Strong by Jennifer Rivard Yarrington

gosh, he doesn't feel the same way. How do I pull away from this kiss and recover some of my dignity?
    But a moment later, he presses back into the kiss and reaches his right hand up to my face. He slowly runs his fingers across my cheek and then entwines them gently into my hair.
    I breathe a mental sigh of relief.  I let myself relax further into the kiss and my heartbeat doubles its pace. Chase pulls away for a moment and whispers, “I really like you, too.”
    He catches my smile with his lips, and this time, I feel flutters all the way through my body. He snakes his left arm around my waist, moves his right hand to the base of my neck and he pulls me impossibly close. I can't believe how strong his arms – or his lips – are. It feels like time has stopped and we are caught in an endless kiss. I want it to last forever.
    All too soon, however, Chase pulls away. He leans back in just a bit to press his forehead against mine.
    “ I'm glad we like each other.”  He hugs me tight and buries his face in my neck for just a moment.  He looks back at me and whispers, “Katie.” I flinch at the childish-sounding name. I pull back and look at him with my obvious displeasure written across my face.
    “ Can I call you Katie?” He winks and gives me another quick peck on the lips.
    “ I'll have to think about that one. No one has called me Katie since I was five years old.” I turn to start the truck and notice that there is a fog around the interior of the truck. “Wow, we steamed up the windows!” I laugh. “I hope my family doesn't notice.”
    I'm about to shift the truck into gear when I turn back to Chase and ask quietly, “Chase, what happened to you? Why do you need the crutches?”
    “ I was in a car accident when I was 17.”
    Chase begins to tell me the story that has re-created his life in the past four years. “My dad was driving. He made it out with only a broken wrist. I had to be extracted with the 'jaws of life.' My spine was messed up pretty bad. I was in the ICU for a week. At first, my doctors thought I would be completely paralyzed from the waist down. During those first few days, they prepared my parents for the worst.  I didn't really comprehend what was happening because I was on a lot of drugs, and I slept a lot. I knew my parents were beyond worried, but I figured the doctors would sort it all out and that I would get better in no time.”
    Chase sits back and shakes his head. “I can't believe you don't know any of this. I feel like I've known you for longer than, what? A couple weeks?” He takes a breath and goes on. “I think it was nice to meet someone with a fresh perspective on who I am . You know? Someone who only knows me as I am now and doesn't try to compare me with who I used to be. My focus for the past four years of my life has been the accident and therapy and recovery. When I met you, I had something new to focus on.  I didn't really feel like I had to tell you all about it right away because we just clicked.”
    “ Do you feel like I'm taking that away from you by asking you to tell me all of this?” I ask.
    “ No, no. Of course not. I can't really explain it, but you're the first person I've met in a long time who is interested in me , not what happened to me.” He leans in and gives me another small kiss. I'm tempted to make it last longer, but I want to hear the rest of Chase's story. “I want you to know what happened,” he assures me.
    “ The third or fourth day after the accident, I knew I could feel my legs, but I kept hearing the doctors talking to my parents about paralysis. It was weird because they didn't really include me in the conversation unless they were asking direct questions about how and what I was feeling. Finally, I just lost my temper and yelled, 'I'm not paralyzed!  See?' I tried moving my toes and I couldn't. I got this really sick feeling and thought, Oh no! I really am paralyzed!   The doctor started doing all of his pinpricks on my