The Only One For Me

15 | Help Me, I think I’m Falling

“I need to let my grandma know that I’m okay and I need pick up my spare tire from home and then get my car back.”, I told Drew, who was standing by the fireplace holding the phone trying to call the operator to make an outside call. It’s considered an outside call because it’s going to go out of the Doctors’ Compound. He says something to the operator and then proceeds to dial something on the phone and then he hands me the phone, I take it and after a few seconds I hear Natalie on the other line, “Hello, if you’re calling for Annie, she’s not here right now.”. “Nat! It’s actually me, I didn’t get to go to school, I got a flat tire, I fell, I got hurt but I’m okay now, I’m at a…”, I looked at Drew looking at me, what are we? Are we like together or are we just friends who kiss? “I’m with my, friend.”, Drew looked away, was that a hurt look? “Why would you go to school? School’s been cancelled because of the storm, there’s also a snowstorm forecast, don’t you read the school bulletin? What a loser! *laughs*”. Oh my gosh, that’s why Drew is at home.

Realization sunk in, there’s a storm and it was leading to a snowstorm, “I didn’t get a chance to read anything, I thought I was late, I took “the road” and stuff happened along the way, but I’m okay now, would you let Grams know I’m okay?”, I told Nat. “You forgot she left for Oasis Springs yesterday afternoon? She won’t be back in 2 weeks, right?”, she replied, that’s right, I forgot about that, “Oh right, I’m so sorry, I just have a lot of things on my mind lately, with ballet and academics and the socials coming up, ugh, I’m just so tired, I’m going to try and come home as soon as I can.”, I informed her, she responded with, “You’re actually better off staying the night over your friend’s house because the storm is really bad and if you get caught in the snowstorm you can literally get trapped and die, so just stay where you are, I can call Grams and let her call your friend’s parents or whatever if you like.”, “No it’s fine, I guess I can ask them myself. Did anybody call for me? My phone died and I don’t have a charger with me.”, “Of course you don’t, you really should learn from this and be more prepared next time, honestly, this stuff only happens to you. Kaye, Nora and Carly have called like 5 times each, I keep telling them you’re not home, but because of the storm, they don’t believe me and they just think I’m hogging the phone, like I would ever. *hmph*”, she says, I respond with, “I’m really sorry, Nat, I’m going to find a way to charge my phone and get back to them, will you be okay until I can get home?”, “Don’t worry about me, the fridge is stocked and Maggie is here, Grams wouldn’t leave us alone, you know that.”, she’s right. “Okay, I’ll charge my phone and keep you posted. Love you.”, “Love you too, Loser.”, *beep* she hung up so I did too. I handed the phone back to Drew, he finally looks at me again, he looks so darn good. “I need to go.”, I said, he furrows his brows and says, “Go? Go where? In this weather? How?”, he raises an eyebrow as if I’m dumb, “I need to go home, I can just run, well, hobble, my way back to my car, after I call a tow truck and they can take me home.”, I say to him, I bit my lower lip gently as I wait for him to respond to what I just said. “Oh God, don’t do the lip thing.”, he says, he closes his eyes, he puts his thumb and pointer finger on the temples of his head as if to massage it and prevent a headache, I stopped biting my lip, he swiftly but gently pushes me back towards the chair as his lips touched mine again. He kisses me softly but hungrily this time, more aggressive, it took me by surprise and this time, I kiss him back but timidly, more controlled, I wanted to let him feel that I liked it but that I’m not as eager, he stopped abruptly, “I’m so sorry, just don’t do the lip thing and I won’t do that again.”, I had the urge to bite my lip but resisted the urge, so instead I pressed my lips together and covered myself better with the robe. There, not sexy or anything. He turned his back to me as if trying to compose himself, I just sat there, watching him. “I’m going to get you a cup of tea.”, and he leaves the room.

