Second Chances - The Incident

Marco and I go to the arcade to play a few games. We play air hockey, pool, Pac-man, Crossy Road, MarioKart, and DDR. After our arcade gift card is out of money, he walks me home. Yet my boyfriend, Noah, comes outside and shoots me a glare.

"So... Marco, right?" Noah asks. He looks as if he's ready to fight, but manages to keep a smile on his face.

"Polo," Marco says. They shake hands as I look down at the ground. They share a laugh as I wait for what's gonna happen next.

"Yeah, what are your intentions with my girlfriend?" Noah's voice turns from playful to serious. Dead serious.

"Noah...," I say, and try to send him a telepathic message to not fight.

"We're just friends! ... -ish." Marco answers. I look at him.

"Yeah, well, do you want to know what happens to a pair of a boy and a girl who say they're just friends?" Noah says calmly.

"What?" Marco really had to risk asking that?

"They get a face full of a fist!" Then Noah strikes at my forehead, and everything turns black. Suddenly, my head is spinning and stars are ringing, as I smell colorful things.

"Elle? Elle!" Two voices say at me. Then the darkness starts to fade as Noah and Marco's faces stare at me. I blink a few times and get up.

"Hey, if someone falls down, they shouldn't get up. If they had some injury, they would need professional assistance and-" That sounds like Marco. But he gets rudely interrupted by Noah.

"What are you, a doctor?" He snarls. Noah helps me up and nothing in my body seems to hurt. I just feel a bit dizzy, that's all.

"Yes, I guess I am!" Marco snarls back.

Noah just kicks Marco and gets all up in his face just to say, "Don't touch my girlfriend!"

"Are you crazy?!" I shout. "You hit me! I told you that you could change, and now it seems like you just want to fight for the rest of your life! Okay? Never speak to me again." I cry and runoff. As I keep hearing Noah calling out my name, I walk home as Dad follows me into my room.

"Hey, you okay?" Dad asks. He sits on my bed next to me. He looks around, and I already know what else he's going to say.

"You should clean up your room." He says.

"I had an incident with Noah again," I say, and he looks like he slightly understands. His eyes fill with tears and take a deep breath.

"Just give him one more chance, okay? Maybe he had a reason." He stands up and goes out the door. Maybe Noah DID have a reason to hit me. But I don't think I'll forgive him, just because it seems that he did it on purpose.

As I begin to draw a picture, I think about what Dad just said. Sometimes, drawings can describe such incidents like today. I try to draw a portrait of my favorite singer, who is Ariana Grande. I make a mistake on her eyes, and I use my kneaded eraser to fix it. But it doesn't work and I check the pencil. Turns out it's a pen. I sigh heavily and begin to start all over. I work on the ponytail, color in the highlights, add shadows, and blend the colors with a white color pencil. It usually takes 2-4 hours to finish a portrait for me, and when I finish, it looks like a photograph I just printed. I put so much effort into the paper that it smells like fresh, professional color pencils.

(The Next Day)

"Elle!" Noah shouts. I walk away as I try to find Lee. "Elle!" He continues. He raises his voice. "ELLE!"

I stop walking, and he starts to speak again. "Please." I turn around and look at him.

"I thought I told you to never speak to me again."

"That's true, but, please. I want another chance. How can I make it up to you?" Noah asks.

"I don't know," I reply. I honestly don't even know how to give him another chance to explain everything to me.

"Listen, I meant to hit Marco, not you. And I'm so, so sorry about breaking our rules. I know I shouldn't have. This is all my fault and, ... I just had to fight him, y' know?" He says.

I look at him one more time. "Okay, that's okay. I'm sorry." I say as he steps closer to me.

He firmly presses his lips against mine, and I kiss back. Just one kiss can feel this good. I feel his breath, which somehow smells like chocolate cake.

"Do you forgive me?" He asks.

"I won't unless we do that again." We laugh, just like the old times. He kisses me again, and I forgive him. Because a second chance is all that it takes.

(A Few Years Later)

"Hey, babe!" Noah calls out. We agreed to go out again today. I open the door to his car and sit in the front seat. Noah fastens my seatbelt for me.

"You don't have to do that!" I say as I greet him with a kiss on the cheek.

"Well, you didn't do your seatbelt. So I had to." He can be so cute sometimes. He starts the engine and drives to a park.

We hold hands as we walk on the sidewalk. Noah takes me to an empty football.

"I want to create a moment in the exact place where we first met." He says. I remember when in elementary school, Lee and I went to watch Noah's football game. After the game, he and I had our first ever conversation.

"Aww," I say. But then he sits on the ground on one knee, pulls out a small black box, and opens it. Inside is the most beautiful ring I've ever seen. I gasp and cover my mouth.

"Will you marry me?" Just those four words can make a girl happy.

"Yes, yes! Thousand times yes!" I exclaim, and he puts the ring on my finger.

"I love you, ever since you gave me that second chance," Noah says.

"I love you, too." I smile, remembering that incident we had a few years ago.

And after all of that, we kiss one last time.