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A New Life
-Chapter 18: Breaking the Ice–
"Hey mom, guess what I did on Thursday?" Rose exclaimed happily.
"I don't know baby, what did you do?" Lilly replied.
"I did it. I broke up with Ben."
"I'm proud of you. I really am. I never liked that boy anyway. But, why'd you do it all of a sudden?"
"It wasn't all of a sudden. He's had it coming for a while now. Turns out he was still seeing other girls behind my back. And he was taking drugs to help with sports. I just knew I couldn't be around all that anymore."
"Plus, you knew you deserved better, right? You didn't have to put yourself through all that just for a boy you probably don't even like anymore."
"That's right. I don't have to be around all that."
"So what are you gonna do now? Throw yourself at your school work, right?"
"Yeah, mom. I always do that. You know I got an 'A' on that last test, right?"
"Yeah, uh-huh." Lilly said doubtingly.
"But there's something else I have to do. Something I need to fix. It needs to be as soon as possible."
"Okay, well you go take care of whatever you think you need to do."
Rose made her way outside and removed her phone from her pocket. She made the call to the one person she knew she needed to talk to more than anyone else. She spoke softly and carefully.
"Hey, I need to talk you. It's important. Meet me in a little while and we can walk down to the beach together. Please, it's important. I really need to talk to you." She ended the message and replaced her phone in her left pocket. Without noticing it, she nudged a button on the phone and it vibrated slightly.
Michael, who was now thirteen years old, and significantly taller than his three friends walked down the hallway in Sea View Middle school with one thing on his mind.
"I gonna ask her out. Just watch me." Michael said, with a world of confidence in his voice.
"Are you sure about this?" Susan asked him, more than a little disbelief in her voice.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Cause you've been puttin' the moves on her for months now and you two still haven't said more than a few words to each other." Robbie said.
"Well, I'm gonna go for it."
"Well make it quick, we have practice in five." Charlie reminded him.
"Be right back. Just sit back and see how the pros do it." Michael said, walking off with a cocky smile on his face.
"So you really think he's gonna do it?" Susan said.
"Looks like it." Charlie replied.
"He's been talking about asking Anna Visitor out for weeks now. I wouldn't count on it." Robbie said.
"Well there he goes he's talking to her. Or at least I think he is." Susan said.
"Why's she giving him that look?" Charlie wondered out loud.
"Oh, he's saying something else." Robbie observed.
"I don't think it's going too great." Susan said.
Moments later Michael came scampering back over to them. He did not look happy. But someone had to ask the question that was on all of their minds.
"So, how'd it go Mike?" Robbie asked unwittingly.
"It went…it went… I don't know how it went, really."
"What do you mean you don't know how it went?" Susan demanded insensitively.
"I started talking and nothing really came out the way I planned it."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Susan asked.
"I just started babbling at her kind of. I don't know what happened. I kept trying and she finally just told me to leave her alone, that I was freaking her out."
"Yeah, you do have that effect on girls sometimes." Robbie said.
"Well thanks a lot." Michael retorted.
"Hey, it's not so bad there'll be other girls." Charlie consoled him.
"Let's go or we're gonna be late." Robbie reminded them. They began walking outside towards the street. The baseball field was on the opposite side of the road from the school building.
"Think about it Michael, there are plenty more chances for you to hit it off with girls. You're only thirteen. Anna isn't the only girl there is. And who knows? Maybe she'll come around. Or maybe you can try talking to her friend Lisa, she seems nice." Susan told him. They began to cross the street when a car came zipping by them. No one could miss the loud crunch it made as it passed within inches of them.
"Wow, we really got lucky there!" Charlie exclaimed.
"Dang flabbit! Connfoundit! Of all the…! !" Robbie screamed out in pain.
"What? What happened?" Michael called out to him.
"That dang car…it ran over my feet!" Robbie yelped in pain.
"Ok, ok. I think I know what to do. We hafta sit him down. He can't try to walk on his feet." Michael told them. He and Charlie walked up in behind Robbie and put their arms under his armpits and carried him over to the sidewalk and lied him down.
"I'm calling an ambulance." Susan said. They waited for less than five minutes. But the pain made it seem much longer for Robbie. When the ambulance got there two women came out of the back doors and strapped Robbie onto a stretcher. They attached temporary casts to both of his feet. The rest of them piled onto the bench on the ambulance across from Robbie and rode to the hospital with him.
