Pebbles: A Collection of Short Stories

The Last Hour

"Ok, open your eyes." The words were soft and familiar but wrong. Words are not what comes next. After the painful final heartbeat of death, ordinary words are not right. "Suzy, open your eyes." I could see his thin smile before I lifted my lids, but he shouldn't be here. Dying in place of him was my choice; he was not invited; not yet.

I fluttered my eyes open to see what I feared, his round face with deep chocolate eyes staring back at me. "Open." My voice sounded fine, steady even. I gaped back at him, studying the features of his face for even a minor blemish, but he was untouched. His pale skin accented by the curtain of dark brown hair, his nose with the slight hook from being broken in a fight in the 10th grade, his scarlet lips pulled into his tight smile accented by a dimple pricking each cheek.

"Earth to Suzy..." His eyes blinked, bringing me back to the present.

"Sorry, I just had a very..." His hand squeezed mine softly, shooting the sensation into my memory bank and recalling the blaring lights that weren't there. I shook it off and looked around his tiny apartment. "What time is it?"

He shrugged, "It's a little after 7 pm." He shifted back in his chair and crossed his arms, exuding annoyance.

"What?"

"I have never seen anyone less interested in a present in my entire life." His eyes flickered down to the small box sitting on the table between us.

"The bracelet." Panic rolled through me like a cold river.

"How did you..." His lips tipped up as he tried to stifle a smile. "You snooped."

"No... I just... the box size; lucky guess." I tried to play it off slyly. But my focus was on him: whole, safe, smiling. It hadn't happened; we were both safe. "I love you." I stood up too fast, causing the table to screech across the floor. I fell into his lap, knowing he would catch me.

A suppressed giggle passed his lips before he quieted it with a kiss to my temple. "And this before you even open it." I opened the box to see the familiar bracelet. "It's a bicycle chain." He murmured as his thumb ran over the metal.

"You made this for me." Even knowing the contents in advance, my tone was awed as tears welled from the thoughtfulness.

"Yeah," I felt him shift beneath me. "It's nothing fancy. I just thought you're my childhood, and now we have our whole lives together. I don't know how I got so lucky." I could feel the warm tears run down my cheeks and fall from my chin to his arm. "Hey, what's wrong?" He twisted our bodies so he could see my face.

"Nothing, I just... I love it." I leaned into his lips. The familiar tug and twist of our lips gave me hope. Maybe this was a second chance. "Let's stay in; just you and me."

"What? Babe, everyone is waiting for us." As if on cue, his phone rang. "See, this is Tony right now, probably wondering where we are." He carefully slid me off his lap as he stood. "Hey, man. We're on our way out." His eyes flickered to mine as he held the phone with his shoulder. He clasped the bracelet around my wrist. "Yeah, yeah. On our way." He snapped the phone shut and lifted both hands to either side of my face. "It will be fun. I promise."

"I'm just not feeling well." I leaned into his hands.

"Yeah, have you eaten?"

I hadn't, but that wasn't the cause. "Can we stop at Tee's on the way?" If I stalled, then we wouldn't be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Fine, but you have to walk and eat." He gave me a tender kiss on my forehead before dropping his hands.

I tied my shoelaces slowly and pretended I couldn't find my jacket for as long as possible. "Babe, it's right here." I could feel the frustration in his voice. It was wrong; I didn't want frustration, just in case.

The cool air of the September evening woke me from my stupor. I was ridiculous. It had just been a vivid daymare. "Tommy?"

"Mm." He entwined his fingers with mine.

"I love you."

"Love you too." He slid an arm around my shoulders and tucked me into his side.

"If something ever happened to me, just know that I love you and I want you to be happy."

"Morbid much?" I could feel his chest leap with a laugh. "There's no way I would be happy without you."

My feet stopped as his arm yanked against me at his steady stride. "You have to be." I protested.

"Are you leaving me? Is that what's happening here?" There was a determination in his eyes, but still a glimmer. He knew I would never leave him unless...

"Of course not." I stared directly into his eyes. "I love you so much; you are my whole world."

"Yeah, and you are my whole world." He leaned in and kissed my forehead again. "So, let's just agree never to leave each other and live happily ever after."

"But if something were to happen to me."

"Suzy, nothing is going to happen to you."

But it was going to happen; it was already happening. The street was different, but the car was the same. The lights were blinding, but my mind was more aware this time. I would never have a chance to move his 6'4" frame if the confusion hadn't rattled him. I pushed into his side as hard as I could, sending us ricocheting off each other. He stumbled towards the building as I propelled to the edge of the sidewalk. My eyes stayed trained on him. His eyes widened as his hands stretched out, but he was safely out of reach as the headlights crashed into me.