Hey guys. So I met this totally awesome guy a few months back and he recently moved to Texas. So this story is dedicated to him. And to those who are reading my other story, Candy High, I promise I'll update it this weekend. Senior year is really taking its toll on me. Anyway, enjoy this angsty stuff.
It's just a dream. It's just a bad dream. This can't really be happening. Yesterday was normal; everything was fine. This isn't happening.
"Hey Tenten, can you come help me with this assignment? I have no idea what I'm doing." I hear my friend Ally call out.
It was just another boring day in Pre-Calculus and, as always, I was stuck helping her. As I got up to help her, my eyes scanned the room and locked eyes with a kid in the back of the class. He had long brown hair and pale, almost pupil-less eyes that seemed to stare into my soul. I didn't know a lot about him, just that he moved to the school a few months back and he was really quiet. What was his name? I decided that I was going to talk to him at lunch that day.
His cousin found me amongst the small crowd of loved ones. She was sobbing uncontrollably. "How could this happen to him, of all people?" she gritted between sobs into my shoulder. She looked distraught and I could tell that she wasn't doing very well. I didn't cry. It was just a terrible nightmare. This is just a figment of my imagination. Right?
"So, what kind of music do you listen to?" I asked. So far this guy seemed pretty cool. Sure he was a little different but who isn't?
"I listen to a little bit of everything. I really like rock though. It's more… alive."
"No way, my favorite music is punk rock. You know, you're alright. Do you want to be friends?" I asked hopefully. He looked down at me and smiled.
"I don't have friends. I can't fully give my trust to someone I've only just met. But we can be close acquaintances." I smiled back at him.
"I'd like that."
"Ten, I'm so sorry. I know how much he means to you." I heard his best friend say to me. I look at Lee questionably. What does he mean? None of this is real. It's just a bad dream.
I passed him a note one day in class. It spoke of a little truth and things I thought he should know. It read: "I like you. A lot. And that terrifies me but I wrote down a list of things I think you should know about me. If you do like me back, I want you to know the real me."
On the way to lunch, he spoke. "I know you like me. You don't do a very good job of hiding it."
I felt my face fall. I knew he didn't like me. It was foolish of me to think that he would have the same feelings I do. "But don't worry. I like you too," he whispered to me.
Later that class, I was cold. He noticed this. "Tenten, just put on your jacket." I sighed in response.
"My jacket is too heavy. If I put it on, I'll just get hot and take it off. I'd rather be cold," I reasoned then went back to my group project, which I was doing by myself. I heard him groan at my stubbornness and seconds later I felt a light jacket on my shoulders.
"You're such a pain sometimes." I just smiled.
"We think that his uncle was speeding and they flipped over into a steep ditch. He wasn't wearing his seatbelt," the doctor said. I looked at him. It's just a bad dream. So why does it feel so real?
"Jeez, you are so weird," I complained to him. We were making card houses in directed study and he was telling me about he stayed up for five hours just to make a really big house of cards.
He laughed. "So what? Being weird gives me purpose. Besides, what's defined as normal anyway?"
I thought for a moment. "Normal is a guy named Bob. He lives in small house in a suburban neighborhood. He wakes up every morning, gets dressed, grabs his coffee and goes to work. His work is a little cubicle and he answers phones all day. He gets off at exactly four o'clock every day. He drives home, makes himself a hearty dinner, takes a shower, then goes to bed. Then the cycle repeats," I said with a smile.
"So Bob doesn't have a family?"
"Nope."
"Not even a dog?"
"Nope."
"So why is his name Bob. Why not Jeff or Larry?"
"Bob just sounds more normal."
He laughed at my thought process. "You might just be weirder than me."
"But that's why you like me, right?" He looked at me and smiled.
"One of the reasons."
"He regretted leaving you, most of all. He really liked you, Tenten. You were one of the only people he could actually talk to. I just hope you'll be able to talk to him again," his younger cousin, Hanabi, said to me. What does she mean? We talked this morning. Of course, we'll talk again. This just a terrible dream. It's not really happening.
"I'm moving to Osaka in a month. That's why I haven't asked you to be my girlfriend. I don't want to hurt you."
I felt the tears building up but I pushed them back and smiled. But Osaka was a long way from Tokyo. "Then we'll just have to make the most of this month, now. Won't we?"
Wake up. Stop dreaming.
We started walking just a little bit closer, hugging just a little bit longer. My friends would make fun of me. They didn't like him, he was too distant for their likings, but I didn't care. I sure liked him.
Tenten, wake up. It's just a bad dream.
"Tenten, you're the most beautiful girl I have ever met."
"You're gonna make this goodbye a lot harder than it should be. You know that?" I respond, tears swelling in my eyes. No one's ever said that to me before. I'm so plain, with brown hair and brown eyes. But he saw something there that I didn't. He kissed my forehead and we continued walking to lunch.
It's not really happening.
"Tenten, I'm gonna miss you so much. I hate that I have to leave you."
"Just stay out of jail and be sure to call me, okay?"
"Okay. I think I can manage that." We lean in for our last hug. It was long and sad but we saw it coming. We stopped hugging but we didn't quite part. He looked down at me with those sad eyes of his, and he kissed me. I closed my eyes and pulled him closer. I wanted to relish in this tiny moment we were able to share. Then, as soon as it began, it ended. I said goodbye and drove home. I cried for two days after he left.
It's not a dream. This is really happening. I feel the tears start coming. Here he is, unconscious in a hospital. His injuries, while not too life threatening, were enough to put him in a coma. And here I am, surrounded by his loved ones because I was all he could talk about for months.
I walk towards his bed, and grab his hand. It felt familiar but a little too cold for my liking.
"Hey, it's Tenten. You need to get better, soon. I'm supposed to be the cold one, remember? You're making everyone worry about you, so get better." I kissed his hand and sat down in the chair next to his hospital bed. One by one, his family and friends left the room. I stayed though.
"This isn't just a bad dream. This is real. So you need to do me a favor. I need you to wake up, okay?" I got nothing in response.
"Neji, please wake up," I whispered as I began to drift to sleep. I felt a gentle squeeze from his hand.
Welp, there you go. Tell me what you guys thought about it. Stay classy.