Saving Me

A Kiss

Chapter 10

"It's beautiful out here at night." Ashley says as we walk the trail. I turn and look at her, letting a small smile escape my lips. I'd been thinking the exact same thing. There are a bunch of flood lights along the path lighting it up.

"Why'd you hate me so much when I got here?" I ask suddenly.

"I didn't hate you." I stop walking and turn to look at her. She clearly hated me. There's no use denying it. "Okay, so maybe I hated you a little bit." She smiles.

"Why?" I question, as we start back walking.

"It isn't anything you did. It isn't even your fault really. You just..." She pauses and looks at me. "You just happen to now occupy the bed that my ex-girlfriend used to sleep in." She tells me. I take a moment to process the information, making sure I don't say the wrong thing.

"I'm sleeping in Sarah's bed?" I breathe out—not knowing that fact before this moment. Now I see why she hated me so much when I got here. I was occupying a bed that once belonged to the girl she loves.

She nods. "Yeah. She was adopted." She sighs before continuing. "They were a really nice family. They lost their daughter when she was four. They'd been wanting to adopt for years but said they hadn't found the right girl. They instantly fell in love with Sarah." She stops as we approach a bench and both take a seat. "She's real easy to love." She adds.

"How long were you two together?" I ask, turning to look at her.

"Three years." She turns to me and says. "But we'd been friends since we got roomed together about five years ago. She was nine when she got here and I was ten." She tells me, looking down.

"Could she come visit?" I ask.

She turns at looks out at the pond. "No." She shakes her head. "The family that she lives with, they stay in Texas."

"Oh." I breathe out. I really feel bad for Ashley. Falling in love is hard enough without having to deal with losing the one you love. Trust me, I would know.

"It's hard..." She pauses and I look at her as we take a seat on a bench. "You know... being here without her. Living without her." She tells me without looking at me.

"Is that why you cry all the time, cause you miss her?"

"More or less." She turns to me. "It's like..." She trails off and looks past me, almost as if she's looking though me. "Before you got here." She pauses again as if she's trying to find the right words in her head to convey what she's feeling right now but she's having a difficult time.

"I'm not trying to replace Sarah with your friends, Ashley." I tell her and she sighs. I guess I hit the nail on the head.

"It's not that, so much."

"Then what is it?" I ask as she continues to stare though me.

"I'm forgetting." She breathes out. I'm not sure what she means, but the look on her face is not one of solace.

"Forgetting what?" I ask. She sighs and turns her body away from me to face the trees in front of us.

"Her." She says simply.

"I don't think I-"

"I promised her I wouldn't forget her." She cuts me off. Finally turning her attention to me. "I promised her I wouldn't but here I am... forgetting her." I purse my lips not knowing exactly what to say in this moment, Ashley and I are starting to get to know each other and I don't want to say the wrong thing to mess it up.

"I'm sure you're not doing any of this on purpose." Slips out of my mouth. She stares at me intently before her lips curl up into a small smile.

"You're a peculiar one, Spencer. You know that?" She turns back away from me, smile still playing at her lips.