Owen

Give Me A Chance

10 weeks later

I was about to start college in another short few weeks. Summer courses coming to an end. Not that I had taken any but Mina had and she'd been more distant than normal as she tried to gear up for them.

Bre was leaving in a week to get settled at Grand Valley University, Alec leaving a few days later for State.

Max and I had both enrolled at the same community college, actually the same one Mina went to also but we had already figured it wouldn't increase our chances of seeing her.

Chelsea had opted to enroll in an online college, saying she could work more hours at the little cafe she'd gotten a job at. She'd been hanging out with one of her coworkers and his girlfriend more than us but in her defense Max was either working, with his latest crush, or with me. And Mina was just as busy as always, that hadn't changed.

But what had changed with Mina was us. Her and me. We weren't something yet but we definitely weren't nothing.

I'd gotten in this habit of texting her in the morning to wish her a good day. It'd started after I'd stayed up late on the phone with her. Another night when she needed someone but she wasn't ready to talk about it. She had those days a lot. So instead she asked me questions. All sorts of thing and I had happily obliged. Before she hung up she made the comment how the morning was going to suck, she'd be tired and she had so much to do. I set my alarm for six, knowing that was sometime after her morning run but before she was already out the door. I hadn't missed a morning yet.

And then there were the moments when we'd finally get to hang out or she'd come over after work or class. My grandma started making a couple vegetarian meals and keeping them in the fridge for when Mina was over. We'd eat leftovers, sit in my bed and watch movies. She almost always ended up snuggled into my side, her head resting on my chest where I knew she could hear my thundering heart.

Or how she always showed up to my games.

And the one time when we went to the movies and my hand found hers and for once she didn't pull it away. In fact a few days later, she was driving us somewhere, my arm overtaking her center console and she laced her fingers with mine.

She still had moments when she ran. She had a lot of those moments. But we were inching closer to that line she had drawn, the battalion of soldiers lined up to defend it had been picked off slowly with time.

I'm not sure what made me decide today was the day. Maybe I woke up arrogant and too confident. Or maybe it was because she almost kissed me two nights ago and it was all I could think of, literally. But I was about to do something crazy.

Really fucking crazy.

And possibly stupid.

I'd just recently started walking with canes at therapy, a brace on my right ankle for the stability I didn't have. The whole thing still fucking terrified me but it felt awesome. There was a point when I had thought walking would never happen for me again.

And through the whole process, Mina had been there. Helping, telling me I could when my doubts started to fill my head, encouraging me, telling me to trust her. And she had never let me down. Not once.

I had no doubt that she liked me.

I also knew for some reason, that I still hadn't been able to piece together completely, she was scared to. I figured it must have stemmed from her dad but I still knew nothing about her dad other than he left.

But maybe if I showed her, without hesitation, that I did trust her. That I'd do anything she told me too. That I was here and I wasn't leaving. Maybe, just maybe she'd trust me enough to give me a chance.