Angel Unawares

Not Exactly The Same

The next several days passed in a blur for Amber. The medication made her sore throat feel better, but it also made her very sleepy. Every time she awakened, Danny was there with a cool rag for her face or a cup of soothing spiced tea or comforting soup. "Certainly my Mom knows you're here by now," she said to him once. He nodded. "And she doesn't mind?"

"Nope. She told me to keep coming around. Said she didn't know what she'd do without me."

"But what about all the other people who need you?"

"Right now, you're the one who needs me most. Plus, you're the one I enjoy being with the most."

"Good to know I'm not just a sickie to you."

He laughed. "Oh, no. You're much more than that."

One day when she was feeling better, he took her for a walk. They walked right past a tree that had been split right down the middle. Amber remembered how that had happened and shuddered. Danny didn't even seem to notice.

Suddenly she realized that they were on what she'd always considered to be the 'bad' part of town. The houses were older, smaller, and less well built, the sidewalks had cracks with weeds growing in them, and the buildings were dirty with graffiti and peeling paint. "This part of town gives me the creeps." Amber shuddered.

"Why? You know I'd never let anything happen to you." Danny put his arm around her protectively.

"Yeah." She laughed. "Sometimes I just forget, I guess."

Danny stopped before a particularly humble home and rang the doorbell. A middle-aged woman whom Amber didn't recognize answered the door. "Is Dekker in?" he asked her.

The woman's eyes narrowed. "Do I know you?"

"My name's Danny. It's a long story, but we've met before. I'm a friend of Dekker's."

The woman's eyes had a faraway look. "Gareth did have a friend named Danny once..." She shook her head and laughed. "Never mind. Come on in. Is he expecting you?"

"I told him I'd try to stop by today. This is my friend Amber."

"How do you do."

Danny knocked on Dekker's bedroom door. There was a slight delay, and then the door was opened. "Danny!" Dekker looked elated. "It really is you!"

"Of course it's me. Who else would it be?"

"Come on in." He moved so that Danny and Amber could enter. "Digs aren't quite as fancy as before." He sounded embarrassed.

"That doesn't matter at all," Danny replied.

Dekker stared at the floor, unsure of what to say. "I'm sorry," he finally blurted out. His eyes didn't meet Danny's. "It was all my fault. What can I say? It was stupid and irresponsible. There's no excuse for it."

"I was pretty stupid and irresponsible too," Danny replied. "After all, nobody forced me to get in the car with you."

"Even so, I was the one driving, and you were the one who..." He couldn't finish.

"That doesn't really matter anymore, does it?" asked Danny.

"Thanks for being so nice about it," Dekker mumbled.

"Hey, what are friends for?"

"That was the most fun I've had in a long time!" said Jade as she and Trey left the bowling alley.

"Me too," Trey agreed. "That's the first time since my injury that I've felt completely normal. For a couple of hours, I actually forgot that I lost my legs!"

He drove her back to her apartment in his car with the hand controls, and she asked if he'd like to come inside for a drink. He looked frightened for just a minute. "It'll be all right!" she encouraged.

Still looking a bit doubtful, he followed her into the apartment and sat on the sofa. She went into the kitchen, fetched the drinks, and then took them into the living room, where she handed one of them to Trey. "Thank you," he said.

"You're welcome." She sat beside him on the sofa. "You look so handsome tonight, Trey."

He blushed and stared at the floor. She was thinking of her first time, with Danny, on what now seemed a lifetime ago. Had he acted this shy? She couldn't remember.

"You look very nice as well," he said. She leaned her face toward his, and suddenly they were kissing passionately. Her tongue sought entrance to his mouth, and he granted it. Her desire mounted higher and higher, until suddenly he pulled away in alarm. "I can't." His voice sounded small and scared. "I just...can't."

"That was really brave of you," Amber said to Danny as they left Dekker's house. "I'm not sure if I could have done that, if I were you."

"He's been consumed with guilt ever since it happened," Danny replied. "I could tell that seeing me alive and well and happy gave him peace about it."

"Well, not actually," Amber said softly.

Danny frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well...you're not exactly the same as you were before, are you?"

"I'm better than I was before. I can't get sick or hurt anymore. That's why I didn't have to worry about catching mononucleosis from you. I'll never get any older, either."

"But I will."

"Yeah, I know." He looked like a child whose balloon had just been deflated.