Date Night
Hey, Ready for ‘date night?’
Her hazel eyes smile down at the text message she just received. And then she replied with one quickly before her teacher caught her.
Date night was her favorite night of the week, every Friday night her and her best friend/sort of boyfriend, Nick. No matter where in the world he was he always called her and they sat down to watch the same movie and have a nice conversation over dinner.
And she did mean wherever in the world he was. He was on tour and she always lost track of which city, which state, which country. All that really mattered was that no matter what they had that special time each week.
That’s actually why they didn’t date. Because he was on tour and she didn’t want the long distance relationship if she could get away with it. Especially since he had been working, on tour and other things for the past two years.
Slyly she sends him a little text back with only a smiley face. Knowing he’ll understand, he understands everything about her in that way. She feels her phone vibrate in her pocket again and pulls it out without thinking.
His response is just as cute as hers was it was a little heart <3 and she almost says awe aloud before remembering where she is. She just sends him a little heart <3 back and then slips her phone back into her pocket, hoping it won’t vibrate for another three minutes.
That’s how much longer she was in class three minutes. The thought brings his song to mind and she grins widely singing it in her head. Suddenly she is startled from her thoughts as someone throws something at her head.
Without turning she could tell who it was, Adam, the cutest boy in school, he was nothing compared to Nick though, and she knew that Adam was going to ask her, just like he did every Friday, if she wanted to catch a movie that night. And just like every Friday she was going to tell him the exact same thing. She has a date with a real man.
He would laugh and mutter something along the lines of f.a.g.g.o.t. and then brush past her, shoving her brutally with his shoulder. She was used to it and she had grown to get used to it. Adam was a childish boy, that’s one of the things that she liked so much about Nick he didn’t play games like all the other boys did.
The bell rang and she sprang from her seat, knowing that is she wasn’t outside within ten minutes her older brother would most likely leave her, he used to leave her everywhere because she was a lot slower than he was. That is until she paid him to wait for ten minutes everywhere, because most places she had been with Nick and hadn’t wanted to leave. Now he only gave her those ten minutes on Friday’s knowing what Adam would do and how long it would take her to get rid of him.
“So Nat.”
She didn’t like that nickname. In fact he knew that she didn’t like it and that was slightly odd because normally he wouldn’t do something she didn’t like until after she turned him down.
“I hear your little girlfriend is coming back to town soon. So how is Nicky doing?”
“Nick and I’ll ask him tonight on our date.”
She hated to be mean but he deserved it. So when he brushed past her and she felt something sharp jab into her stomach she was shocked. Her eyes looked down and she spotted weapon he just used against her. It was a letter opener and it was sticking out of her stomach. Without a second thought she took out her phone and dialed Nick’s number, crumpling to the floor.
“Natalie. What’s wrong it’s still a few hours til date night?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too. Natalie… Natalie? NATALIE!”
It’s not that she didn’t want to answer him, she couldn’t having passed out. He grabbed his brother’s phone from his hands and dialed the schools number demanding that someone find her because something had happened. And when they did he could hear the fear and shock in their voice.
Her eyes opened slowly and she looked around at the white walls trying to figure out where she is. She lifts a hand and spots an iv in her arm and her breathing becomes deeper. She feels someone grab her other hand and turns only to stop breathing for a second spotting him sitting there.
“Nick… But what about the tour?”
He just shakes his head and holds her hand tighter caressing the webbing between her thumb and forefinger with his own thumb. He thought he had lost her the day before when he had arrived and the doctors told him that she was still in surgery because of so much bleeding. But here she was talking to him, looking at him, being alive with him.
“I thought I lost you.”
“You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
Her joke was weak and followed by a fit of coughing that brought nurses running. They rushed him from the room, trying to figure out what was wrong as doctors enter the room also. He hears a beeping noise that he never wanted to hear coming from her room, and watches as the doctors do everything that they can to save her.
Her lips manage to form three last words, which he saw through the window. I love you. Realizing that she knew what was going to happen he broke down in tears. Hearing shouts from inside the room.
A doctor emerges and places his hand on Nick’s shoulder causing the curly haired boy to look up. The words aren’t what Nick was expecting. He was expecting them to tell him that the girl he loved had just died while he sat and watched. But the doctor is smiling and says she’s stronger than they all thought and that her irregular heartbeat might have something to do with the curly haired boy himself.
He walked into her room smiling as the tears continued to fall and spotting her smile his grew. He walked over and grabbed her hand again not knowing what else to do and before he could even open his mouth she spoke.
“I told you, you can’t get rid of me that easily.”
He laughed slightly and so did she as she stared her hazel eyes straight into his. He leaned his head down and touched their lips ever so softly, causing the heart rate on the monitor to beat erratically. They both laughed as they pulled apart and she took that chance to point something out.
“We missed date night.”