It felt like I was in that room forever, but in truth, it’s only been 15 minutes, Liz came back with my clothes in hand, right, I’m still naked, she handed me my clothes, “I can’t sew clothes so there’s still a huge hole on your jeans from where your knee got hurt but other than that, your clothes are okay and they are clean and warm straight from the dryer.”, I took the clothes from her, “Thanks so much for this, you didn’t have to help me.”, I said. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll be sending you a bill for my services.”, she says, so I said, “Oh absolutely, no worries, I can definitely pay for that, but still thanks so much.”. “I’m kidding, Annie! It’s fine, you’re so welcome!”, she chuckled so I chuckled too, Drew then walks back into the room with a tray, on the tray were 3 teacups on a saucer with a small container for what looked like cream and honey, 3 teaspoons and a plate filled with pastries, there were croissants, tea cakes and chocolate chip cookies, he set it down on the coffee table, poured some tea on one of the teacups, added a dollop of cream and a swirl of honey, gave it a little stir and then handed it to me, I was about to take it when Liz took it and said, “You should probably put on your clothes first, there’s a bathroom down the hallway, just go straight and the door on the right is the bathroom, you can shower, towels are in the bottom drawer of the bathroom counter and there are spare toothbrushes in the top drawer of the counter, our Dad’s a dentist.”, I nodded in acknowledgment and stood up, I felt a little light headed but I recovered quickly, my left knee started to throb more fiercely but it’s not as painful as it was, it’s just uncomfortable, I shifted my weight onto my right leg, the leg that’s still perfect and started to limp my way to the bathroom, slowly, one limp at a time, I made it to the bathroom, I closed the door behind me, I turned on the shower, I removed the robe and the towel holding my hair and jumped into the shower. The shower felt so good, my bandages were waterproof so my wounds wouldn’t get wet. I put shampoo on my hair, rinsed it out and then proceeded to soap my body, it felt so good to remove the sticky rain water off of my body. After showering, I towel dried my body, wrapped my hair in a new, dry towel and put on my clothes. I stepped out of the shower, brushed my teeth and with wet towels in hand, I made my way back into the living room. One. Limp. At. A. Time.

Drew and Liz were talking and laughing, Drew saw me so he stood up and he took the towels from me and excused himself, Liz asked me to take a chair and offered me tea and pastries, I took the tea, added a dollop of honey and a splash of cream, I stirred it with the teaspoon, set the teaspoon aside and took a sip. This is the best tea I’ve ever had in my life. Oh my gosh. I literally almost gulped the whole entire cup of tea but I managed to compose myself and stopped halfway, I took a chocolate chip cookie and nibbled on it. Drew came back in time carrying a medium sized fleece blanket and he made his way around the couch where I was and wrapped the blanket around my shoulders, “Here, keep yourself warm, you don’t want to catch a nasty cold.”. “Oh yeah, thanks.”, I answered, I could already feel my face burning red because I was embarrassed and thrilled at the same time and I could see Liz through my peripheral vision and she had a mischievous looking smile on her lips and that made me even more embarrassed. Drew sat next to Liz, he refilled his cup of tea, added a dollop of honey and a splash of cream to his tea and stirred it with the teaspoon. Liz, still with the mischievous smile says, “Interesting.”, Drew looks at her as he’s about to sip on his tea and just before taking a sip he says, “What is?”, he sips the tea. Liz then looks at me then looks at Drew, still with her mischievous smile, raising one eyebrow and says, “Oh nothing, I just find it interesting how you guys prefer your tea the same exact way, I’ve never seen anything like that before.”. Drew looks at me as he sips his tea, I felt my cheeks burning red, scratch that, I just know my whole entire face is red now. I looked away, tried to focus on the fire in the fireplace and he says, “That is interesting.”, and he continues to sip his drink.

