I wash the last dish in a rhythmic motion over my kitchen sink. I can hear the television in the next room, the usual Friends re-runs that we watch each night after dinner. I turn off the water and reach for a dish towel to dry my hands. I reach up to put the dishes away in the upper cabinets. And suddenly his arms are around my waist.

I turn around and smile at him, locking my arms around his neck. I look deeply into his hazel eyes. The eyes that saved me. I sometimes go back to the day that we met. I could never forget that moment no matter how much I tried. It was not only the day I met my soul mate, it was the day I met my savior.

I was a junior in high school and I had completely cleaned out my locker, despite that it was only December. I struggled to carry all the textbooks. Then again I was struggling with everything back then. You see, I had been planning to do something dark later that night. My parents would have been out at a charity benefit. My brother was off at college. I would have the house to myself. I would die feeling the same way I did every minute of everyday. Lonely. I was thinking of how I was going to do it and all the reasons why as I ironically passed by the school guidance office.

It was after school hours, around six o’clock. I could barely see above the stack of books as I tried to navigate around a corner. All of a sudden the books flew out of my hands and all over the hallway’s cold linoleum floors. I started to kneel to pick them up, because as usual no one would help me. Or so I thought. As I reached for my trigonometry book, a pair of black Converse sneakers appeared before my eyes.

As I looked up I saw him. “You dropped these.” he said in an angelic deep voice. He handed me three textbooks. “Thank you.” I said shyly. I knew who he was, Benjamin Warner. I sat next to him in French class, of course he probably never noticed me. No one ever did. There were three long seconds of silence when we stared at each other. He was probably trying to place my face. But I was fixated on his striking hazel eyes. I blinked and silently started walking again.

“Hey!” he called after me. I was going to pretend I didn’t hear him and go home. I had something planned after all. But something made me turn around. He was right behind me now. “Let me help you with those, Jamie.” He didn’t let me object, instead he just took the textbooks in his large hands. We started walking in silence. He got to the door and I stopped short. Suddenly something hit me. “Something wrong?” he asked raising an eyebrow.

“You know who I am?” I stuttered. “You know my name?”

“Of course, you’re Jamie Brooks.” he said smiling.

I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. I hadn’t smiled like this in so long. A real, genuine smile. He knew who I was. And suddenly it didn’t matter if anyone else in the entire school knew who I was. One person, one boy, knew my name.

I started walking with him again, to my car. He helped me arrange the books in the trunk and slammed it shut. “So, do you want to tell me why you cleaned out your locker in December when school ends in June?” he asked in his velvet voice, his breath showed in the cold air. I bit my lower lip. He would never understand. He would think I was crazy.

He was Benjamin Warner, captain of the football team, straight A student, chess club champion, most likely to succeed, most popular. His life was perfect, he wouldn’t understand why I had chosen to end mine so suddenly. I looked up at him, his eyes were warm, like melted gold. And abruptly, I spilled everything.

“In a way you just saved my life, Benjamin.” I began. He looked puzzled. “I was planning to commit suicide tonight. I emptied my things, because I wasn’t coming back. But when you said my name, I realized that someone knows who I am. And you offered to help me, to me it was like someone finally cared. Even if its you, a complete stranger to me.” I shivered from the cold air rolling down my spine.

He pulled me into his arms and I felt the warmth, not from his body, but from his soul. I knew then that he wasn‘t the average jock. “Life is always worth living another day. Always remember that.” He whispered in my ear. “Of course I care, I would feel awful if you never sat next to me in French again. I know how it feels to lose someone that way, my brother hung himself last year. Please let me escort you home, the weather’s bad and I would actually love to have some coffee with you. We could talk about it if you want to.” he said pulling away from the embrace.

And I did talk to him about it. We talked about me and his brother. We talked about the Yankees and the Red Socks. We talked about French. We smiled and laughed. For the first time in months I felt a spark of happiness. And by the end of the cup of coffee he bought me, I felt like I had known him my whole life instead of just twenty minutes. He followed me home in his pickup truck and stayed with me until my parents got home. He saved my life that night.

And now I stare at him again. His eyes are the same gorgeous shade of hazel. Only now we aren’t standing in an empty hallway as two strangers. Right now we’re standing in our kitchen, married. If I had never let him carry my books, I would have missed out on the love of my life.

“Something wrong?” he asks.

I smile and pull myself even closer to him, “No. I was just remembering the day we met.” I said.

He sighed. “That was the best day of my life, Jamie.”

I let out a laugh. He looked at me puzzled again. “I thought that would be the worst day of my life. But it was only the beginning of thousands of great days that I get to be with you.”

“We’ll be together forever.” he said vowing. He kissed me gently and I realized that whatever afterlife is out there for me, can wait forever. When I get to my afterlife, the only thing that could make it Heaven is Benjamin staring down at me with the hazel eyes that saved my life so many years before.