"Hey Marie can we talk?" AJ asks timidly. Marie nodded still wondering why in the world AJ was standing at her doorstep. AJ lowered his voice and looked around before saying "Umm privately" Marie looked behind her to see her parents standing about 10 feet away from her. She looked back at AJ and once again responded with a nod walking outside and closing the door behind her.
AJ proceeded to walk towards where he had parked his car and sat on the sidewalk beside it. Marie remained on her feet not sure of what to do or say. AJ looked up at her and then patted a spot on the side walk by him gesturing to take a sit beside him earning half a smile from Marie. Marie then sat beside him silently.
"Congrats on your graduation, and on being Valedictorian" AJ spoke breaking the silence. "Same" Marie responded as the nervously moved her arms to cover her belly. She was not ready for Shadow to find out, she could not let AJ see her stomach. Thank God is dark out Marie thought.
"Um so I guess you are probably wondering why I'm here." Marie nodded still not saying a word out. AJ smiled "would you believe me if I said I just want to be friends?" he said with a chuckle. Marie showed no emotion she simply looked at AJ and shook her head.
Of course she would not believe that why on earth would he want to be friends now that we won't see each other again? If he wanted to be friends wouldn't he had done that when they attended school together? "Yeah I thought so" he snickered. "I guess it's time for the truth." He added his face turning more serious.
"Look please don't be mad but he sent me" AJ said worriedly. Marie felt her heart explode in happiness. She was hoping that was the reason. He hadn't forgotten her. Did that mean he thought about her and still loved her? She didn't try to hide her happiness. All she thought about was how he did think of her and how he did care. AJ could see the excitement in his eyes and his worry faded. AJ smiled at how happy she looked.
Marie then spoke for the first time "Do you know, well about what happened, about us?" she asked her voice transmitting as a bear whisper. He nodded "I know everything Marie. I know about him being Shadow Cat, about kidnapping you, everything." She looked up at him, he noticed the look of worry in her face. She had never spoken of what happened and he knew she would be ashamed if others knew what really happened. "What about the rest?" she asked.
She wondered if Shadow had told his best friend of raping her, she wondered if anyone else beside her really knew what happened during that time. AJ contemplated lying to her to make her feel better but he couldn't the truth is that he knew about everything. The morning after Shadow had called him freaking out, he told him how he had lost control. AJ knew it all and he couldn't lie. Marie saw him nod making her switch her gaze towards the ground shamefully.
"Marie, you know he really did love you right? He still does and he will never stop otherwise I would not be here." AJ spoke sounding more confident. Shadow sent him there to do a job and that's what he'll do. Marie only shrugged as a response to his question. "He left me" she spoke her voice cracking as tears filled her eyes. "After everything he just left me" She added. "If he loved me why did he leave me?" she continued as tears began to fall.
AJ felt his heart break as he saw Marie hide her tears. The pain in her voice was obvious, she was still hurt. Of course he understood why Shadow choose to leave her. Being part of that world himself he knew that the last thing Shadow wanted to do was risk her life.
AJ suddenly felt the need to hug her, he wanted to reassure her that she was not alone and so he did. He was not sure what came over him and he knew Shadow was watching, listening and he might not like it that he had hugged her but he would not forgive himself if he had left her to cry like that.
Marie allowed him to hug her. In fact she found herself hugging him back. Beside Shadow no one had ever care about her enough to hug her and comfort her when she needed it, she had no friends who were there for her so this was different it was nice and she liked it. AJ held her tighter as he rubbed circles on her back. "I know it's hard and you might not believe me because I'm his best friend but he left for you.
He wanted to know, he needed to know that you were safe, that you were happy, he knew that you would never be happy without your family, he knew you missed them greatly, I was the one that called that day to warn him about the police and he did not want to put you in harms way. Marie Luke felt like he could never give you all that you deserve but that does not mean he did not love you in fact it proves just how much he does."
Marie cried some more as she heard AJ speak. AJ could feel her tears go through his shirt onto his chest. "But I was happy AJ, I was happy with him. We could have figured it all out, we could have faced it all together, I loved him I wanted to be by his side but he didn't let me, he chose for me. I wanted to be with him I know we could have figured it out." Marie cried harder hugging AJ with all her strength.
"He knew you would have Marie, he knew that you would have chose to be with him but he did not want to put you in danger, he could not allowed you to sacrifice your life and freedom just for him. There was a war coming and he couldn't not allow you to be in the middle."
For a few minutes after silence overtook. Marie still held onto AJ as he too showed no signs of wanting to break the hug. For AJ he couldn't allow her to feel alone but for Marie it was different. She saw AJ as the last piece of Shadow, she saw it as the only way to know and contact him. She felt like if she let him go she would never know about shadow again. They hugged in silence until AJ decided to speak. "He misses you, he loves you so much, and he wishes he could be here with you." "Me too" "He sent you something."
Both AJ and Marie pulled back allowing the hug to break. AJ then proceeded to get up giving her a hand for her to get up as well and then walked towards his car. AJ then opened the passenger door and pulls out a bouquet of roses and a black gift bag with turquoise letters spelling out princess. Marie smiled at the memories of him calling her that flashed through her mind. "Oh kitty you did send it" she whispered as she took the gift.
"You know he wanted me to protect you, he wanted me to make sure you were always safe. I did at school I tried my best keeping all of those asshole and brats away just like he did before, you never noticed and he wanted to keep it that way but he has always cared. Before he ran into you that night and after leaving you the other.
He never stopped caring and he never will. Now that we graduated I know we won't see each other often but here, call me if you need anything, if you ever want to talk, or just need a friend, know that you can call me. If you need him let me know and I promise he will find a way to be there." AJ hands her a small piece of paper with his number written on it. She nods and gives him one last hug before saying her goodbyes. "Thank you, you have no Idea what this means to me" she said as she breaks the hug. "Bye AJ" "Bye Marie".
Marie ran up to her bedroom doing her best to avoid her parents at all cost. As she gets to the bedroom she closes the door and her eyes immediately lands on the roses he had sent her. They were breathtaking, she had never seen roses as beautiful as this. All from their beauty to the color they were unique. Never before had Marie seen black and blue roses. Setting the roses in a vase by the window Marie eagerly went to open the gift bag. Inside she found to small boxes and a big envelope. Maybe a letter?
After contemplating which to grab first Marie decided to go for one of the boxes. She knew that she had to work up the courage to open what she thought was a letter. Would she be ready for whatever was in the envelope? Probably not. As she opened one of the boxes she found herself astounded but its content. Inside the box laid a beautiful gold locket of a heart with the word Princess and a small diamond under it.
Marie carefully pulled out the locket and proceeded to open it. Marie gasp and covered her mouth with her free hand, a tear of joy escaping her eye. On the inside the left side held the words "My love for you knows no end" and on the right side was a small picture of them kissing in front on Niagara Falls with their matching outfits on. Marie held the locket tightly close to her heart for a few minutes before putting it on. Marie took a deep breath before reaching for the second box.
Marie then excitedly opened the next box. If the first one had been this romantic and thoughtful what will this one hold? Marie's eyes widened as she saw what this box held. Marie stood dumb folded as she stared at the gift the box contained. Her chest tightened, her hands became sweaty, and she was left breathless.