Beautiful Stranger Ch. 03

The entire way home Michael Sanders replayed the events that had just transpired between him and his best friend. With any luck she would be his girlfriend soon. A smile slowly made its way across his face as he remembered the way her lips felt against his. They were just as soft as he had always imagined, and she was everything he had thought she would be. She was in fact his everything.

He hadn't been lying to her when he told her that he had loved her since he was seven. If he really looked back at his life, he would notice that he had loved Isabelle Jones since they were babies. Both their parents had been in the hospital at the exact same time. They were born two days apart, making him the oldest. He had always made it a point to tell Isabelle that, because it insured that he got his way.

From the day they left the hospital, both of their parents made it their mission to keep in touch. And in turn both of them were automatically friends by association. But it was much more than that. Even at a young age Michael made sure that no harm ever came to Isabelle if it didn't have too. This was extremely difficult due to the fact that her mother was deaf.

That never stopped them from getting into everything, but it did lessen the amount of trouble they got into. They both were taught sign language so that they could communicate with the other. Sometimes when they were at school they would sign so that the other kids didn't know what they were saying. It was their little code that no one was privy too.

It wasn't until he turned seven that all hell had broken loose. The day had started off like any other day. Isabelle had walked to his house and made her way to his bedroom. Michael's parents gave her a warm smile like always as she walked towards his door. Three knocks later and she was still standing outside his room.

"Michael, Open the door."

"Shit...um...just a minute."

The sound of objects falling alarmed her and without waiting for him she opened the door. "Izzie, I said wait," he yelled.

Isabelle's eyes widened at the sight before her, because standing in front of her was her best friend. And he was completely naked. This had never bothered her before but they were older now and this was more embarrassing that looking at half naked pictures of them as kids.

"Sorry...sorry." Closing the door she said, "Did you just swear?"

"God Izzie. You just walked in on my naked and you're worried about me swearing?" Opening the door in a pair of jeans. As a seven year old he was cute as a button. His green eyes were a light shade that matched the color of emeralds and she smiled when she thought of how he always seemed to look at her like she was the only friend he had.

"I said sorry."

"So what's up?"

"Are you serious. Today's the big day."

"So?"

"So? So, that means I'm next."

"Izzie, I'll still be older than you," he laughed.

"But I'll still be smarter," she laughed while dodging his grip.

They fell on the floor in a fit of laughter as they caught their breaths. When they both got up he watched as Isabelle held up her finger in an aha moment and walked out of his room. He wanted to follow her, but if he knew Isabelle she probably had something planned. A few seconds later she walked back into the room with a box the size of her hand.

Smiling he looked up at her and then back at the box, "What is it?"

"Open it crazy."

Ripping the box from her hand he quickly tore at the paper and opened it. Inside he found a medal of St. Christopher. "I saved up my allowance to get it for you. It's supposed to be for safe travel or something," she whispered as she looked down at the ground.

In his hand, Michael held the necklace of St. Christopher. His eyes lifted to find hers on the ground and then they diverted back to the necklace. "I don't understand."

"Well...you guys are going on vacation to someplace far this summer. It's supposed to keep you safe while you're gone."

Looking down at it again he lifted it and slipped it over his head. "I'll never take it off."

Michael's head jerked to the side as he noticed the car beside him was honking its horn. Looking up he noticed that the light had turned green. He had let his thoughts run away with him. It was only three blocks to get to his house so it didn't take long. Walking through the gate he noticed for the first time in years that his father was sitting on the porch instead of in front of the television.

"So you finally told her," he said still rocking.

"Told who what?"

"Don't play with me son," he whispered back.

"Was it that obvious," he said walking towards his father.

"Only since forever," he laughed.

Laughing back he stopped in front of his dad and shook his head, "It doesn't matter. She said she doesn't feel the same way."

"And you believed her?"

Sighing he shook his head again, "No."

"Son, when I met your mother she made it her mission in life to make me miserable. I tried everything to get her to notice me, but nothing ever worked. She turned me down three times before she even went on a date with me."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he laughed as he recalled those days. "After we'd been dating for awhile I asked her to marry me and you know what...she said no. I know I was surprised too. But I didn't give up. Five foiled tries and three cold nights standing outside her room playing corny love songs later she said yes. It was the longest six months of my life."

"Dad. Why are you telling me this now?"

"Because, I'll never get to tell her that I would have waited forever if she made me."

The sad look in his eyes told him exactly what he needed to do. He just hoped it would be enough. Leaning down he hugged his father tightly and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He hadn't talked about his mother since the day she had died, and he wasn't about to let his words of wisdom fall upon deaf ears. Turning around he strode out to his car.

****

I had only begun to set my plan into action. It was something I had seen in my favorite movie. It was classic. I sat at my desk writing down a list of items I would need to pick up from the store. It would take a couple days to finish, plus picking the right place. But if executed correctly it would be amazing.

"Mom, I'm going to the store," I yelled. Before I could say another word I walked straight into my worse nightmare. Sitting in my living room was Michael. He was still in the same clothes. Of course he would be I chastised myself. He had only dropped her off an hour ago. Looking around I saw that my mom was nowhere in sight.

"She went out."

His voice broke my concentration as I was forced to look at him. "Huh?"

Standing up he walked towards me and stopped when he was mere inches from my body. "Your mom. She said she was going out. Her exact words."

"My mom doesn't go out," I said more to myself than to him.

"Well she does now," he laughed.

"Mike, what are you doing here?"

"I came to tell you that I'd stand outside your room in the cold with corny music."

"What?"

"Damn, that came out wrong," he laughed. "What I meant was, that I love you Izzie. Whether you want me to or not. I can't help it. And so if it takes you some time to accept that then fine. But I won't make it easy for you. I won't pretend we're just friends anymore, because we're so much more and you know it."

