I Do

It was late in the evening, and we were on a date. Nothing fancy, just a movie followed by dinner. We were talking about how uncomfortable Midsommar made us feel, but at the same time, I found it kind of enlightening. Cris didn't like that. Cris was my middle school crush, cliche huh? Finally, after all these years and rejections here and there throughout high school, he decided to ask me out. Said he had been "meaning to ask me for a while" apparently, I guess people really do change after college, but I digress. He was the one driving. We were on the freeway when someone crashed in front of us. He pressed hard on the brakes, causing him to stop just in time, but the car behind rammed into us along with the car in the next lane, causing our car to flip multiple times. Next thing I know, Cris and I were on the floor. I kept hearing him say to me that everything was gonna be okay, but I knew it was bad. My body was in such excruciating pain that I knew I was dying. It was getting harder to breathe and I was also starting to lose feeling in my legs and arms. He told me to count the birds that were in the sky so I wouldn’t leave him alone. I started counting them, but after five I started closing my eyes little by little. “No! You can’t leave me, please!” I could hear his voice fading away and was replaced by an intense high pitched sound instead. I could see the lights of the ambulance reflecting on his face.

“Please... I can’t lose you. Just stay with me.” I opened my eyes and Cris was holding my hand. “Marry me,” he said barely being able to hold it together. “Stay with with me and marry me, I waited too long to get with you and I can’t lose anymore time. Marry me.” I gave a weak smile but I started closing my eyes causing him to start crying. I could feel the paramedics touching me, probably examining my body to see if I was worth trying to save or if it was too late. I was dying, I knew I wasn’t gonna make it. They shook their heads and put their hands on Cris’ shoulder. I guess they knew it too.

But I didn't die. I thought I did, but his voice brought me up. I heard him yelling, "Do something! Save her!" then I felt this sharp pain in my chest. They were using those electric pads to try to bring me back. I could feel my heart beat growing stronger.

"She's back," I heard someone say, probably one of the paramedics. We arrived at the hospital and I felt an emptiness on my hand. I could feel them injecting all sorts of things into my arms and I could hear the doctors talking about my status. I wouldn't scream, I wouldn't even flinch, I just kept saying his name before I blacked out again.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw nothing but white and a really bright light. "Am I dead?" I thought to myself, but then I looked around. I wasn't dead, I was in a room. When I raised my head, Cris was there holding my hand, and he had a cast on his right arm. I looked at myself and I had one on my right leg and had a sort of wrap around my waist. "Cris" was all I could say, my voice was still weak. He didn't move, he was sleeping. I started rubbing his hand with my fingers, trying to remember what happened. Was the accident really that bad? I looked back at him to catch him staring at me almost as if he had seen a ghost. "Cris?" He started smiling but then put his head on top of my arm and he started crying.

"Hey, hey..." it hurt to talk but I didn't care, "What's wrong?" He looked back up at me, eyes still filled with tears, but they were happy tears.

"I thought you were never going to wake up. I thought I had lost you forever, I was so scared. I was so scared," he kept mumbling that to himself and placed his head back on top of my arm. I started rubbing his arm and leaned down a bit to kiss his head. It hurt to move too, but it hurt more not to try and comfort him. "See I told you everything was gonna be alright," he said with the biggest sigh of relief, and it was then that I had realized he was holding his breath.

***

It was our friend Cristal's wedding. I was telling her congratulations when she said, "I could be telling you the same thing! I'm so happy for you!" I looked at her confused, but then she pointed to my left hand, and sure enough, I had on the most beautiful diamond ring on finger. I was in utter shock but I tried playing it off since today was her day. I would just have to ask Cris about it later. She was marrying her high school sweetheart, Orlando; they had been together for over eight years, so I figured it was about time he popped the question, especially considering how rocky things were towards the middle years of their relationship. But as Cris and I sat there, something felt wrong. When she got to her position to walk down the aisle, they couldn't find him. I saw one of the best man, Edgardo, walk up to Cristal and whisper something in her ear. She immediately dropped her bouquet and ran back into her dressing room. "I'll be right back," I whispered to Cris before walking back there.

"What do you mean he left?! Where did he go?!" I could hear the maid of honor yelling at Edgardo.

"I don't know, all he said was to tell her that he's sorry and that she deserves someone better." He walked away, causing everyone to start getting up from their seat. I couldn't believe it. I felt Cris' hand at the small of my back, and if I wasn't so shocked, it would've startled me. "Come on, let's go."

We were driving home when he asked if I was okay with taking the freeway. I said no. We finally got home, and I had my heels in my hand when we got inside.

"I'll be right up," he said to me as he walked into the kitchen. I didn't recognize the house, I didn't even know where our bedroom was, but my feet were moving on their own. There were pictures on the walls, most of them of just me and him. There was even one of where he proposed to me. I took a closer look and I couldn't help but smile.

"That was the first time I ever saw you." I jumped a little and quickly put my hand over my chest.

"You scared me!"

He just laughed and wrapped his arms around my waist as we stared at the picture of us standing on our middle school's football field. "I still remember how annoying I thought you were in history class." I laughed as I kissed his cheek.

"Oh yeah? I was annoying huh?"

He quickly picked me up and ran towards our bedroom. I just kept laughing and yelling his name as he kissed me over and over again.

"Okay! Okay! I give up!" He stopped and just stared into my eyes as I did the same. "But to be fair, you stopped being annoying the moment you called me beautiful. It was the first time any guy had ever said that to me." He just kept staring at me, it started getting weird.

"What?" I laughed nervously.

"I love you."

I kissed him and got out of bed to start undressing. I reached for my nightgown. "Wait," he said getting off the bed, "Stay like this, don't put it on." I just smiled at him and nodded before getting into bed. He undressed too and got into bed spooning me as we laid there.

“I do too, by the way,” I said as I closed my eyes and faded into sleep.

"You better."