Breathe In

-24-

-Tori-

"What the heck is that?!" I exclaim in horror as Lena bolted out of the room.

"Why does she have my ring?!" Singh's sister cries in anger.

"Wait, that's her ring? Why the bloody hell did you give it to Lena?! You've ruined everything!"

"HOLD IT!" Singh screeches. "Stop talking, both of you! Obviously, there's been a mistake."

"A mistake that you made when you knew how important this was to me," I remind her furiously.

"Do you really want to play the blame game right now? The quicker we get to the bottom of this, the sooner you can go out and rescue poor Lena."

I roll my eyes. "Whatever. Let's hurry it up, then."

"Thank you. Jiya, you still have not opened one gift. That gift was supposed to be your fiancé's ring, which I had cleaned so it wouldn't be so rusty and disgusting, but somehow it got mixed up with Lena's gift. So if we use our heads and stop screaming at each other, we can conclude that you have Lena's gift and she- obviously- has yours." Singh picks up the hideous ring and hands it to her sister, who in return hands me Lena's gift. "Now that that's sorted out, Tori, go get Lena and fix this."

"You say that like this is my fault," I grumble before racing out the door.

"Lena," I call, frantically searching the grounds. "Lena!"

No reply. Desperately, I search every room, every hallway that we have access to.

It's as if she's gone off and disappeared!

Finally, I stop to take a breath. The halls are completely silent.

Where am I? I've never seen this place before.

I hear a loud sniff and my heads snaps up.

Lena!

Frantically, I search for the source of the sound. After a while, I spot a small door I haven't noticed before which leads to a small secluded court yard.

Opening it, I breath out a sigh of relief.

"There you are."

She looks up and glares. "Please go away."

"Lena, you don't understand-"

"No, you don't understand! I love you and you used me! You said I was 'just a distraction'. And now, you're playing games with me! Giving me a wedding ring when you don't even like me! You're sick, Tori. I never want to see your face again."

I reel back as if slapped. "You were listening to my conversation with Singh? Lena, that was private!"

"Obviously! You should have just told me face to face how you felt instead of leaving me in the dark! I was completely oblivious!"

"Lena, if you had listened longer you would have heard the whole story! Yeah, I did say that. And I thought I meant it at the time, because I was trying to convince myself as much as Singh. And I guess that's because I'm scared! I've never been allowed to feel this way. I grew up believing homosexuality is wrong, and now- well, I don't know! I know I like you. A lot. Which is extremely confusing. But, um, I have your real gift here."

She looks up in confusion. "This isn't my gift?"

I shake my head. "That's Jiya's. The gifts got mixed up when I asked Singh to get your present for me."

"Oh." She sniffs. "Can I open it?"

"Of course." I hand her the wrapped box and slide down on the pavement next to her.

"Oh, my gosh," she gasps, lifting the necklace out of its box. "My abuela's... but it's been destroyed for five years! How did you..."

"I had Singh get the pieces from your house and have them fixed at a jewelers I know."

"It's just like I remember.. thank you so much!"

She wraps her arms around me and I smile.

The necklace is simple, yet intricate. A delicate gold Steere's Pitta raises its wings in flight, its foot clinging onto a small plaque inscribed with the words 'el amor todo lo puede'. It cost a fortune to fix, but it was worth it seeing her face.

"I thought it was gone forever in the fire..." she sobs, clinging on to the little bird charm.

"With good reason, it was crushed to bits."

"Thank you so much," she repeats, wrapping her arms around me. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

I sigh in content and close my eyes, taking full advantage of the hug. Wishing I could stay like this forever. In a few minutes, we'll have to have the talk about us, which I dread more than anything, but, for now, I have her.

And I will do anything in my power to keep it that way.