You Can Bleed

“Where are you taking her?”

Michael caught my elbow in his fingers and pulled me back to match his slower pace. “She’ll be okay.” He nodded forward and I followed his gaze to see James kneeling beside Miri who now lay on the grass. The day was dimming, and the stadium lights had popped on, bathing everything in a soft white glow.

“She’ll be okay,” Michael repeated. His tone implied such knowing and confidence that I envied him. Oh how I wish I had that kind of faith in myself and in the world around me. I couldn’t trust that anything, let alone Miri, could ever be okay.

Michael walked me away from James and Miri, toward the side of the school, away from the view of the stadium. His fingers slid down my arm until they found my own. When he slipped his fingers between mine, it was like all my fears, all my doubts and worries, faded away.

There was only us. We could have been anywhere - or nowhere. And it didn’t matter at all.