Talk to Me
| Just Breathe Evelynn yawned and opened her eyes. Looking around briefly she noted that Nick was indeed gone. Then looking fully at Kristyne she gave her a weak smile before greeting her. “Hi.” Kristyne’s heart did double time. She had been waiting so long for her friend to come around and now it was finally happening. Giving Evie a big smile she squeezed her hand gentle and answered, “Hi”. Neither one knew what to say next, so instead they sat in comfortable silence. Evie looked at Kristyne and took note of her appearance. She saw the faint circles under her eyes, indicative of poor sleep or lack there of. She noticed the pale hue to Kristyne’s skin. It also seemed to Evie that Kristyne seemed somehow older than she had been just a few weeks earlier. No doubt it was all for this terrible ordeal. Evie knew how Kristyne worried. Knew how she always tried to take the weight of the world upon herself. Finally she spoke up, “You look like hell.” Kristyne grinned, “Well I can’t say too much for you, miss hospital bed-head.” They had always teased each other. And now it was a way to break the ice. “Yeah, I guess I probably don’t have much room to criticize, do I?” Her smile grew a little. “Well if I look as bad as I feel than I must really be a sight.” “You look like someone who had a brush with death and told him to fuck off.” “That bad huh?” “I’d say that good. God, I missed you. You have no idea.” Kristyne’s eyes were filled with tear at finally hearing her best friend talk and even joke around. Finally she had a touch of hope. Finally she had a reason to smile. Evie squeezed her hand and smiled back. She didn’t know what to say. Her mind and heart were still cold with anger over what had happened to her. Rationally, she knew she needed to work through it, but everything inside her was screaming to just shut down. She knew she had to fight that urge and make her way back to who she was, who she used to be. Sighing she knew she had a long, hard, road ahead of her. It scared her to think about it, but she knew that Kristyne would be there every step of the way, helping her, encouraging her. The next few hours were spent in a comfortable silence, interrupted only occasionally by small comments or questions. Neither girl felt the need to engage in any deep discussion at the moment. It was late and they both knew that there would be a better time for such conversations. Instead, they enjoyed each other’s company and respected the silence of their own thoughts. Each girl had her own issues to prioritize and deal with. Meanwhile, Nick was out riding around. He didn’t really have anything to do, but think. He didn’t want to go home, not yet. Instead he found himself driving along the coast and thinking. So many thoughts, so many questions, still without answers. And more questions arising every day. He was used to being the one with a secret side. He was used to being the one who kept a part of him locked away from everyone but the very closest of friends and family, and then there were parts of him that no one knew about, understood. Now, he was faced with someone who was as secretive and shut off as he himself usually is, and it was driving him crazy. Why was he so obsessed with this girl? Why did it matter that she had these walls and secrets? He never really wanted to know so much about someone before. Or was it just that no one had ever really been so closed off to him? He grew up with people telling him everything about themselves hoping that he would be interested in a part of it. Maybe it was the mystery of it all? No, he felt it was more than just intrigue and mystery. He wondered if it was even possible to quantify or qualify what he was feeling. There was so much to it, and he didn’t know how to make sense of it. All he knew is whenever he looked at or even thought of Kristyne he would get this tight feeling in his chest that stole his breath and made him light headed. Why did she turn him inside out? Especially when for all the time that they knew each other, they knew relatively little about each other. So many thoughts and so many unanswered questions kept his mind busy until the wee hours of the morning. When he finally pulled into his driveway the sun was just touching the horizon and waking the world around him. He himself was starting unwind and feel sleepy. One lazy foot following another he took himself upstairs to shower and then went back down stairs to wait on the couch to let Kristyne inside.
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