Thomas and Joy had met when they were seventeen years old. They had been at a party with friends and had never seen each other before, but that one day changed their lives forever. It was sort of cliche maybe, a little silly, but it was true. They started officially dating a year later, but everyone knew it was going to happen. Thomas's friends constantly teased him about his "woman," and Joy's friends persistently asked how things were between her and "that guy." They liked each other from the start, they both knew it, but they had no idea the ride they were in for. They had been together for four years now. It was their first relationship for bot of them, and the problems they ran into were not easy to resolve, but they always did. It was a learning process for them both, but they learned, most of the time, the hard way.
Thomas was driving home from work. His music was loud, and he was staring straight ahead, mulling it all over in his head. He and Joy had had a huge fight, about something stupid that he couldn't even remember. This was what bothered him the most. She'd gotten mad at him for something and instead trying to just settle things he'd gotten mad right back. It had ended with both of them yelling that they didn't want to see each other anymore. They'd fought before, but never this bad. Mostly it was an argument that would end with them being either only slightly upset with each other or not upset at all, and they're always talk the next day and things would be fine. But it had been three days since he had heard from her. The first day had gone by, and he was still too mad to worry. The second day came around and he called. She hadn't answered, so he left a message, and she had still not responded. He called her again, left another message, and tried again a half an hour later. He was worried, not even she could ignore someone that long, it wasn't her. As he was driving his phone rang. He moved so fast to answer it that he almost swerved off the road. The caller ID was from Joy's house number. She didn't usually call him from that, but at least she was calling.
"Hello? Joy?" he answered.
"This is Richard, Thomas," said Joy's father on the phone.
"Oh, hello Mr. Oreman," said Thomas feeling guilty. Joy's father calling him couldn't be a good thing. He had never called Thomas before. "What's going on?"
"Thomas...Joy's had an accident," said her father. "She was hit by car while she was walking yesterday. I would have called sooner but I just never got the chance. She was out for a while but she just woke up a few hours ago. You should go down to the hospital. She's going to be alright, but she's been asking for you. I just got home but I'll be back down later."
Thomas listened, guilt rising, fear rising. He tried to hold back tears as he said "I'm coming right now, thank you." Joy's father hung up and Thomas let the tears fall. He wasn't much a crier, but this made him angry. He looked around, and seeing nobody did a quite illegal u-turn and started heading towards the hospital. What a jerk he had been. Being angry and she had been hit by a car, he should have called her house sooner. She could have died, and the last thing he had said to her was, "I'm done talking, I'm leaving alright, I don't want to see you anymore." She had screamed "FINE!" at him as he walked out the door, slamming it behind. Oh gosh, it was so immature, so childish. How could he have acted like that? He stopped by a grocery store and ran in. He grabbed the nicest bunch of flowers he found and brought them to the register.
"Buying flowers this late at night?" the large woman at the counter said with a laugh and a smile, "someone must've screwed up." She winked at Thomas as she scanned them.
"Oh yeah..." said Thomas. He was no longer crying, but he couldn't bring himself to smile, and the hot anger he felt toward himself still burned like coals inside of him.
"Twenty-nine, ninety-nine is your total, sir," said the lady.
Thomas grabbed a bag of Skittles and handed them to the clerk as well. "These too," he said. Skittles were Joy's favorite candy.
"Thirty-one, O-seven," she chuckled.
Thomas swiped his card, grabbed the flowers and Skittles and ran out of the store and back to his car. Fifteen minutes later he was pulling into the hospital parking lot. He got out, and it was all he could do to not sprint into the lobby. He went to the front desk.
"I'm here to see Joy, Joy Oreman," he said.
"Alright...Oreman, O...O...O....Ah, Oreman, here we are," said the nurse behind the counter. She pulled out a sticker. "Your name?"
"Thomas," he replied. Gosh, this lady sure was taking her time. She scribbled his name on the sticker and handed it to him.
"She's in room 108. Down the hall to your left," said the nurse. Thomas put the sticker on his shirt and then walked briskly down the hall.
The door to Joy's room was slightly opened, so he knocked gently before entering. Joy's mother appeared at the door and pushed him out, closing the door behind him. She gave him a hug and smiled at him.
"She's going to be happy to see you. But listen, Joy is very upset right now. Her face is a little messed up to be frank, and she's very embarrassed about it. The doctor said everything will heal just fine and she'll be as good as new, maybe a couple of scars here and there, but Joy seems to think she is permanently ruined or something."
"I don't care what she looks like Mrs. Oreman," said Thomas. Mrs. Oreman smiled and nodded.
"She's lucky to have you Thomas," said Mrs. Oreman. "I'm going to go grab a bite to eat from the cafeteria, while you two talk." She walked away down the hall.
Thomas walked into the room. Joy was laying in the bed staring at the wall. Her face was bruised and cut badly. Thomas felt nothing but pity for her. It was true, he didn't care what she looked like, she was still beautiful to him. But as soon as she saw him she burst into tears.
"Don't look at me," she said as she buried her face in her hand. Thomas sat on the bed and put his arm around her, setting the flowers and Skittles on the bedside table.
"Hey," he said trying to look her in the eyes,"hey look at me Joy." She looked up, still sobbing.
"I can't stop looking at you, because looking at you reminds me that you're still here...I could have lost you...I don't ever want to stop looking at you, I want to know you're here." She laughed and wrapped her arms around him. "Here, this is for you." He handed her the flowers and Skittles.
"Oh my gosh, thank you, Thomas!" she said kissing him on the cheek. "I'm so sorry for everything I said, I didn't mean it."
"Me too, I'm sorry...gosh it was so silly! And then this...I was worried sick about you, you weren't returning my calls...I...I'm just so sorry for everything too babe, I was an idiot."
"Yes, yes you were," she said laugh, "but so was I. We both were, let's just forget it...gosh I don't even remember what we fought about!" He laughed.
"Yeah me neither! Oh Joy, I love you so much, I'm never leaving you, ever ever ever ever ever again." He kissed her gently.
"I love you too Thomas," she said holding him. "And I won't leave either, never ever. We have each other, let's keep it that way."
"Agreed."
They sat holding each other for a long while, happy to be with each other, knowing that they were safe together. Her parents came in later and they spent the rest of the time just talking and having a good time, late into the night. Mrs. Oreman was staying the night, so Thomas and Mr Oreman said goodnight and began walking out to the parking lot together.
"Mr. Oreman," said Thomas.
"Yes?"
"I've got a question for you."
"Go for it."
"Sir...after tonight, after what happened...I realized something. I mean...I've always known that I love Joy, but after this I realized it's a lot more than just saying I love her...I have to show it...and, well...I do love her, a lot. And...I want to marry your daughter, sir."
Mr. Oreman smiled. "Come on, let's get some coffee, we'll talk."
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