I haven't known you very long, but I am going to miss you terribly." I'll miss you in very much the same way. The summer will go fast and I'll be home...by September." But I won't be here. I'll have to back and live with my mother and go to school. I still have a year before I graduate. I will be seventeen by then, though." Oh, when is your birthday?" July, tenth." I'll have to remember when it is." That would be nice. I suppose we should go home. I don't want your mom to think you and I were. I blink. Trying to think coherently. Hadn’t I crushed this need, wiped the slate clean and started over already? Deep inside something tells me I should have known better. Nothing in life worth fighting for is ever that easy. The dead and buried always come back to haunt me. I’d be a fool to think otherwise.And now something has nudged awake part of my psyche that’s been hidden away for so long. I’m finding it hard to keep it from breaking free. Like a caged monster its resurfacing, as if from. ‘I not sure when I can pay you back for this,’ Amber admitted, ‘it may be awhile before I am on my feet again.’ She meant it. I could see she intended to pay me back. Not how I pictured a homeless person. I dropped my paper mache wall. ‘I don’t want you to,’ I caved again, ‘just think of it as gift you can pass on to someone else when they need it.’ Me, the altruistic idiot. If she hadn’t held up the line, I would have never caved in the first place. My charity rarely surmounted the occasional. It takes but seconds to prepare, but I grab his wineglass and the bottle as I head back in.‘Here’s the ice bag, and maybe the wine will help?’ I ask timidly.He looks at me and a tiny hint of his grin comes back. ‘It can’t hurt!’ He slam the rest of the glass and I hurry to pour him another, which he swigs half of in one gulp.‘Well, I’ve never had that happen before.’ he says.‘I’m pretty sure I’ve never DONE that before. Will you be all right? I feel horrible!’He manages a weak chuckle. I’ll be.