Chase picked me up at six the next evening, and I found that I was really looking forward to going out with him. I hadn’t asked him where we were going, since it didn’t really matter to me. I knew he’d find something that we would both enjoy.

            When he arrived at my house, my stomach fluttered a little, surprising me. I hadn’t felt anything like that since Adam and I started dating nearly two years ago. I told my parents I was leaving and then went outside to get into the car. Chase smile briefly at me when I got in, and then he started driving.

            We drove for about twenty minutes before he pulled into a parking lot. When I saw where we were, I turned to him with a smile. “Canada’s national pastime?”

            He grinned shyly back. “I remember you saying you were a hockey fan. I thought it would be fun for us to watch the local team play.”

            “I think you’re right. Let’s go in.”

            We walked into the arena, and then Chase surprised me by going to the elevator. “My foster parents had tickets for a sky box,” he explained. “They weren’t able to make it tonight, so they asked if I wanted the tickets. I’m pretty sure I shocked them when I actually said yes,” he said with a wry smile.

            “My parents were very surprised when I told them I was going out tonight,” I admitted as we arrived at our assigned box and took our seats. “But I also know they were pleased. I haven’t gone out anywhere for fun since the accident.”

            He placed his hand over mine and squeezed it gently. “I’m glad you wanted to come out with me.”

            I smiled at him. “Me too.”

            We didn’t talk too much during the game. A couple of servers checked on us a few times to see if we needed anything, but other than that we were left alone. I’d never been in a sky box before, but it was kind of nice not having to jostle around people to get what we wanted. I knew with my cane that it would’ve been fairly difficult to do that, so I was grateful for the relative privacy that we had.

            Our team won and I found myself cheering for them along with the rest of the crowd. Chase watched me with an amused expression, but even he got into the spirit of things at the final goal. When it was over, we made our way back to the car. We managed to beat the rush out of the parking lot, and soon we were heading back to my place.

            Most of the lights were off at my house when we got there, and I knew my parents were in bed already. I hesitated for a moment before getting out of the car. I turned and leaned back in to look at Chase. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”

            He followed me down the driveway to the stables and into the building. I led him over to where Justice was waiting with his head over the stall door. “This is Justice. He was Luke’s horse.”

            Chase eyed the horse warily. “He’s pretty big.”

            I raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of horses.”

            “I’m not. I just have a healthy respect for anything that’s big enough to eat me.”

            I laughed and grabbed his hand, pulling him closer. “Justice won’t hurt you. He’s a good boy.”

            Chase cautiously reached his hand out and stroked Justice’s nose. “He’s soft,” he murmured.

            “Can I tell you a secret?” I asked him.

            He turned his eyes to me. “Sure.”

            “I’ve been coming out here and riding him every night for the past couple of weeks. Luke trained him on his own, so it helps me feel closer to him when I spend time with Justice. No one else knows that I come down here. They all think I haven’t been near a horse since the accident.”

            “Why don’t you tell them what you’ve been doing?”

            I sighed and leaned back against the stall door. “If I do, my parents will think I’m all better and they’ll start pushing me to do other things again. I’m not ready for anything else yet. Right now, this is my escape. If everyone knows about it, it no longer will be.”

            He nodded. “I know what you mean. Running is my escape.”

            I tilted my head slightly. “You run?”

            “Yeah. Every morning and most evenings as well. I’ve been doing it since I was thirteen.” A haunted expression came over his face for a moment before it went blank.

            “Are you fast?”

            His lips turned up slightly. “Yeah, I’m pretty fast.”

            Satisfied that I’d snapped him out of the thoughts that had distressed him, I turned back to Justice. “I’m too tired to ride tonight, but I wanted you to see him.”

            Chase brushed the back of his hand down my cheek. “Thanks.”

            “You’re welcome.” We stayed there for another minute before walking up to the house. At the front door, I turned to him. “I had fun tonight.”

