I sat cross legged in the flooded grass. I didn’t care that my clothes were soaked through – that my shirt was sticking to my skin or that the blue dye from my jeans was bleeding through to my legs. I just sat there waiting, he had said that he would come and I trusted him.

I could feel my mother’s eyes boring into my back from the front window. She was worried. I had been sitting out here for two hours and my mom had seen him hurt me over and over again; she thought he wouldn’t come. But I knew he would, he had promised.

I couldn’t tell if my mascara was running from the rain or my tears, maybe it was both. I didn’t care. Nothing mattered anymore, he had said that he would come, he had promised. I tried to fight back the feeling of surrender but it was hard. Right now all I wanted to do was march inside, take a hot shower, and curl up with a huge quilt.

No . . . I would wait, I would wait for him to come. I would sit here patiently in the wind and rain because he had promised me. I told him that he could have one last chance and that was it. I knew he wouldn’t blow off this one like he had blown off my birthday and Valentines Day. He would be here.

I stared down the street, willing something to appear . . . nothing. But that didn’t kill my spirits. I just kept staring, waiting patiently.

I must have been staring for ten minutes before I saw the tiny red dot moving towards me. My heart jumped as a first reaction but a second look told me that whatever was moving towards me was not a car. Still, I couldn’t contain my hope. This was him, it had to be. I stood up and moved to the curb.
Excitement started in my toes and foamed up to the roots of my hair. It was Chris running –no car – towards my house. His dripping curly hair was sticking up at odd angles. His shirt was sticking to his not-quite-muscled chest and his cheeks were bright pink from running.
I laughed; Chris was definitely not a runner, but still the sight of him panting and out of breath made me light as air. I wondered briefly where his car was, but to me, it didn’t really matter.
I stood on my tip toes for no apparent reason. He was ten feet away now and I could see his smile, it mirrored mine.
“You came,” I fell into his arms.
It was weird that, after all he put me through, I still wanted him back
“I promise you I will always come back.” I had heard him promise me a million different things and I had watched him break each of those promises but, for once, I believed him.