"Everything's gonna be fine." Susan said as they moved Robbie into a room. They were all standing around the sides of Robbie's bed.
"Yeah, remember when I broke my back and they thought I was gonna be in a wheelchair forever?" Michael said. Charlie clutched his stomach from a sudden onset of pain. But no one took notice, so he kept it to himself, even though a tide of worry washed over him because the feeling was very familiar. It went away quickly enough, so he thought nothing of it.
"Yeah, but I bet since you couldn't feel anything, it didn't hurt this much." Robbie said wincing from the pain. They were now bringing him into a hospital room.
"Hey, watch it!" Susan said. A doctor came in and began to examine Robbie's feet.
"We'll have casts on in no time. For now I'm gonna have the nurse give you a pain killer." The doctor said. Another man came in beside the doctor and injected something into Robbie's right arm.
"Ooh, I feel better already." Robbie said, his expression becoming somewhat hazy.
While the attention was focused on Robbie, Michael was left to his own thoughts which he couldn't help but let creep back into his head. That look Anna gave him just wouldn't fade from his mind. All of a sudden he collapsed to the floor. His whole body began seizing. His shirt tore open in the front where a few buttons popped off. He had recently had significant growth spurt and the baseball uniform which he had neglected to replace, was too small for him, due to his greater height.
"I've got him. Kid, you'll be fine. I'm gonna get you some help." A nurse said.
"He's had this happen before you really need to help him." Charlie yelled to the nurse. Another doctor came flying in through the doorway.
"What's happening?" He asked the nurse.
"I don't know he just started seizing. I'm holding him till the seizure wears off." Michael's body began to relax after a few more moments. That's when they took notice of how thin his stomach was.
"He looks malnourished. When we get him in a bed he needs IV nutrients." The doctor stated.
The nurse scooped Michael up and placed him in the bed next to Robbie's. A lot of attention seemed to be on Michael now and not Robbie. Someone was just now pushing an extraordinarily large man in a wheelchair and passed by the doorway.
"You know, normally it takes two people to push him. But since you got here…you seem to get all the muscle jobs."
"Well, I do what I can. It's no problem as long as I… hang on I gotta go."
"Wait what are you doing, I can move this guy on my own. There's nobody else here to help me."
"My brother's in this room. I have to see him!" Jimmy yelled back to the intern.
"Doctor Proctor, what happened to my brother?"
"This is your brother, Jim?" Dr. Proctor asked.
"Yeah, what happened to him?"
"He started seizing. And we noticed how thin his is. So we're giving him IV nutrients."
"Why?"
"We figured he's malnourished and that's why he collapsed."
"Why would you say he's malnourished?"
"We measured him at five foot nine inches and only one hundred nineteen pounds."
"Well he's diabetic just like me. He just had a growth spurt I think. And that's probably why he's so thinned out. He's never been as good at keeping weight on as me. But it hasn't been a problem in a while."
"Well it seems to be now. But…nurse don't place that IV. He's diabetic. He needs an insulin shot."
"Jim call your parents. They need to be here."
"Yes, sir."
Fifteen minutes later Lilly and Oliver burst into the room "We got here as fast as we could. What's going on?" Oliver demanded.
"We think Michael had a diabetic seizure." Jimmy said.
"Is he okay?" Lilly asked, panic filling her voice.
"We don't know yet." Dr. Proctor told her.
"Dad, where's Rose? Didn't you say you where gonna get her to come with you?" Jimmy asked his father.
"We don't know where she is. We tried to call her. But her phone was off. She told mom something about needing to go do something important after school."
Robbie was being taken to an operating room for his casts.
"Okay, we're gonna get started with an exam on Michael now. But first we have to sedate him." Doctor Proctor said.
"What? Why do you need to put him under? They've never had to do that with us before." Jimmy asked knowingly.
"I'll explain later. I'm glad you seem to take such a great interest in medical procedures, Jim."
Michael was still perfectly still. "Alright, I'm just going to put this big needle in his arm and…"
"Wait stop! You don't hafta do that!" Michael jolted upright.
"Why ever not?" Doctor Proctor asked, feigning bewilderment.
"Cause I'm not really sick!" Michael insisted.
"Really? But you just had a seizure." The doctor said.
"I was faking it. I promise, I was."
"Why would you do that?" Jimmy demanded.
