Jeremy stood pacing in the hospital waiting room. The sound of beeping and people talking, along with the horrid smell that hospitals just couldn’t get rid of, did nothing to help calm his nerves. He was worried about Mandy. He had seen her rub her head just minutes before she collapsed. He felt guilty that he hadn’t been able to stop anything from happening. He was scared. He had heard the loud thud when Mandy’s head had hit the floor. Her body was limp when he carried her out to the parking lot to wait for the ambulance. She was unconscious and cold. He sat down in a chair and rubbed his hands up and down across his face, waiting for someone to tell him how she was doing. As he leaned back in the chair, he began to go through his memory of all his favorite times he could remember about Mandy.

“You could never take a place in my heart. No matter how hard you tried,” a voice sang. Jeremy heard the voice as he walked down the hall to his locker. It was after football practice. He was returning to his locker to get his backpack. “Wow,” he thought. “Whoever that is, she’s beautiful.” He opened his locker. He grabbed his backpack and duffel bag and headed down the hall in search of the voice. As he walked farther down the hall, the voice got louder. He could also hear the sound of a piano playing. Suddenly, the voice was at its loudest. He looked up to read the sign next to the door. It was the choir room. He looked through the small window. He saw a girl with straight black hair sitting in front of the piano. He heard her sing again. “What kind of fool do you take me for? Do you really believe I would accept you after all of this?” she continued. Jeremy slowly opened the door and set his things down near it. He quietly stood next to the folded risers to listen. The girl sang a few more lines, then stopped. Jeremy walked to a spot behind her as she let out a sigh. “You’re really good, you know,” he said. The girl jumped, startled by the sudden voice. She turned around. “Uhhh… Thanks. I think,” she said. He came closer to her. “What’s your name?” he asked. The girl looked directly into his eyes. “Mandy Watson,” she replied. He just stared into her eyes. They were this milk chocolate color that had a sparkle in them. A black nail-polished hand waved in front of him. “Uh, Jeremy?” she said. “Hello in there.” Jeremy straightened his back and blinked. His expression became confused. “How did you know my name?” Mandy replied, “You’re the star of the football team. Pretty much everybody knows your name and what you look like.” Jeremy laughed. The duo continued talking as thought they had known each other forever.

