A Dream, A Destiny

That's what friends are for

Lowering my arm near to my hips while gazing at him. "Ash, no offence but- you have friends. Lots of them. Why would you choose to talk to me over them? That doesn't make any sense." I spread my arms wide open in front of him as I slightly leaned forward. "I mean, you barely know me."

He nodded in acceptance and waved a finger in the air then rests on his lap "Good argument. But you're the only person at this school who knows about the- aneurysm."

He whispered the last word, which I thought was rather cute.

I raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Really? You haven't told any of your friends? Don't you think they'd be more help to you than I am?" I questioned curiously.

Ash shot me a cute grin, lifting his lips a little that gave me a slight view of his white teeth. "I don't see any of my friends cooling down my forehead. What do you think they'd do if I told them I was sick?" he said.

I simply shrugged. "I have no idea," I replied, even though I could imagine. People like Calem, Misty and Miette weren't exactly known for their sympathetic natures.

Ash scooted closer to me so that my leg was pressed against his. The concept of personal space is lost on this one. Still, it felt nice, which bothered me.

"Yeah you do," he said softly. "Calem would be dumb about it. Miette would treat me like fragile goods. Misty would tell everyone. I don't want that. It's not gonna help."

I nodded when he finished his words, totally understanding where he was coming from. They'd think he was different because he was sick and they'd treat him differently. That's why he came to me, I realized, because at Vanville, I was different.

Ash lowered his head down, staring unblinkingly at his fingerless hand. A brooding expression flitting across his face. "They're good people, but they wouldn't understand," he continued slowly, sounding as if he'd just grasped that.

I felt sorry for him. When you knew that your best friends wouldn't be able to understand what you were going through, that just wasn't a good place to be at all.

I wished I could do something to make him feel better, to wipe that sad, dejected look off his face.

But all I could say was, "So why'd you come to me?"

Wrinkling his nose, he looked at me. "You didn't look at me weird when I told you yesterday. You're not looking at me weird now." He sighed and looked away into a empty space, hiding his face from me. "I know it's odd that you're the first person I ran to especially since I never talked to you before."

I nodded. "Yeah, it kinda is," I agreed. Still, there could be a logical reason this was happening... Impulsively I asked, "Do you believe in destiny?"

A grin tugged at the corner of Ash's mouth as he looked at me again, still holding the compress to his head. It was more better than five minutes ago.

"Nope. I think it's a ploy used by card manufacturers to sell lots of Valentine cards."

"Oh." My face softens.

As if he knew what I was thinking. he put a hand on my knee. again! and said, "I may not believe in destiny and things happening for a reason, but I really need a friend right now." He gave me a shy look which almost made me melt into a fangirly puddle on the floor. "You wanna be my friend?"

Instantly nodded and answered. "Sure."

Ash grinned widely. bumped against me with his blue jacket by shoulder. "Thanks," he whispered.

"No problem," I whispered back to him with a smile.

We sat in companionable silence for several minutes, not talking one another before Ash turned to me. "You ever watch 'The Bucket List'?" he asked, randomly enough.