"Cause, I don't know…"
"Maybe cause you wanted attention and they were too focused on your friend. Does that sound about right?" Jimmy suggested.
"Well, it sounds really bad when you put it that way." Michael said, softly and embarrassed.
"How else is it supposed to sound?" Lilly piped up.
"I'm sorry. No TV or computer for a month, right?"
"Two months!" Oliver said crossly.
Hours later Alex was sitting on the cement wall between a parking lot and the sands of the beach, alone with his thoughts, and his legs dangling over the wall. He was silently watching the sun as it showed the first signs of setting. He was thinking of his latest emotional triumph. Even though he and his girlfriend Kristen had recently broken up they were still friends in a good way. But more prominent in his mind was the fact the he was convinced that his obsession with Rose was finally over. He had finally managed to get over her. The realization that not succeeding with Kristen had brought was that he really needed to get over Rose. And unknowingly he had managed to do so. But he had now consciously realized what had happened. He wasn't sure he was alright with this development, because until now he had held out hope that someday there would be something great between the two of them. But he now knew that was impossible. So at this moment he knew he had moved on. She had called him earlier and told him they needed to talk. He knew this meant she still wanted to be friends, or something was still remaining unsaid that she needed to get out before totally severing ties with him forever. So he told her where he was and remained there waiting for what seemed like forever in a relative emotional and physical calm. Time seemed to be lagging on forever. The occasional beach dweller passed him by. Warm, comforting, peaceful bursts of wind whipped all around him as the tide splashed in down on the beach. Alex closed his eyes and took in the utter bliss of his surroundings. He was in love with the moment he was in and hoped it would never end. For if it did then perfection would end, because that is what he felt at the moment: blissful, peaceful, comfortable, wonderful perfection. But it did end, only slightly though. A hand touched his shoulder. He didn't look to see who it was. But he could tell just by the soft, gentle touch and the small feel of the hand that it belonged to a female. His assumption was affirmed by a sweat and pleasant voice that came from behind him.
"I thought you might like some company." The voice said, sounding soothing and forgiving.
"Maybe I do, why don't you stick around and find out?" Alex said without looking at her, for he knew who it was. She sat down next to him. Very close. Too close for anyone else but this very person.
"I wanted to talk to you. There was something. I can't quite put my finger on it. But there's something I need to say." Rose broke the silence quickly.
"Well, if you don't know what it is, then why are you talking to me?" Alex wondered aloud.
"Why shouldn't I talk to you? I am your best friend, you know?"
"Are you? It sure didn't seem like that lately."
"Well I am. Let's go for a walk."
"I just wanna sit here right now, I was really happy just sitting here." He didn't really want to risk too much contact with Rose at the moment. His feelings about her where still frayed from the outburst they had had. He wasn't sure if things could ever get back to normal between them. But he had a feeling he was about to discover the answer.
"Come on, don't make me beg you!"
"But why? I thought you never wanted to talk to me again."
"Well, I realized how stupid that was for me to say that to you." They kicked off their shoes simultaneously and walked down to where the tide ended on the sand and started walking down the beach.
"How long have you been thinking that?"
"Since about five seconds after I said it."
"So then why haven't we been talking all this time?"
"Cause I was really mad when you told me about what Ben was doing. I already knew, and having my best friend tell me was humiliating…it meant other people had found out. I didn't want people thinking less of me cause that was happening to me."
"But you know everybody likes you. How couldn't they?"
"I don't know. I guess I was just really confused. And Ben, I don't know why I ever even went there."
"Cause you liked him and he was really great for you at first."
"That's true, but after a really short while it became a mistake. And I was stupid enough to keep going out with him. It went on way longer that it should have."
"You're talking in the past tense. Does that mean it's not still going on?" Alex asked curiously.
"I broke it off with him a couple days ago. I just told my mom, so it's still privileged information, okay?"
"Yeah, alright. I won't tell anyone. But just for the record, you should be proud of what you did. He didn't deserve you, not even a little. Anyone that's willing to do that to you isn't worth it."
"You're absolutely right. I'm glad I did it. But you know, not all boys are like that." Rose was thinking of one boy in particular but she didn't want to say it to Alex. "Speaking of which, how are you and Kristen Bauer doing? You two are really cute together." Silently Rose was thinking only of how handsome Alex looked walking next to her. She resisted the impulse to hold his hand because she was almost certain he would not appreciate it, due to all the ugliness between them recently.
