guess so doc," he jokes, and I giggle which was very out of character for me.
We hop on our longboards and I get that happy feeling again just gliding across the cement with Noah following close behind, but not too close. After about a minute we arrive to the alley that we have to walk down to get to my little humble abode. The bleeding got worse on Noah's leg so I suggested that he should wrap his shirt over it to stop the bleeding, or at least cover it up. "Fine," he grumbled, "I have like five more of these at home, at least," he continues in an effort to try and relate to me. I hold back the feeling of rolling my eyes because I know he's in pain and probably has really bad judgement.
He takes his shirt off and he has a white tank top on and we start the trek through the driveway and the flickering light of the sun shining through the tree limbs passing along our skin and I notice Noah looking around the little trees and I take this moment to actually look at him and see what my soulmate looks like. He stands at about 5" 10' an inch taller than me, he had tan skin from being outside all summer long or being on vacation in some foreign country, he was toned, he had dark hair with his eyes even darker than his hair. His eyes were like little lakes of dark chocolate and I saw that he had contacts in.
Then we find ourselves at my two-story house with a white picket fence around the outside being the only happy thing that showed on the outside. I see that my step-dad isn't home and take a quick breath of relief. We walked into the house and all the white in our pristine house blinded us; white walls, white furniture, white vases with white flowers. The only thing that wasn't white was the dark oak hardwood floors and stairs. Even the kitchen was all silver and white. In the walkway Noah and I look dirtier than we actually were, contrasted over the white cleanliness of my home. Once we left the narrow walkway we entered the white living room and went left to go into the kitchen so I could wash his knee. "Sit on one of the silver stools so if you get blood on it I can clean it easier than if we were on the dining room chairs" I tell Noah.
"Why are you so obsessed with keeping everything clean?" Noah inquires.
"Why do you always want to ask questions?" I retort.
"Touché" he replies.
"Ok now sit down while I try to clean up that nasty scratch" I tell him.
"Alright doc." he says in an attempt to be charming. It works and I blush. I grab another stool and gesture for him to put his leg up there. The limited space between the stove island thing and the countertop wasn't enough and he had to face horizontal. I leave him there and run up the stairs to the bathroom and get the medical bag in the medicine cabinet and made sure that the gauze was in the bag along with the medical tape. Walking down the stairs I hear a thump from the kitchen and I start to sprint down, and once I reach the kitchen I was infuriated by what I saw. Noah had gotten up and started looking for snacks and he knocked down the oats and it had spread around the whole floor. "What are you doing!" I yell at him, "Didn't I tell you to stay sitting. I was worried you had fainted or something! You know how scary that is!" I yelled once more.
"Chill, I was just hungry," he tried to defend himself.
"Chill?!" I scream again, "You never say that to a woman!"
"Hey look I'm standing, I'm breathing, and I'm alive. Isn't that all that matters?" he says in an attempt to calm me. Lucky for him we're soulmates and I have to make sure he's taken care of otherwise I'm not gonna get a new one any time soon. I make him sit back where he was and get the broom to clean up the mess. As I sweep up the mess I see him staring at me in the corner of my eye. "You know. You're pretty cute when you clean," he says. I blush and tell him "You know just because we're each other's 'One True Love' doesn't mean we have to start acting like that right now."
"Like what?" he teases.
"You know, like that. Flirting with me," I tell him while I was sweeping the oats into the dust pan.
"I know, but it's just, like, ever since I ran into you I've been thinking. You are pretty cute," he says.
"And you are pretty annoying," I tell him.
"Oh really?" he retorts, "How about you stop trying to be so controlling."
"Oh really?! How about you try to 'Chill'," I said.
"You're right, you're right I do need to calm down," he says, surprising me and actually taking me seriously.
"Ok, let get started by taking that shirt off your leg," I say. We unwrap his leg and I see that he had a really nasty scratch and then a few more along the length of his left leg. I get some paper towels and get them wet and wipe off and clean his leg. I see one bad scratch that won't stop bleeding so I get Noah to hold a paper towel on his leg while I get some Biotine on it and attach gauze on it. Once I get the gauze on there I tape it on with the medical tape. I clean up the rest of his scratches and, get some band-aids on them. "Alright you're done now," I say, "Go ahead and stand up and try to walk while I find you some snacks."
"Thanks," he replies almost monotone.
"Why the flat voice Mr. Noah?" I say jokingly.
"It's just I love that you take care of me even when I was being crappy," he explained "and even in the short time we've been together I've found so many things that I find attractive in you that I don't see in any other girls. Like whatever you do it seems like you make it a thousand more times... I don't know. Prettier," he ended with a chuckle.
"Yeah, yeah what do you want to eat for a snack then, you've got to leave," I say.
"Awe so soon?" he whines.
"Yes so soon because if my step-dad finds out that I was here alone with a boy he would kill me," I explain.
"Oh really, how mad would he be if he found out that you kissed a boy while he wasn't here..." he teases and tries to lean in closer to me with his hand around my waist, the glow returning although neither of us noticed it anymore.
"Shut up," I say pushing him back, " and since you won't pick a snack you're getting a granola bar and leaving."
"Ok I guess I'll go," he complained. I held out the granola bar and when he grabs it our fingers touch and it felt like magic when we touched. I pulled my hand away quickly scared that I would get attached to him when I don't want to, not yet.
He left and I took a sigh of relief as I heard the door close behind him. Finally I thought He's gone.