We sat there for a while having cup after cup of tea and just talking, getting to know each other, the tea is, I later on found out, was called Golden Monkey Tea and that their parents love this so much that they only get this specific type of tea and that they import it from China, even if they can get it locally, they say it tastes different so they get it straight from China. I could understand why, it really tasted so good, not at all earthy, which is what I don’t like about tea, I still prefer coffee but I wouldn’t mind having this tea instead. I found more about Drew having tea with him and his sister than I ever did from knowing him from school, we’ve been in school together for 2 years, he only transferred here from Del Sol Valley. I learned that aside from Liz, he has other siblings, he’s the 3rd child, so they have an older brother who is a lawyer, David, 25, he still lives and works in Del Sol Valley, and then Liz, 21, who is a doctor and is currently a resident at Midtown Meadows Hospital, and then Drew, 17, and then they have another sister, Lily, 12, who is in middle school but still lives in Del Sol Valley with their older brother as their parents go back and forth between here, Newcrest and Del Sol Valley.

Their parents are famous in Del Sol Valley, their mom is a dermatologist and their dad is a dentist and most of their clients are famous actors and celebrities. They’ve lived in Del Sol Valley for most of their lives but now that they’re approaching their golden years, as they are nearing their 60s, the usual retiring age, they’ve decided to retire to our quiet little neighborhood but they can’t just quit and leave their clients so for now, half of the year they spend in D.S. V. and the other half in Newcrest. Drew and Liz want to withdraw from the spotlight of having famous parents so they decided to settle in Newcrest but since David is a lawyer, he’s settled in D.S.V. and doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere, as for Lily, she’s almost a teenager, so she’s where her friends are.

“Didn’t we already meet at the hospital like a year ago or something?”, Liz asks me, I think long and hard, looking at her face, trying to recall what she was saying and after a few minutes, I realized it, she looked so much younger then, so I said, “Ah that’s right! I was there to see Dr Montgomery, my mom insisted I see her. Your hair was longer then.”. “Oh I love, Addison, I mean Dr Montgomery, she’s super friendly and good to the staff.”, Liz says.

Since we were telling stories and getting to know each other, I talked about my Grams raising my sister and I and how my mom and dad have been divorced and moved on from each other and I talked about ballet and school and my friends. Carly. Carly is one of my best friends. What would she think if she knew where I was right now? What would she do if she found out Drew and I kissed. I looked at Drew, as if trying to read his mind, he looked like he’s definitely not thinking about Carly, but then, the ‘what ifs’ have taken over my mind and even though Liz was so friendly and welcoming, I have this gross feeling, like I feel gross and I feel terrible. It’s guilt. I feel guilty.

My Grams did finally call and she spoke to Liz and they exchanged pleasantries and they decided I should stay put, at least until the weather improved and I could get to my car and have the tire changed, that’s in 2-3 days, depending on how bad the storm was going to be. After speaking to my grandma, Liz then showed me to one of the guest bedrooms, their parents have also been informed of my situation and have been so kind and have instructed both Drew and Liz to make sure I’m comfortable during my stay. The guest bedroom they put me in was at the end of the hall of the 2nd floor, it was right between the master’s bedroom and another guest bedroom. Drew’s and his siblings’ rooms were in the 3rd floor. Great, we’re not on the same floor, we won’t have to bump into each other. Liz showed me the bathroom and where everything was, shampoo and soap, toothpaste and a toothbrush, towels, bath robes, bedroom slippers, plugs, she also said that this room can be cold, so she gave me an extra blanket on top of the already cozy looking queen sized bed with a duvet and fluffy pillows, it looked like a room from a fancy hotel. It reminded me a lot of the rooms from one of Carly’s hotels. Guilt. Liz also gave me clothes I could change into, 2 pairs of flannel pajamas, and she gave me disposable underwear but also gave me disposable underwear liners if I preferred that and I absolutely did, I could just hand wash my underwear and blow dry it if I needed to. She gave me some time to myself and told me that they’d call me when it was dinner time. I took this time to nap. I got under the duvet and my head hit the pillow and I was asleep.