"We stopped seeing each other a couple weeks ago."
"Oh really, how come?"
"I don't know. It just wasn't working."
"Really, that's not usually how you operate. You always seemed to make things work. You're always so upbeat."
"Well, it was just something silly…I don't really want to talk about it, if that's alright." He knew it wasn't something silly. It was due to his inability to get over Rose which he had just, somehow, been able to do. But all that was now starting to come undone again.
"I heard you where trying out for the Malibu surfing team. Maybe we can try out together." Rose said, trying to stay talking even though there still seemed to be a lot of tension between the two of them. She quickly realized this question may not have been a good one to quell the anxiety they were both feeling.
"I don't wanna be rude or anything. But what makes you think I want to do anything with you? We're not exactly close anymore. You really hurt my feelings, it's gonna take me a while to get past that."
"I know I was really stupid to say what I said." Rose repeated. Inside Alex wished she would stop saying such things about herself. "But I was hoping we could patch things up by being around each other again, instead of being apart. I really hate being apart from you. We where such good friends…"
Alex knew things could never be the way he had once imagined them being. After the damage their relationship had suffered, he and Rose could never be more than just friends, and maybe not even as close as they once had been. It was quite disheartening for him, but it was something he would live with.
"I mean, it was never all on you."
"What do you mean by that?" Rose asked cautiously.
"I mean, I should have been more tactful in trying to tell you about Ben."
"Enough about Ben, I could go a lifetime without hearing his name again and I'd be happy."
"My point is, I went against my better judgment, and the advice of my girlfriend when I told you that stuff. I knew it would probably end our friendship forever, so I should have kept my mouth shut. I knew you were smart enough to figure it out on your own. So it's my fault we're not friends anymore." He explained. Rose stayed quiet for quite a while, which seemed to confirm his statement that they were never to be friends again. But in the silence and the calm of the night, Alex could not help but notice how beautiful Rose was, with her olive green eyes and her dark brown hair glistening in the setting sun. Not to mention the slight crop of freckles on the upper part of her cheeks. He staved off the urge, several times, to put his arm around her waist and hold her tight like the precious being she was. Rose finally broke the silence once more.
"We could never stop being friends completely. It's not possible. To tell the truth, I couldn't stand staying mad at you for so long. It was too long. It should never have been like that." Rose uttered. Alex was still having a hard time piecing together his fragmented feelings for Rose.
"Well for my part of it I'm sorry." They stopped walking and faced each other. "So you think we'll be okay?...Eventually?" Alex asked warily. Rose hesitated to give an answer because at the moment she didn't know if she really had one. But as their eyes made contact she knew the answer, she knew they would be more than just okay.
"We'll always be okay Alex. We should never let each other drift apart again." Rose said. This was starting to sound a little strange, to Alex, for a renewal of their friendship. But he just went with it.
"Do you think we'll ever be as close as we where?"
"How can we not be? We'll always be close. As close as two friends can be." Rose said softly. The breeze that blew over them brought Alex comfort and the realization that things could go back to normal. But it would likely never be anything more than that. So he began sealing those thoughts away once more.
"I'm glad Rose. I'm glad we could work it out."
"So am I. You know what? I think I figured out why it was I wanted to talk to you so badly." Rose said, a rush of joy flooding through her.
"Really, what was it?" Alex asked, expecting something along the lines of the conversation they were already having.
"Well I suppose it's something I've always felt, but I never really realized it till now. I don't know why. It's so obvious to me; I don't know how I didn't realize it already."
"I'm not sure I'm following, what do you mean?" Alex asked, not even considering what might be obvious to others. A smile grew rapidly on Roses' face. She looked into his eyes and spoke.
"I love you Alex."
Notes to the readers:
*Reviews are much appreciated!
** This is the eighteenth chapter of my story "A New Life". If you haven't read my first saga you may not know where these characters are coming from. So you might want to read it, or at least "Meant to Be Parts 5-9". This story takes place before the end of "Meant To Be".
***Lilly and Oliver, and Miley and Jackson are in their thirties/forties. Jimmy is 17. Rose is 15. Michael and Susan (Miley's daughter), and Robbie Rod (Jackson's son) are 13.
****If you want to find my other stories (My first saga) click on my screen name on the top of this page, and you can find my stories on my profile. If you want to stay updated as to when I post new chapters, please subscribe to my username!
*****There will be more in the near future. So I hope you will continue reading.