Chapter Five

“I’ll be there for you (When the rain starts to pour)…. I’ll be there for you (like I've been before)

I’ll be there for you (cause you’re there for me too)”

                                                                                -The Rembrandts

                                                                                                   I’ll Be There For You

Lindsey’s Pov

I walked into my best friend’s apartment and crash onto the couch completely exhausted. Today has been one hell of a day, that’s for sure. I turn over to see my best friend being cuddled by her fiancé on the sofa next to me…at least someone’s had a good day.

“I want to ask how your day went but seeing the way your shirt’s been buttoned, I'm guessing it was rather rough.” My best friend remarked sarcastically.

I looked down to see that I had buttoned my shirt completely backwards.

“Oh shut up Ang, not all of us can afford to be the nursing assistant to the nation’s best psychiatrist.” I reply her rolling my eyes.

“And it’s going to remain that way.” She replied me snuggling even deeper in her fiancé’s arms.

I fumbled around looking for my purse and search to see if I had left anything at the hotel. I wonder why I even bothered because let’s  be honest even if I did lose something there was no way in hell was I ever going back there again.

I got up from the couch and headed towards the room that I usually slept in from time to time. I step into the room and close the door, wanting to take my clothes off.

“Hey Lin! I totally forgot to tell you about the wedding plans, I found the venue!! Yes I know Meredith and Vanessa aren’t very keen on a wedding by the beach and lord knows Steph will surely complain about the sand but it’s my wedding and I can do whatever the hell I want!” She says without even stopping for breath.”

“Ang, breathe…now what did we discuss about coming in unannounced?”

“That I should knock? But it’s my house, dummy.”

 “Oh yeah , you were saying?” I say turning my back to her.

“As I was saying, so Isiah being sweetest fiancé that money can buy said I could have three weddings if I wanted to which I totally I told him off of course-what the, what the hell happened to you?”

I turn to see that she was staring at me with horror clear in her eyes.

“Who did this to you? Why the hell are you covered in bruises? What happened? Answer me Lin! And don’t you dare give me those your half assed lies when you don’t want to talk.”

I could feel tears well in my eyes as I stared at my best friend. It had been so long since I've seen someone genuinely worried for me. Yeah I knew my mum loved me unconditionally, no doubt about that but it really wasn’t the same when you only see her for three hours a day. I can’t tell her about the stressful things that go on in my life. I can’t tell her about how I struggle every month just to pay her hospital bills. For all she knows we still have truckloads of money passed on to me from my father’s death, the memory of what happened to us forgotten and I do nothing to correct her because I don’t want her to get worried  but Ang…Ang was different.

She knew when I sad, knew when I was happy, knew my greatest achievement and my deepest secret. I may not have known her for a long time but for the two years that she’s been in my life, she’s been nothing short of a blessing to me.

 I remember the day I had first met her. I had just moved here after being on the run for a while and was unfamiliar with the surroundings. I had been summoned by the head nurse that was in charge of my mum’s stay so I was on my way to visit my mother in the hospital. I was in a rush so I didn’t look at where I was going and crossed the road blindly throwing caution to the wind. Out of nowhere I see a grey sleek Camry pull out of the curve and barreled straight towards me. You know how in the movies during an accident scene you’re always shouting for the character to get away or move into a safer direction but in real life you aren’t given a second to think and just try to brace yourself for the impact, so there I was plopped on the ground with arms raised in an effort to protect myself. Luckily the driver was able to hit the breaks in time or I would have been a human side walk pancake.

“Oh my gosh are you okay?” I hear a voice call out to me from a distance.

Feeling a little disoriented I raise my eyes to see a beautiful woman rush to my side. She raises her hand to my face to see if I was hurt or not. Her touch was enough to wake me up from my daze and I shoved her hands off me in annoyance.

“Can’t you see where you’re driving lady?”

“Can’t I see? You’re the one who jumped into the middle of the road!” she replied me in an outraged manner.

I cracked a smile at her; it had been so long since some had been able to make a comeback at one of my comments and so well too. “Touché.”

The lady smiled back at me and extends her hands out to me for the second time today. “My name is Angel but you can call me Ang.”

I take her hand and shake it

“Lindsey …”

“Lin! Are you even listening to me? What happened to you? Do I need to bring out my baseball bat because believe me I'm more than ready to go prison for you. Come here.” She says grabbing my hands and leading me to sit on the bed.

I take a deep breath and try to assuage her fears. “Ang I swear, I'm okay. Nothing happened to me.”

“Well if you’re as alright as you claim to be the why are you sporting several bruises and is that a hickey I see on your neck? Talk to me Lin!” she said looking at me worriedly.

“Okay fine I’ll tell you what happened but please promise me that you won’t freak out.”

“Fine I promise.”

Closing my eyes, I proceed to tell her everything from my crazy plan to my brush encounter with Mr Carter