“Why are we here?” Mandy asked, excited and confused. Jeremy had driven them to a lookout point above the city. “How about there’s a reason and you’ll find out later?” he replied. He had packed a picnic of their favorite foods. She had been smiling the whole ride up and looked as though she wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. He learned that she dreamed of being a famous singer someday. She was always happy. He brought her up to this point because it was his special spot. He was always up here trying to think or just get away from everything for a few hours. He wanted some answers from her, so he made sure to bring three boxes of tissues. He was usually not emotional. But he had a gut feeling that this might be the first time he cried in front of someone other than his own family. He parked his red convertible Mustang and both hopped over the sides of the car, not bothering to open the doors. He grabbed the picnic basket while she grabbed the red checkerboard blanket. “How about here?” he said, pointing to a spot clear of rocks and plants. The sun was starting to set. Both laid out the blanket and sat down. “Bon Appétit!” Jeremy said, opening up the picnic basket and setting out the food. “Wow. This is amazing!” Mandy told him. “Why, thank you,” he replied. The two sat and ate for a little while. They decided to save some food for later. Jeremy saw the goose bumps start to form on Mandy’s arms. He wrapped his arms around her to keep her warm. She looked up at him and smiled. “Thanks,” she said. He smiled back at her. The couple looked at the sunset. “So why did you take me up here again?” she asked. Jeremy moved his left hand into the picnic basket and pulled out the boxes of tissues. “Well, I wanted to ask you two questions,” he said. “They are?” she replied. Jeremy took a breath. “Well, I want to know about your family.” A dead silence washed over the area. Jeremy waited a moment to see if she would answer. When she didn’t, he looked over to see tears falling down her face. He grabbed a tissue to wipe away the tears. “My parents are dead,” she said, her crying becoming more intense. “My mom died from complications after I was born. My dad accidentally shot himself when I was three. I don’t have any siblings and I have to live with my uncles. I miss my parents so-“ Her sobbing became so hard she was hyperventilating and couldn’t talk. Jeremy pulled her in closer, the tears falling onto his shirt. Most of the tears got wiped away by tissues before his shirt could get majorly soaked. He rubbed her arms to help calm her down. She sat up and continued to wipe away the tears with, first her hands, then with tissues. She started to laugh. “I never really wanted many people to know that. I never wanted to cry about that in front of people,” she said, shaking her head. “But I like you and know you would understand. I’m glad that it was you here.” They looked into each other’s eyes and smiled. He pulled her back into his arms. “I have to ask you another question,” he said. “By the way, I found your uncles before so I could get their permission since I’m seventeen and you’re fifteen. I didn’t get told about your parents being dead or you living with your uncles. I just knew that I could talk to them first. They approved, by the way.” Mandy looked at him with a curious expression. “What question would cause you to have to go and ask my uncles for their permission?” she pondered. “You have to close your eyes and then when you open them, you’ll find out,” he told her. She closed her eyes tight. He got up and pulled the small black box out of the basket he had placed there weeks ago. He got down on one knee and opened the box so she could see what was inside. He took a deep breath. “This is the question I had to get permission for,” he said. Mandy opened her eyes and nearly screamed. Inside the small black box was a silver ring with an alexandrite on the left side, a diamond in the middle, and a sapphire on the right side. Mandy looked up at him. “Mandy Taylor Watson, will you be my girlfriend?” Jeremy asked. She broke into a huge smile. “Well, duh!” she said. They hugged each other. Jeremy sat down in front of her to show her the ring. “It says ‘Mandy, I Love You’ on the inside,” he told her, pointing to the inside of the ring before he slid it on her right ring finger. “By the way, I don’t kiss,” Mandy said. Jeremy looked into her eyes. “Why?” “Well, I’m trying really hard to wait for my future husband,” she told him. “I want whoever he is to know that I waited for him and he was always on my mind.” “I like those qualities in a girl,” Jeremy replied. He kissed her on the cheek. They got up and folded the blanket together. She carried the basket back to his car. They put everything in the trunk, then climbed over to sit on the top of the back seat. “You’re the girl I’ve dreamed about since I first met you,” he told her. “Write me a song about how much you love me and dreamed about this day, then it’s a done deal,” she teased. “Actually, I think I will,” he responded. He kissed her on the forehead. She leaned her head onto his shoulder. Both stared at the sunset…

“Jeremy?” a voice said. Jeremy opened his eyes. “Huh. What time is it?” he asked. “It’s 3:30 in the afternoon. I’m Dr. Jones, the one in charge of taking care of Mandy,” a young man with almond-colored hair dressed in a white lab coat said. He was standing in front of Jeremy with his hand out to shake hands. Jeremy shook hands with him before asking how Mandy was doing. “I’ll tell you on the way to her room,” the doctor replied. They got up and walked down the hall. “She doesn’t have a concussion like we had originally thought. We have run some tests on her that should come back with some result as to why she fainted,” Dr. Jones told him. “Other than that, her heart rate, blood pressure, and pulse are fine. But did you notice anything weird about her lately? Any eating habits change or a noticeable drop in weight?” Jeremy tried to shake away the sleep. “No,” he replied. “I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. She was rubbing her head on the ride over, like she was having a headache. But that was just this morning.” The doctor stopped at a dark doorway. The duo walked inside the hospital room. The only light was coming from the heart monitor, which showed a steady heart rate. “I’ll let you have as much time as you need,” the doctor said. “Thanks,” Jeremy replied. The doctor nodded and walked back toward the waiting room. Jeremy walked farther into the room. He walked around the bed to the side with a chair on it. His face went slightly pale as he got his first look at his girlfriend. She looked so pale and lifeless. He couldn’t help but cry as he picked up her right hand. No tubes were attached to it, so he didn’t have to worry about one accidentally coming loose. “Why?” he asked out loud. “Why did this have to happen to her? Why couldn’t it happen to me?” He then remembered something Mandy had said to him a few days ago: “If you spend too much time asking why, or saying if only, you’ll drive yourself insane.” So he stopped thinking about that. Still holding her hand, he sat down in the chair. He became suddenly exhausted. He leaned forward to lay his head next to her hand on the bed and drifted off into a deep slumber.