I felt so rested when I woke up from my nap, but when I looked at my watch, I was only asleep for 2 hours. What a comfortable bed. I stretched and thought about the day I’ve had so far. I got up off the bed and decided to brush my teeth. I went to the bathroom, turned on the light and saw myself in the mirror, my hair was a mess, I tried to smooth it out as best I can with my hand, deciding that it was the best I can do, I left it alone, wavy and poofy, I brushed my teeth and quickly washed my face, I dried it with the nearby face towel and checked out the guest room since I didn’t get to it earlier because I felt so tired and sleepy. There was a stack of books on one of the bed side tables, I checked it out, the titles read, Guide to Meditation by A.D. Braxton, Health Digest’s Easy, Energizing Yoga Poses, Tales from Notting Hill by Julia Grant, Actually, Love by Hugh Roberts. A decent collection of coffee table books. The room had thick curtains, I pushed it a little bit to the side and saw that it was raining stronger than it was earlier and the wind was so strong but the curtains were so thick that it blocked out the light and sound from outside. The rain was a steady, strong downpour now, destructive but mesmerizing nonetheless. I was lost in my thoughts when I heard a soft knock on the door, so I made my way to the door and opened it. It was Drew, I felt my heart literally skip a beat. Oh my gosh, why is he so cute. No, no, no. Chicks before Pricks. Carly is my best friend. He’s Carly’s ex!!! It felt like I had a rock at the bottom of my gut, it’s my guts telling me what I’m feeling is oh so very wrong. Get a grip, Annie. Stop. He’s not worth more than Carly. Is he not though? It felt like we were standing there forever, just looking at each other’s eyes until he finally broke eye contact, he put his hand on the side of my face and caressed my cheek with his thumb. I closed my eyes and leaned my face into his hand. I felt his lips on mine, he kissed me but it was just a little peck. No saliva, no tongue but this felt more loving. I opened my eyes and sighed. He sighed too. He let go of my face and he finally said something, “Hungry? Come, let’s get some real food in your system.”, he grabbed my hand and led me downstairs to the dining room. Liz was already seating on her place at the table. There were only 3 plates set on the table. Drew guided me into the place in front of Liz and then he sat next to me. Their butler put soup in front of me and Liz said, “Please, enjoy, you must be starving! I didn’t even go through what you did but I’m starving!”, she chuckles, “I am actually kind of hungry.”, I said, chuckling as well. I ate my soup with gusto, it was chicken and mushroom soup, one of the best I’ve had, it was creamy and savory but not salty. Then we were served roast beef with mashed potatoes and grilled, lightly buttered vegetables. “Oh my gosh, this is so good.”, I said about everything that was served, for dessert, we had a chocolate lava cake, the cake was moist and rich and the chocolate lava was smooth, thick and bitter sweet, it was absolutely divine. “Thanks so much for that amazing dinner!”, I said to Liz and Drew, “You’re so welcome and I’m glad you liked it.”, Liz replied. Drew just squeezed my hand. “Thanks, Patrick.”, I said to their butler as he cleared my dishes away and he just smiled at me.

After dinner, Liz, Drew and I went back into the loving room and we played Monopoly, Liz won but Drew and I were at a draw because we owed the bank money and our properties were mortgaged. At around 1AM, Liz decided that we should go to bed and I agreed because I was actually really sleepy. Liz and Drew walked me to the guest room, Liz made sure that the windows in my room were locked and that my bed was warm enough and had some drinking water taken to my room then they left me and I went into the bathroom to freshen up and brush my teeth, I put my hair in a bun and got ready for bed.

As I lay in bed, I thought about the crazy day I’ve had and then I prayed, Lord, please help me, I don’t know why I feel this way, but I know it’s wrong, please help me to stop feeling this way about Drew! But thank you for literally letting them rescue me. Then I drifted off to sleep as I tried to listen for sounds outside.