Free From The Wreckage by Michele G Miller

the foyer, right where she stood only moments ago. Her mom is in front of her, kneeling and gripping her hand so tightly she thinks it might fall off. To her right is Mr. Rutledge, and she wants to climb into a hole from the embarrassment. Then she looks up and realizes she’s cradled against West. His arms are under hers as if he caught her mid-fall, and her back and head rest against his chest.
    "You saved me again," she acknowledges and looks up into his upside-down face.
    The vision brings to mind the Spiderman movie where Mary Jane kisses Spiderman upside down in the rain, and suddenly she is flushed with heat as a blush works up her body at the thought of kissing West in the same manner. She pulls her hand from her mother’s gently and tries to sit up on her own; allowing West to support her from behind. She sits forward enough to cross her legs in front of her. Sometime during the excitement of fainting and falling, her top had risen up and exposed her stomach, so she tugs it back down and places her head in her hands in a futile attempt to stop the pounding drums inside.
    "It's this concussion. Man, it hurts so bad," she moans; trying to explain to them why she passed out so suddenly.
    Clearing his throat, Mr. Rutledge stands, the floor creaking as he moves. "West, I think we should let them be, now."
    Massaging her temples, she turns to look between father and son. West looks conflicted as he skims her waist lightly with his fingers. She feels the heat of his chest through the thin tank top she wears.
    "Why did y'all come by?" she asks. The sound of her voice rattles her brain.
    "Honey?" It is the soft, sad word spoken by her mom that brings the memory back.
    "Oh, no...no," she moans, and bile rises in her throat. "Tanya?"
    Her mom stares back at her, her own eyes drowning with tears, and Jules' body begins to shake with the realization that her best friend of over ten years is gone. Folding in on herself, her mom pulls her into her chest and whispers comforting words as West tries to slide out of the way.
    Feeling the movement, her arm darts out of the cocoon she made and pins his leg in place.
    "No!" she warns; her head popping up from her mother’s embrace and shocking everyone with her vehemence. "Don't go."
    "Jules..."
    "Please? I need you here. I don't think I can do this without you..." She trails off in despair, but hates the sound of her pleading.
    She hears his dad's deep voice of warning. "West?"
    "I'm not going anywhere," he promises. Taking her hand from his leg and grabbing her hip, he pulls her back into his arms.
    Completely ignoring their parents, Jules wraps her arms around his waist with a sigh and curls her legs beneath her. She cries into his shirt and leaves wet spots on the cotton as the deluge of tears fall. West rubs her back in small circles with one hand while his other holds her head gently pressed to his chest.
    Behind her, her mother finally speaks. "You look exhausted. Can I get you some coffee?"
    It takes Jules a moment to comprehend that her mother is talking to West's dad, and after his deep 'Thank you', their retreating footsteps indicate she and West are alone.
    They sit there on the hardwood floor of her foyer for an indeterminate amount of time before she is finally able to speak.
    "What happened to her?" she says with a sniff; her face pressed to his chest.
    Jules feels him take a deep breath. Maybe I really don’t want to know , she thinks, as she tells herself she does.
    "I don't know. My dad was with the crew that found her and two others." His voice is ragged and laced with his own tears.
    "Two others?"
    "There are a lot of casualties, Jules. All over town." His voice sounds as broken as her heart is, as he explains some of the devastation. She groans again and sits back, her face only inches from his now.
    "That could have been us. We could be dead right now."
    West's hands cup her face. "But we're not. We made it," he insists, and the intensity in his eyes reminds her