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Where We Left Off by Jaded Catalyst

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I had to wait a few days before the doctors would finally let me go home. It was mostly because they wanted to make sure that my shoulder was well enough for me to use crutches since my knee would be out for a while. They also told me that my ribs should be okay as long as I got plenty of rest and didn’t do anything to aggravate the injury more. I could tell that they wanted me to stay in the hospital for a few more days just to make sure, but I was so anxious to leave that they let me go as soon as they could. My dad had managed to visit me two days ago, but he was working on the day I was released. This mean that Richie would be picking me up and that I would get to spend the whole day at his house.
 
Not like I didn’t already spend all my time there to begin with.
 
It was a great car ride back to his house. It was a weekday so there were very few people on the streets. We rolled the windows down, blasting our music and singing at the top of our lungs. He gave me a piggyback ride into his house and we found ourselves constantly breaking out in laughter for no reason.
 
It felt like summer.
 
I was tired, injured, and on crutches, but I couldn’t have been having more fun. After a few more moments of meaningless laughter, we finally settled down and decided to watch some television. By some strange coincidence, the channel we were on was airing one of the Naked Brothers Band’s recent concerts. They were playing a new song from their most recent album, which I had chosen not to listen to.
 
This time, however, my eyes were glued to the TV. The guys had all grown up so much since I had the time to take a good look at them. They were playing the song “Your Smile,” which I remember hearing about. It was said to be one of Nat’s favorite songs and that he often felt sad when he played it.
 
The feeling seemed to be contagious, too. As I listened to the smooth ballad and soaring melody, my eyes remained fixed on the empty space beside the grand piano, to the right of where Nat’s keyboard was supposed to be, and in front of David. That spot was empty.
 
My spot.
 
Even after all this time, they had not rearranged their positions, and my designated area remained unoccupied. It seemed strange and right all at the same time. Even as Nat played, I could see his eyes fix onto that single spot. “I’m still singing for you,” is what he had told me.
 
Richie gently put his arm around me in a sort of half-hug, snapping me from my trance. “Do you miss it?”
 
I nodded and leaned into his chest, accepting his small gesture of comfort. “More than I thought I would.”
 
 “Do you regret leaving?”
 
I had to take a moment to think about it, but there was no doubt in my head as to what the answer was. “No,” I said, before pausing to correct myself. “At least, not yet.”
 
He grunted in response. I guess even a smooth-talker like Richie couldn’t always know the right things to say.
 
Knowing that he wasn’t going to respond further, I continued, “It’s given me a chance to try and live a normal life.”
 
My head still on his chest, I could feel him sigh. “Normal, huh? Do you really consider this year normal? I mean, we’ve been running around so much that we can’t even take a moment to breathe. Is that normal to you?”
 
 “I guess not. We’re going to have to change that, aren’t we?” I said with a sly grin.
 
 “I don’t think we have much of a choice,” meeting my grin with a devious glint in his eye. “Let’s see. Since you’re injured and don’t have a car, I guess I’ll have to stick around to give you rides to places. I won’t be able to tour for a while.”
 
 “And I’m going to need to rest up a lot of I want to heal. It looks like I’ll have to ease up on the extra work, huh?”
 
 “It looks like it. Too bad, huh?” he continued, his voice dripping in sarcasm
 
 “Yeah, that’s starting to get annoying,” I finally said, dropping the act. We both shared a quick laugh at our antics; sometimes I wondered how we could be so weird to each other and yet so normal in front of others.
 
Eventually, we wound down and turned off the television since we hadn’t really been watching it anyway. I relaxed and leaned on him once again, deciding to take a moment to rest my eyes. “My dad said he wanted me to eat dinner with him tonight and they you’re invited. We should get to my house by six.”
 
 “Alright.”
 
With my eyes still closed, I let out a long sigh. “How much time do we have?”
 
I couldn’t see his face, but I could almost feel the tender smile on his face. “As much as we want, Rosalina. We have all the time in the world.”

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