Angel Boy
Chapter 5/?
A 7th Heaven Fan Fic by Lucky Star


Chapter 5: Victoria

She had the most incredible eyes I had ever seen. Blue. Grey. Silver. Electric. Metallic. Eerie. Beautiful. I couldn't choose just one word to describe them. I couldn't stop staring.

She smiled and flipped her head so her hair swung behind her shoulder. I felt a tingling rush of heat spread through me, and I hoped she couldn't see the sudden red tint coloring my cheeks. She had to be the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen.

I wondered what brought her here. A car accident? No, she was too beautiful for that. Something more personal. Horses. I didn't know how or why I thought it, but there it was. Horse riding accident. She got thrown off the horse. She looked like a horse person. Equestrian, that's what people who ride horses are called.

Her exercises seemed similar to mine. Maybe she was paralyzed too. Her bright smile and enthusiasm for the work made me doubtful.

"Come on, Simon. Last one. You can do it," my therapist tried to use her best cheer-leader voice. I rolled my eyes at her and did the final repetition. Amy patted my shoulder. "Her name's Victoria."

I almost said 'Who?' out loud, but caught myself and just raised an eyebrow in innocence. Amy laughed and pushed my chair to a new location in the therapy gym.

"Stay here. I'll be right back." She left me where I could see the pretty girl, Victoria, without being too obvious about staring at her. I couldn't help myself. Those eyes. I could not turn away from those eyes.

I wondered if she felt fear. Did she see it coming, whatever happened to her? Did she have time to be afraid?

Her therapist helped her put the weights back on the bar rack. Marie patted her shoulder as Amy had patted mine. They talked. The girl, Victoria, smiled up at her therapist. Marie nodded then moves around behind Victoria's chair. She pushed Victoria toward me and parked her a few feet from me. "Don't move," Marie told her.

"Hey." Victoria smiled at me and raised a hand to her hair. I wondered if that was a self conscious gesture.

I just smiled and nodded. I hadn't spoken a word for more than a month. Silently I cursed Amy and Marie, because I knew what they were doing. Well, it wouldn't work. I wouldn't talk to this girl, this beautiful Victoria, either.

"Marie told me you don't talk, so that's cool. But I wanted to talk to you anyway. Is that okay?"

She looked into my eyes and I felt my whole world shift. There simply are not words to describe those eyes. Incredible. Amazing. Unlike anything I have ever seen.

"I'm Victoria. Marie said your name is Simon. It's nice to meet you, Simon." She offered her hand and I just stared at it. I was afraid to touch it, afraid to touch her. After a few seconds, she placed her hand in her lap and looked dejected. I felt like a fool. I should have shook her hand. What harm could there be in shaking her hand?

She must think I'm an idiot. All the better. I'd hate to see her waste her time on me.

"I won't lie to you, Simon. I've been watching you most of the hour we've been in here. I've been asking Marie a lot of questions. Most of them she wouldn't answer, except your name and she told me you don't talk to anyone. She thought maybe you would talk to me, but I told her I wouldn't be used like that. If you talk to me, that's great, but why would I expect that when you don't even know me? But I want you to know, I did see you looking at me too."

I nodded, and looked down at my hands.

"It's the eyes, I know. Everybody always looks at my eyes. Most people are freaked out by them."

I looked up, shook my head. At least it was more than a nod. And I wanted her to know she wasn't a freak because of her eyes.

"It's okay. I'm used to it. My grandmother has eyes like this too."

I wanted to ask her what happened to her, to see if I was anywhere close to right about the horse thing. I didn't want to hear about her grandmother's eyes or how other people reacted to her. I'm not other people and her eyes didn't freak me out. They fascinated me, and held me spell bound.

She smiled and pushed her hand through her hair again. If I could talk to her, I would tell her she had beautiful hair. It's long and full, shiny, and probably soft to touch. I looked down at my hands again when I realized I wanted to find out for myself. I wanted to run my fingers through it.

I wanted to kiss her, and I licked my lips without meaning to.

I forced my mind to shift to something else. Anything else. Think about walking, running, playing the guitar. Anything but Victoria. Don't think of this beautiful, amazing girl beside you. Don't think about her hair or her lips, kissing her. Think about Lucy upstairs in room 527, and Kevin in 519, both of them flat on their backs and hooked up to machines. Both of them in a coma because of the accident. The accident that happened the night they followed me and tried to save me from myself. I don't deserve to be here, in therapy, getting better. I don't deserve to love.

"Simon? Hey, Simon, are you okay?" I felt her hand on my arm, shaking me.

I blinked and looked at her. I nodded. I felt sick. Victoria's hand moved from my arm to my hand. She laced her fingers in mine and squeezed gently. Reassuring me. I felt the sting of tears behind my eyes and looked down, blinked to force the tears back. I did not want to cry in front of her. She already thinks I'm weird. I didn't want to add to that impression.

"It's okay, Simon. It's okay to cry," Victoria whispered. I shook my head. It's not okay to cry. Crying doesn't change things. Crying won't make Lucy and Kevin wake up. Crying won't help at all.

I jerked my hand away from hers and reached up to rub my temples. The throbbing I felt there only increased. Maybe because I could only use one hand, and rubbing temples is a two-handed job. One hand feels off balance or something.

"I wish you could talk to me. Talking helps, you know?"

I wanted to scream at her to leave me alone. I don't want to talk to her or anyone. But those eyes. Those eyes spoke to me and I knew I could trust her. I wanted to trust her. I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to tell her everything. Starting with Josh and my mother's journal. I wanted to tell her about getting drunk and running away. I wanted to tell her about Lucy and Kevin and how they may have both given their life to save mine and I don't deserve it and I don't know how to live like this, paralyzed and alone. I don't want to be alone, but alone is what I deserve.

"But maybe I could talk to you? Maybe that will help you somehow too?" She looked at me as if she expected an answer. I offered a weak, pathetic nod. I nod, I shake my head. That's about it without words.

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End chapter five. Please R/R and let me know what you think. Thanks! Lucky Star (JjsLuckyStar@aol.com)