Safer This Way

Chapter 14

Psh, you thought I'd make you wait :) Apologies for any mistakes, this was not edited at all.

Happy reading!

*Sang*

It's official, I've lost my mind. That's the only explanation I can find as to how Henry O'Malley could possibly be standing in front of me right now.

"Sang? Holy shit, it is you!" Looking entirely floored, the boy who was my best friend once upon a time, now a man, flashes a brilliant smile at me.

"H-henry?" There's a strong possibility that I've made a mistake in not denying my identity, but I'm so shocked right now that it doesn't matter.

His eyes light up when I acknowledge him, and he steps forward to wrap me in the tightest hug ever, the old familiarity of his touch keeping me from flying back to the men's room. Instead, for the first time in a long time, I relax entirely into someone else's touch, laying my head on his muscled chest which in turn causes his arms to tighten even further.

"Oh my god, Sang. I thought I would never see you again after your family up and left town. It was like you'd disappeared without a trace. Holy shit," he whispers into my ear, voice full of the very same disbelief I'm feeling at the moment. "And to find you at a high school football game of all places. Jesus."

A nearly joyous giggle bubbles up from inside when he continues to mutter expletives over and over. "I missed you too, Henry," I whisper, so quietly that I would think he didn't hear if not for the deep breath he takes, and the head now pressed shakily into my neck.

"Fuck, you have no idea. No fucking idea how crazy I felt when you were there one day and gone the next. I was so worried that your mom had done something to you, she was so angry that day when I came over." With one last squeeze, he pulls back far enough to look me in the eye, his hands loosely gripping my waist as if he's afraid to let me go. "You are okay right?"

Don't cry, Sang, don't you dare.

Unbidden, the honest answer flies from my lips before I have the clarity of mind to stop it. "I will be."

Henry frowns, worry marring his handsome face that is so familiar to me and yet strange too. His hair is the same, fiery red locks pointing in every direction. The freckles are there, as is the small scar on his chin from the day we'd met, when he'd introduced himself to me on the playground and my head had hit his chin in surprise. He always used to tell people that he was Sang Sorenson's best friend and had the scar to prove it, and every time I would giggle like the innocent young girl I had been.

Unable to help myself, I reach out to trace the thin white line, so small now that if you didn't know it was there, you'd never see it. Tears fill my eyes as three years of my most wonderful, happiest memories that I'd worried had been forgotten flash in my head. Years of playing in the street, of Henry defending me whenever his friends didn't want a girl to ruin their fun, of him holding my hand when I fell down, of us creating a world of our own in the forest whenever we could get away. One look in his grass green eyes and I remember that I was happy once.

"I can't believe you're really here," I whisper softly, and his hand, so much larger than I was, comes up to wipe away the tears that had started to fall.

His response is just as soft. "I'm here, Blondie."

"How?"

His laugh is even more familiar than his face, albeit much deeper now. "How am I here?" I nod. "Well, you see there's this thing called a car, and it takes me from place to pla–Ow!" He laughs again, rubbing the spot where I'd smacked his arm, pretending like I could actually hurt him.