Jesse drives for half an hour and vibrant-coloured signs start to appear on different designed building. Bicycles and busy pedestrians were seen everywhere.
"Downtown?" Ava is surprised. She does not expect Jesse to take her to downtown.
"Yeah, fun right?" Jesse concentrates on the road ahead.
"What can we do though?" She leans onto the car window and asks.
"You'll know." Jesse lifts a corner of his lips up.
They park at an outdoor car park and get off the car. Jesse leads Ava to an area where there are small indie shops full of vintage accessories. They walk pass many shop windows, a few with tents and even scaffolds. Pastel colours are painted outside the ornate walls of the shops.
"Wow, it's a nice place," says Ava as she looks around.
Glittering jewels and sophisticated clothing lie right behind the glass windows, appealing the customers to take them home. The sidewalk is lined with identical benches and lampposts, bushy trees ringed with metal gates.
"Yeah, this street is the only one that's not that packed in downtown," Jesse says as he pushes his wheelchair.
"Do you want anything? I still haven't got you a present," Jesse stops and asks.
Ava shakes her head. "You've given me too much, for real."
"Nah, we're best friends."
Jesse has been calling Ava best friend for months, but she never admits that.
She laughs vaguely. "I've never had someone celebrating my birthday like this, so thank you, it's enough."
Jesse puts his hand into his hair. "Well, but I still wanna get you a present."
"If that's what you want," Ava pauses. "What about the bracelet there?" She points at a golden bracelet with a tiny anchor charm in a shop window.
"Woah, you wear bracelets?" Jesse laughs.
"Why can't I?" Ava jokes.
"Okay, wait." Jesse storms into the shop.
"Wait! For real?" Ava's face is bewildered and she cannot finish her sentence before Jesse disappears from her view.
Minutes later Jesse wheels out from the shop and there is a tiny shopping bag on his lap.
"Jesse," Ava's eyes are cloudy again. "You're gonna make me cry." She wipes her tears away.
"Can I have a hug?" Jesse asks gingerly.
Ava stops sobbing and freezes. She bends her body down and hugs Jesse. His body is so warm, the hug is so real. She is hugging someone. Her heartbeat raises and the fact that Jesse may feel it makes Ava panic.
"Thank you," Ava whispers over Jesse's shoulder as she tries to suppress her shakiness in her voice.
They split. Ava's head is throbbing. She takes the shopping bag from Jesse's hands.
She pulls out a velvet palm-sized bracelet case and opens it. She inspects the silver bracelet throughly, an anchor charm is hung on the chain. The bracelet feels cold on her wrist, and she hopes to remember this feeling forever.
They continue to walk, but the buildings start to disappear from their sights. Jesse wheels onto a narrow and crude path. There are trees alongside the path, the increasing amount of trees makes Ava believe that they are walking into a forest-like area.
Jesse's wheelchair bumps along the rough and uneven path. He pushes hard and fails to manoeuvres though with his wheelchair. Ava walks up and pushes his wheelchair from behind.
Jesse turns his head and smiles. "Thanks. It's quite a lot of work."
"It's fine," Ava says.
Ava feels Jesse's smile over his shoulder. They finally arrive at a serene place that Ava has never been to. There are more trees. Lavender wildflowers and grasses are seen everywhere around them, except the clear endless stream that reflects the glare of the pale gold sunlight.
"I don't know there's a secret park in downtown," Ava says in disbelief.
"Yeah, Jacob and I discovered this place when we were kids. We used to come here often." Jesse moves to a bench. Ava follows.
Jesse locks his wheelchair next to the bench and Ava sits down on the bench.
"I haven't been here that much since the accident, it's kinda tough to come here," Jesse continues. Ava recalls how hard it is for Jesse to push his wheelchair on the pathway. It's still impressive how effortless Jesse is when saying these words, which are supposed to remind him of what he's gone through.
Jesse sighs. "It's good to be back."
"It's beautiful here." The sentence slips from Ava's mouth.
"Right?" Jesse chuckles.
They stare at the giant golden globe that's ready to sink. It's so quiet. The voice of water streaming down the river can be heard, but they can still hear each other's breath. Tranquil and peaceful.
It's just them, a boy and a girl, sitting alone on a bench, watching the sunset.
"I've always wanna bring you here," Jesse says minutes later as he stares straight at the sinking sun.
"Why?" Ava is allured by the view, her eyes are glued on the view in front of her.
"I told myself that I had to bring a girl here when I first discovered here."
Ava does not know if Jesse means anything, and she chooses not to think too much about it.
"I had a girlfriend when I was fourteen," Jesse says again.
Ava looks at Jesse with bits of surprise. He never tells her that, but of course he had a girlfriend. How could he not?
"I didn't bring her here. I still don't know why." Jesse does not move. He sits still and props his arm onto the back of the bench. His extends his arm and surrounds the back of Ava without touching her.
Ava does not make any face. She sits there without doing anything. A few questions do flash in her head. Who is she? Where is she now? How did you guys break up? But she decides to sweep away the question, just like how the river flows away.
The river is still flowing, water gliding to the right.
It's as if the world has hit the pause button, and everything doesn't matter anymore. For a moment, Ava can forget about everything. She closes her eyes, Jesse's rhythmic breath tenderly fills her ears.
She never wants to forget this feeling. The feeling of being with Jesse.
My God. Jesse. How can she not trust him?
"Jesse?" Ava speaks again.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
Jesse smiles. "Happy birthday."
-
Author's note
Happy new year! I know it's not 2020 yet, but this is the last chapter of 2019, or I should say the decade!! I updated two chapters today (ten and eleven) just in case you miss any of that. Let's hope Ava and Jesse's relationship can turn out as how everyone expected in 2020. And once again, thank you SO much for reading this, luv u xx!
softyhartz
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Paralyzed Love ✓
Teen Fiction[The Fiction Awards 2020 Winner in Diverse Fiction!] Jesse is paralyzed from his waist down, but he makes sure he gets what he wants, for he has already lost too many things in his life. Yet when he finally gets to meet Ava, who has anxiety and depr...
