Meant to Be (The Saving Angels 1)

“Yes much better,” I said, drawing my knees up so she would have more room to sit.

“You have to try to control it better. It’s not good for your body to keep going through this. I’m going to try to show you some tricks that I picked up while I was growing up that seemed to help me cope. I want you to practice them and learn to use them. I’m worried that you’re endangering yourself and I don’t want you to wind up in the hospital. We love you and need you,” she said giving me a quick hug. “You need to trust Mark more, let him know when the emotions are going to attack.” She whispered in my ear.

I was touched by Sam’s speech. I knew I could always count on my parents growing up, but I had always felt like the odd man out around other people. My childhood was lonely, friendless, and now for the first time, I was surrounded by three people who made me feel like I belonged.

“Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m hungry, and unless all of you feel like eating left over take-out Chinese food from who knows when, we will have to go out for breakfast.”

“Well, as much as I would like a good case of food poising from old take-out, I opt to go out to breakfast,” Sam piped in.

“Me too, I’m done with throwing up for a while, let’s head out,” I said.

I waited as the others got ready to go. I already changed back into my clothes from the day before. Mark had thrown them into the wash while we were talking.

I needed to pick my mom’s car up from the Boardwalk and take it home. All of us would have liked to stay together another night, but tomorrow was a school day, and I knew, there was no way my mom would let me stay at “Sam’s” on a school night.

Sam did think it would be easy for her to talk her foster parents into letting her stay over at my house since they would be busy in court all week. The trial for their case was finally starting, and the time they weren’t in court would be spent at the office preparing for the next day.

I felt I could play on my mother’s sympathies to let Sam stay over.

We swung by Sam’s on the way to breakfast so she could pack an overnight bag. I told her to pack extra just in case we were able to con extra nights from my mom.

I knew if I had to be separated from Mark, I at least wanted Sam to be with me.

The Boardwalk was packed when we finally showed up, stuffed from breakfast, to pick up my mom’s Focus. I groaned when I saw the parking ticket sticking out from under the windshield wiper. “Great, how will I explain this to my mom?”

I got out of Mark’s car and walked to the front of my mother’s car. I pulled the ticket out from under the wiper blade and looked at it in dismay.

“Seventy-five bucks!” I screeched. “You have got to be kidding me!”

Mark came over and grabbed the ticket from me. He folded it up and put it in his pocket.

“You don’t have to do that,” I said, embarrassed that I made such a big deal about it.

Mark watched as color began to stain my cheeks. He leaned forward and gave me a kiss. I forgot my train of thought as I lost myself in his kiss. I liked that he was a neutralizer for me; the kisses were a definite bonus.

“We’re going to work on those tricks later;” I heard Sam mutter behind me. “He’s not going to be there every time.”

I heard her muttering more, but I tuned her out as I kissed Mark one last time. It would be almost twenty-four hours until I saw him again, and my heart already ached, thinking about the separation.

I noticed that Sam was being unusually quiet.

I turned around to see her locked in Shawn’s arms. I felt a twinge of guilt. Poor Sam and Shawn, they would be separated for longer than Mark and I. At least I would get to see Mark at school tomorrow. Sam would have to wait until after school to see Shawn again.

Mark and I stepped away to give them a few more minutes of privacy.

“You don’t have to pay the ticket. It was my responsibility,” I told Mark, making a grab for the ticket.

“I want to, anyway, Shawn and I planned on coming back to get it last night, but we forgot. Besides, I’m a working man and you’re just a mere student,” he said teasingly.

“Mere student,” I said in mock anger. “You’re a dirty old intern who preys on sweet innocent students,” I teased.

“I like to prey on you,” he said, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

He was joking, but my heart still skipped a beat. The idea seemed a little too appealing.

Sam and Shawn finally separated, and both looked quite flustered. Both had the same dazed look on their faces, like they had forgotten where they were.

We got in my mom’s Focus.