A Change of Heart

I was standing in the middle of my kitchen waiting for my heart to start working again. Both my mind and my limbs were numb and cold. I could feel the shock constricting my throat and chest. The pain was yet to come. My brain that usually gave me quite the fight against being quiet was empty. I could think of nothing more than the fact that it was over. Everything. He was dead and he was never going to come back. Our life together was over. I was left alone now. I felt as if I was descending stairs and missed a step. Maybe missed more than that. My insides were falling. My heart was beating irregularly. His no longer beat at all.

"Eve... I'm so sorry," my mother sobbed. I looked up slowly and saw her face shining with the tears she had been holding back. I knew I was going to cry any moment, but that moment never came. I loved him and now Logan was gone.

Logan and I had been friends since we first met. It was September 1st and my first day of middle school. I was so confused and scared. I was waiting at the bus stop alone. No one else was there and my mom was running late for work that day so it was a "Have a nice first day!" then the screeching of tires on pavement as she drove off. I wouldn't have wanted her to wait with me, she already embarrassed me enough as is. Still, I was scared that she got the address wrong and that I would miss the bus.

I began to look for any sign that told me that this was indeed a bus stop, and my eyes stumbled upon a tall figure walking along the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. He must have been almost six feet tall, and my first thought was that he might be an adult. I had always been slightly paranoid, and was nervous about this stranger. As he came closer and clearer in my vision, though, I saw that he was merely a really tall teenage boy. Still nervous, as I always got around boys, I pretended to be studying the pavement near my left sneaker. Out of the corner of my vision though, I could see him crossing the street straight towards where I was standing. I kept my head down, as I had always been very shy. Still, I couldn't help but stealing a glance at him.

He was even taller seeming up close. His light brown hair and a summer tanned face. He had a good-humored aura about him, and he had a slightly mocking smile. His nose was straight and well-proportioned. His eyes were a startling shade of blue. Like turquoise, yet more natural. He was incredibly handsome.

"Hey," he said in a friendly voice. I stopped staring quickly. I didn't want to embarrass myself. He just stood there smiling. His teeth were straight and white.

"Hi," I said in a slightly higher pitched voice than usual. I looked down again, with my auburn hair framing my vision of the sidewalk.

"You new here?"

"Yeah, my family just moved here a few weeks ago," I said quickly. He was watching me still. I was always shy, especially around boys. My friends from my old school always said it was irrational as I was the prettiest girl in the grade, but I was too shy and too modest to believe them. I didn't like to think of myself as better than them in any way. They were constantly joking around saying that another guy was planning to ask me out, and asking how I wanted them to fend him off. I always turned them down, not because I thought I was too good for them, I just didn't see any that seemed right for me. They didn't like me for my personality. They didn't even know me. They just saw me as a pretty face.

"My name's Logan," he said to me, pulling me back into my surroundings.

"I'm Eve," I replied. Logan smiled more widely at me.

"That's a cool name," said the beaming Logan. I really liked his smile. It made my heart feel light.

"Thanks," I said blushing furiously, "Hey, what grade are you in?"

"Sixth. You?" Logan answered.

"Sixth," I said. Working up courage that I didn't know I had, I said, "I thought you were in high school, your so tall!"

Laughing, Logan told me how his family was full of tall people. He started telling me how his his dad was six and a half feet, but stopped short when he saw the look on my face. The tears brimming in my eyes. His smile quickly vanished, like a light turned off.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Umm... yeah," I said quickly wiping my eyes, "Yeah, sorry, it's just my dad died last spring...."

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Logan said with a deeply remorseful expression.

"I'ts okay, you didn't know," I said hastily, feeling ashamed with myself for being so weak. Quickly I changed the subject back to school. We stood there chatting a bit about what we knew of our new school and what we thought it would be like. After about ten minutes, I remembered about the bus stop dilemma.

"Logan?" I asked, getting a funny feeling in my stomach as I said his name for the first time.

"Yes?" he asked.

"This is going to sound stupid, but this is the bus stop, right?"

"Nope."

"What do you mean?!"

"It isn't. The bus stop is up the street, a good walk from here. We better hurry if we want to catch it," he said grinning mischievously.

"You are joking!"

"For once, no, I am not."

With that, he turned around and took off at a run. Still in awe, I readjusted my backpack and ran after him as fast as I could. Though I had always been great at running, his long legs gave him an advantage. We made it with twenty seconds to spare.

...To be continued...