“You fucking promised! You promised you wouldn’t do this again, but here we are!”

“Yeah, well,” I replied. “I also promised to let nobody treat you any less than you deserve.”

“That’s just it,” she said.  “I get fucking Batman even when I only need a Robin.”

“Blowup dolls have received more respect from him. Did you honestly think I would stand there and allow him to treat you like that?” I responded as I wiped the blood off my face. “You might not be picky, but you should rethink your standards a bit.”

Her glassy whiskey brown eyes got darker as she glared at me with such disgust.

“You’re probably right, but would I listen to somebody who would sleep with any hoe the minute she bashes her eyelashes?”

“Go ahead. Attack me all you want,” I smirked. “I am not leaving you… especially with you this intoxicated.”

“Just fucking go,” she raised her voice as she hit my ankles with her pink motorized wheelchair. “I am a big girl. I can handle myself.”

I avoided the throbbing stink and leaned over to engage the push mode on her wheelchair.

“Ooops… I hit the wrong button again.”

The veins in her face and neck bulged like earthworms out as she screamed as loud as she could as she kicked me.

“Quit being a controlling asshole! What you are doing is literally abuse and I could press charges!”

“I am not doing this to hurt you,” I argued as I switched it back to drive mode. “I am just trying to keep my promise!”

“I am not yours to rescue anymore,” she said as she backed up and rolled away in tears.

“Eliza, wait!”

 Granddad was right. Love ain’t nothing but a rough hurricane.

***

I met Eliza when I was thirteen. I spotted her reading on my favorite fishing dock. It was about thirty feet from my grandparents’ camp, which sat on a river that was a little lighter than Abita root beer.

“Woah. She is reading and it’s a comic book,” I thought.

There are a couple of disabled kids that go to my school, but they don’t seem all there and would not be reading so quietly. I sneaked up behind her to peek at which comic book she was reading. Her sandy blonde hair bounced off her shoulders as she jumped at the sound of boards squeaking under my feet.

“Geez! You gave me a heart attack,” she said as she tried to catch the comic book before it fell to the ground.  

“I’m sorry for creeping up on ya,” I answered. “I’m CJ. I usually fish here.”

“Oh. I’m Eliza,” she replied as she turned on her motorized wheelchair. “Sorry if I am in your way.”

“Oh, no. It’s alright,” I responded as I picked up her Captain Marvel comic book. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“It’s ok. I already read this one,” she smiled. “I just enjoy reading outside.”

“Gotcha. I like comic books too. Well, I am more a DC guy. I love Superman and Batman.”

“Ah. It doesn’t take x-ray vision to see you are up to no good,” she quoted.

In that moment, she became the first girl who made my heart go POW!