Sapphire Eyes ~ 10 Chapter Challenge

Protective-Dependent ~ Mirna

"That's it, on the right there," I say.

"That huge brick thing?" Deb leans close to her window, and I get this funny mental image of her nose pressed to the glass like a kid peering through the window of a pet shop.

"Yep. I thought the same thing when I saw it."

The car glides up the driveway and comes to a smooth stop under the basketball hoop. "Please don't take too long," Deb says. "The meeting starts in thirty minutes."

"Right," I mutter, then I push my door open and get out. Nessa takes her spot at my side as I walk up the long driveway.

The doorbell sounds like those Westmister chimes, or whatever they're called. I fidget uncomfortably while I wait, finally jutting my thumbs through my belt loops; the door opens to reveal Kaden, who gapes at me, eyes wide and wandering. "Hey, Mirna. What's up?" He flattens his hair against his forehead, but his hair curls back up as soon as he lets go. I can't help but stare at the curved row of stitches on his chin.

Nessa approaches him, staring up with her cute doggie grin. Kaden drops to his knees and gives Nessa a big hug. "Hi Nessa!" She licks his face, and he smiles big. Then he touches her red service dog harness and says, "Why is she wearing this?"

"It's her uniform," I explain. "She's a service dog."

Kaden raises his eyebrows at that.

"How are you today?" I ask.

"I—am—great." He stands and leans against the door. The dimples show on his cheeks.

"Really?" I ask. He nods, two quick head bobs. Oh my gosh, he actually has a personality underneath his poor me attitude. "That's great, Kaden!"

"I just might make it one whole day," he says.

Amazing. One day without a seizure is like the best gift in the world to him. "Oh, forget the might. You will make it."

"I will?" He furrows his eyebrows.

"Come on, Kaden. You gotta say it like you mean it."

He searches my eyes, tilts his head, and raises his eyebrows. "Okay ... I will."

"So, um ..." I fidget with my hair. "I was wondering—well I go to this ... group. It's for people with epilepsy and I was wondering, well, hoping you would come."

Kaden grimaces and stares over my shoulder. "I dunno."

I sigh. For some reason I wasn't expecting to have to talk him into it. "Oh, come on. Why not?"

Kaden flicks his eyes down and heaves a sigh. "I don't..." He closes his eyes and inhales. "You wanna try talking Logan into coming, then yeah." He looks up. "I'll come with you."

He doesn't want to go without Logan? It wouldn't surprise me one little bit if Logan hates it when someone tells him what to do.

"I'll do my best," I say.

Kaden smiles. He does want to come; he just doesn't want to go alone. I can convince Logan to come, piece of cake, right? Kaden backs up through the doorway and Nessa follows him in. Coming in this way, I can see that they have a swimming pool in the back yard. Holy spoiled rich.

I slide over so Kaden can shut the door. He starts across the big room to the kitchen. Logan's putting dishes in the dishwasher. "Hey, Mirna's here," Kaden says.

Logan turns toward us. He checks me out too, but he's better at being subtle about it. "Hey, you're early," he says as he glances down at his watch.

I walk around Kaden and step up to Logan. "Yeah, I can't stay either." I take a big breath. "I completely forgot; I have a group meeting tonight I gotta go to."

"Group?" Logan raises an eyebrow.

"Support group ... For people with epilepsy."

Logan's eyebrows jump, and he looks away. I can practically see his brain working, realizing what that means about me. Not the most sensitive way to tell him, I realize. "Well that sucks," he says finally.

It sucks that we can't hang out tonight, or it sucks that I have epilepsy? "Yeah, sorry," I say. Why did I say that, like I'm sorry for who I am? I turn back around to Kaden. "So, you decide if you're going to come?"

Kaden gapes at me, gazes over my shoulder at Logan, then furrows his brows at me. Come on, Kaden, help me out here! I lean forward and raise my eyebrows at him, tilt my head just a little bit.

"Uh ... Yeah, just let me go ask my mom. I'll be right back." Kaden turns and jogs lazily across the big room toward the hallway. Nessa follows him, and I can't help but let out a laugh.

I glance back at Logan. He has his hands in his pockets with his eyes staring off after Kaden. I inch my way over into his line of sight, but I don't look at him.

"So, group, huh?" Logan says. I imagine he really means, So, epilepsy, huh?

"Yeah, it's so awesome. Everyone there ... They really get it, you know? I'm so glad Kaden wants to come. It'll be really good for him."

"Really?" he asks.

I nod. "...You know, it's not just for people with epilepsy. Half the group is support people."

"Huh ... I guess ... I might as well come, then?"

I smile with relief. I was right, piece of cake. "I know you won't regret it. I'm telling you, everyone there is so awesome."

"Well, this way we can still hang out, right? Anyway, Kaden doesn't go out without me."

Again with the protective-dependent relationship. Daily seizures or not, Kaden can't keep living like this. You can barely even call it living the way he depends on Logan and has to get permission to do anything. Now I wish I hadn't talked Logan into coming. Group is the last place where Kaden needs a protector. Going alone would be Kaden's perfect baby step toward independence.

Suddenly I realize what he just said. This way we can still hang out. He wants to hang out! I smile at him, and he smiles back, completely comfortable with this, with me. It's almost too good to be true.

"Can I ask you a question?" Logan asks.

I hang my head. "You wanna know why I didn't say anything yesterday, don't you?"

Logan shrugs. "Doesn't it seem crazy to you?"

"You can call it fate all you want, but I say it's just bad luck."

Logan sort of laughs. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I almost did," I lie. "But you had your hands full, you know, and then I had to go home so quickly."

Kaden comes back into the kitchen. "Mom says I can go if you come." He points at Logan.

Logan holds his arms out. "I already said I would."

"Good," I say as I check my watch. "We have twenty-five minutes. Let's go." I turn back and lead the way to the door.

Deb spots us and gets out of the car. "Hi!" She holds out her hand for Logan. "I'm Deb."

"I'm Logan." He doesn't do the wacky handshake with Deb, which makes me laugh under my breath.

Deb switches to Kaden's hand, her eyes gleaming when she realizes who he is. "Thanks for joining us."

Kaden's eyes flash with recognition, but he doesn'tmiss a beat. "Thanks for having us."