            “So did I,” he replied. “Do you want to go out again sometime?”

             I bit my lip and looked down at the ground. “Yes, but I need to talk to Adam first.”

            Chase inhaled sharply. “I thought you two weren’t together.”

            When I looked back up at him, his face was closed off. “We’re not together. But I need to talk to him anyways. I need closure with him, which I don’t have yet. I haven’t been able to make myself talk to him.”

            He relaxed visibly. “Okay, I can understand that.” He put his arms around me and pulled me into him for a hug. Then he bent his head and brushed his lips very lightly over mine. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

            I put my fingers to my lips and watched as he got in his car and drove away. Then, with a small smile, I went into the house and got ready for bed.

            The next day, I waited by the doors of the cafeteria for Adam at lunch time. My stomach was in knots at the thought of having a conversation with him, but I knew I had to do it. I couldn’t let myself have a relationship with Chase until I’d cleared everything up with Adam.

            When I spotted Adam coming towards me, I pushed myself off the wall and hobbled toward him. “Can we talk?” I asked him quietly.

            Surprise flitted across his features, but he nodded and we went into the cafeteria together. We went to the back and found an empty table that was slightly away from the others. We sat down and he looked at me expectantly. “What’s going on?”

            I played absently with my fingers as I thought of how to best start the conversation. “Chase took me out last night.”

            Adam sighed. “I knew it was going to happen eventually.”

            I looked up at him in surprise. “What do you mean?”

            “Dana, anyone who looks at the two of you together can see that there’s something going on. It was only a matter of time until you became a couple.”

            I shook my head. “We’re not a couple. We only went out on one date.”

            “You don’t want to go out with him again?”

            I blushed slightly and looked down at my hands again. “I didn’t say that,” I mumbled.

            “If you want to go out with him, then why don’t you?” He sounded confused.

            “I told him I needed to talk to you first,” I replied, glancing up at him.

            Understanding crossed his features. “Ah, I see. Dana, we haven’t really been a couple since… well you know when. I mean, this is the first time we’ve actually talked in over seven months.”

            “I know, but I wanted to try and explain why I’ve avoided you all this time. You didn’t do anything wrong and I feel bad that I kept pushing you away.”

            He reached forward and covered my hands with one of his. “I know why you did. It took me a long time to figure it out, but I finally did. It’s because Luke and I were friends, right? Being with me brings back too many memories, doesn’t it?”

            I nodded. “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t do it.”

            “I get it. I miss him too.”

            I turned one of my hands over and squeezed his lightly before pulling back. “Maybe we can start over as friends.”

            “We can try,” he said. “And as your friend, I have to ask; how do you and Chase communicate?”

            I raised an eyebrow as I sat back and crossed my arms over my chest. “How do you think we communicate? We talk.”

            “Really? But he never talks.”

            I rolled my eyes. “Just like I never talk anymore, right?”

            He grinned sheepishly. “Right.”

            “Chase and I don’t talk if there’s other people around, but if we’re alone we talk all the time. Neither of us feels that what we talk about is anyone’s business.”

            Adam tilted his head slightly, obviously surprised at the tone of my voice. “You’ll never be the same person that you were before, will you?” he asked softly.

            I shook my head. “No, I won’t. How can I be when half of me is missing?”

            He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I hope Chase can help you. I know I can’t.”

            “You’re a great guy, Adam. I have no doubt that you’ll find a girl that’s perfect for you sometime soon. You were right for the girl that I used to be. But I’m too screwed up now to be any good for you. Chase is as screwed up as I am, so we oddly seem to suit each other.”

            Adam nodded. “I hope he can make you happy.” He held out his hand to me. “Friends?”

            I accepted his hand and gave him a small smile. “Friends.”

            After school, Chase and I walked to his car. Once we were on the road, I looked over at him. He knew I’d talked to Adam at lunch, but he hadn’t asked me about it and I didn’t know how to bring it up. I stayed silent until we reached my house and then I invited him to come in for a few minutes. He agreed and we went inside and into the living room. “I talked to Adam at lunch today,” I told him.

