ever the same

"You were holding me like someone broken. And I couldn't tell you but I'm telling you now, just let me hold you while you're falling apart."

Everything was just she had imagined it would be. Blue and white streamers were draped across the room. Matching balloons clung close to the high ceiling. Music poured through the old sound system. A table on one side with punch and snacks. Really this reunion was just like their senior year winter dance except they were all old now.

But there was one thing Leah was looking for that she hadn't found yet. Donnie Ericson. The boy who saved her life. Leah doubted if he knew he had saved her. To him it was probably just some random night after a football game, a night where he consoled a girl crying by the bleachers. But it had meant so much to her.

She had always felt alone. She had been that girl. The popular, pretty cheerleader. Always surrounded by the other popular people and the wannabe popular people. In fact she had not even known Donnie's name that night. It took nearly a week for one of the wannabes to scrounge it up for her. But it was the classic high school tale. The popular crowd is made up of just as many lonely, insecure, sad teenagers as any other group was in high school. Leah was no exception.

But that night, Leah hadn't been able to hold the pretense of happy up. Her parents were fighting, her little sister was in the hospital again, and her big brother was nowhere to be found, probably strung out in some back alley. It was simply too much and she had hidden out on the side of the bleachers during halftime to cry.

Then there was Donnie. Who did nothing more than take her to a quiet spot under the bleacher, hold her hand, and listen as she blabbed on about all her problems at home. He barely said a word and when halftime was over, he stood her up and sent her on her way with one message: "I know you're strong enough for this."

Years had gone by and many things had happened, some amazing and some horrific. But those words echoed in her mind constantly, and Leah was strong. And when had weak moments, moments where she broke down and cried, she always imagined Donnie was there holding her hand.

So Leah searched the crowd for Donnie Ericson. She had been waiting for this day for years. Then, just as suddenly as he had appeared that night ten years ago, Leah looked to her side and there he was. Standing beside her as if he had always been there, as if he fit there. Her words failed her, so she reached out and held his hand as the happiest tears she'd ever felt streamed down her face.