Opening my mouth I quickly closed it, because I had no words to describe how in awe I was of him. Why couldn't I be that brave? Because you're a coward a voice in my head screamed. "Mike."

"Izzie," he countered.

"I have something to tell you. It's big."

"You can tell me anything, baby."

A shiver ran down my spine as those words settled on my ears. He had just called me baby. An involuntary smile crossed my face as I looked up into those big emerald eyes of his. "What?"

"Nothing," I whispered.

"Well what's this big something as you put it."

"Um...can we go somewhere else?"

"I know just the place."

On the drive, I watched out the window. At least I wasn't going blind. At least I would be able to look at him and see everything I loved about him. That was a small miracle that I could live with. As the car turned onto a dirt road I couldn't help but smile. He was taking me to our spot. No one knew about it but us. It was a field out in the middle of nowhere. There was a barn off in the distance but it looked deserted. We'd walk forever just to get to it, but it was well worth the exercise.

"We haven't been here in awhile," he said breaking through my thoughts. "Not since--," he whispered not finishing his thought.

He parked beside the barn and got out of the car. Once I got out and closed the door he held my hand and we walked inside the barn. For a deserted barn it wasn't too bad. There were stalls on one end and a makeshift room on the other that looked like it was used for an office.

He led me into the room and closed the door. "So talk."

"Talk. Okay. Talk."

"Izzie," he whispered pulling me into his embrace. "Just say it. Don't think about it."

Closing my eyes I took a deep breath and opened my mouth, "I—"

"Shit."

The sound of ringing cut me off. I looked down at the source as Michael quickly fished it out of his pocket and looked at the caller id. Unknown. His eyes darted up to me and I saw a new look in his eyes. I stepped back and watched as he shoved his phone back into his pocket. Seconds later it stopped.

"That could have been important."

"It wasn't," he said slowly.

"Oh. Who was it?"

"No one."

Letting out a laugh, I said, "Well it sounds like no one is very persistent."

It wasn't until then that he realized his phone had gone off again. Only this time he didn't take it out of his pocket. Instead he was content to let it ring. "I don't need to answer it. I'm here with you and that's all I care about right now."

"Mike, just answer it. It looks like they aren't going to give up until they reach you."

Swearing under his breath he jerked the phone out of his pocket and pressed a button, "What!"

After a few seconds all the color drained in his face, "What?"

I watched intently as his eyes flashed up to mine and looked away. Then without saying a word to me he walked towards the door of the office, opened it, and walked out. He had left me standing all alone with nothing but my thoughts. A few minutes later he walked back into the room looking as if someone had knocked the wind out of him. "We need to go."

"Why," I asked standing up from the chair I had found.

"My dad's had a heart attack."

"Oh my god. Let's go."

The drive back into town was a long one. The entire way neither of us said anything. Mostly because this was like déjà vu. It had been eleven years since his mom had died. And now he feared that the very same thing was happening all over again. That day had been the worst, because it was supposed to be his day. So instead of blowing out candles on his birthday, he got to say goodbye to his mother.

The car screeched to a halt in front of the emergency entrance. He didn't even wait for it to stop completely before he ran inside with me following closely behind him.

"Jonathan Sanders?"

"Are you his son?"

"Yes ma'am. Is he okay?"

Looking down at her clipboard the nurse frowned and quietly said, "You'll have to wait until the doctor comes out."

"But you could just tell me."

"Sir, I can't. If you can just have a seat and the doctor will be out shortly."

"But—"

"Michael, let's just come over here and sit down."

I could see the pain in his eyes and it broke my heart. I couldn't possibly tell him now. Not when his father's life was hanging in the balance. I could wait a little bit longer. Half an hour passed before the doctor finally came out. The nurse pointed towards us and nodded her head.

"Michael, my name is Dr. Drake Williams." Pausing to see I was there he cleared his throat and continued. "If I can just talk to you alone for a moment."

"Whatever you have to say you can say in front of her."

Pausing again the doctor nodded and went on to say, "You're father had a massive coronary. We were able to stabilize him long enough for him to give us some information. However...he suffered another attack shortly after. I'm sorry, but his heart couldn't take the second attack so close after he had his first one."

"No."

"He died a few minutes ago."

"No no no no no."

"Son—"

"Don't call me that!"

Clearing his throat he looked toward me and pleaded for me to take him outside. "Mikey, lets go get something to drink or maybe some fresh air."

"You! It's your fault," he screamed at me.

"What?"

"If I hadn't been so wrapped up in you and stayed closer to home he'd be alive."

"Michael," the doctor interjected, "his heart was badly damaged. This attack was inevitable and nothing anyone could have done could have stopped it."

"But I could have been there. I—I wasn't there for him either," he cried. Turning towards me he said, "I could have forgiven you for the first time...but...but"

A tear slid down my cheek as I realized what he was saying. I had taken him away the day his mother died too. I told him it would just be for a few seconds, but time got away from us and before we knew it the sun had gone down. When he didn't come back home, his mother had gone to look for us. It wasn't until he came home an hour later that he found out her car was struck by a drunk driver. She had died on impact.

"Mikey—"

"Don't fucking call me that. Don't even look at me."

"But you said you loved me," I said meekly.

"Love you? I fucking can't stand to look at you right now."

"You don't mean that," I gasped.

"As far as I'm concerned, Isabelle Jones...you're dead to me," he yelled. "Dead!"

Tears coursed down my cheeks as the words washed over me. Nodding my head I whispered my apologies and walked as fast as I could to the exit. Once I had walked a block I broke down and cried.

I cried because those words would be the last ones I ever heard him speak.