            “I know.”

            I looked at him questioningly. “Don’t you want to know what we talked about?”

            He shrugged. “Only if you want to tell me.”

            I frowned in confusion. “Did I do something wrong?”

            His face was expressionless as he regarded me. “No.”

            I sighed and leaned back on the couch, a little unsure of what to do. Something was obviously bothering him, but I wasn’t sure what it was. So I decided to just tell him about my conversation with Adam. As I spoke, I watched as his face changed, becoming lighter and a smile started tugging at his lips. It suddenly dawned on me that he had thought I was going to reject him. “What did you think was going to happen when I talked to him?”

            He lowered his eyes. “I don’t know.”

            “Did you think I was going to get back together with him?”

            He looked up at me with a suddenly vulnerable expression. “I’m not used to having good things happen to me,” he explained quietly.

            My heart went out to him and I scooted closer until I was pressed lightly against his side. He lifted his arm and cautiously placed it over my shoulders, and I smiled at him. “Are you happy?” I asked him.

            He nodded. “Yeah.” He was quiet for a moment and then he spoke again. “I’ve never had a girlfriend,” he admitted.

            “Really?”

            “Really. It’s kind of hard to have a relationship with a girl when I won’t talk to them,” he said dryly.

            “That would make it difficult,” I agreed. “So why do you talk to me?”

            “Because you’ve experienced pain like I have. I recognized that from the first day we met.”

            I thought back to that day and remembered the recognition I’d felt when my eyes had met his for the first time. “I felt the same way,” I replied.

            We sat quietly for a few moments before he reluctantly removed his arm from my shoulders and got to his feet. “I should get going home.”

            “Okay.” I struggled to my feet so I could walk with him to the door.

            He put his arm around my waist as we maneuvered our way through the house. “Can I pick you up for school tomorrow?” he asked as we reached the front door.

            “That would be nice.”

            He turned to face me and stroked my cheek lightly. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.” He looked a little unsure for a moment, and then he lowered his head and pressed his lips to mine.

            Pleasure rushed through me at the contact, and I responded by sliding one of my arms around his neck. The kiss was soft and very sweet. When he pulled back after a minute, I smiled up at him. “For never having a girlfriend before, you’re pretty good at this.”

            He grinned a little shyly. “I guess I’m a fast learner.” He gave me another quick kiss and then turned and left the house.

            When I rode Justice that night, I was lost in thought as we ambled around the arena. When he suddenly stopped, I focused on my surroundings and saw that we were now standing in front of a low cross rail that had obviously been set up for a beginner lesson. The middle of the jump was only about a foot high, so I squeezed my legs and Justice carefully picked up each foot as he went over it. I patted his neck and then slid off of him and led him back to his stall. “I think we can start to step up our rides,” I informed him as I untacked him. “I want to see if you’ll eventually jump for me. I think it’ll be awhile before we can attempt that, thought.”

            I finished untacking him and brushed him down quickly. I gave him a last pat as I shut his stall door. “See you tomorrow night boy.”    

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Sorry it took so long guys. We had a big birthday party for my daughter the other day and planning it took a lot of my normal writing time. My mom is up for a visit, so it might end up being another week before I update again, but I'll try and get it done earlier.

I got the idea for the date from a conversation at a family dinner that I was at. We were talking about the Canucks and that's when the idea for the hockey game came to my mind. Figured it was a good, Canadian date for two teens :-).

Okay, I need everyone's help with something. I hate being the kind of author that demands votes and stuff in order to update, but I'm thinking of entering this in the Watty Awards, so I really need them. I'll still update no matter what, but I'll definitely update quicker if I get high up in the ranks. I have nearly 10,000 fans, so it really shouldn't be difficult to move up.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Comment to let me know what you think.