Stephen felt that familiar feeling of tingle in the tip of his nose. The same feeling before he felt tears come along. It had been ever frequent lately. "I could have tried harder, Mom. I could have stopped them from getting in that car drunk and driving off."

His mom shook her head, tears falling over her own. After all, Danny had been her nephew as well, the son of her sister, Linda. "You can't blame yourself, Stephen. You tried your hardest, and you looked out for the best for your cousin. I wish circ.u.mstances didn't end up the way they did, but we can't change the past. I know it hurts now, but you have to move on."

He buried his face in his mother's shoulder, just to avoid being seen with more tears, "It's so hard though, Mom. He was my best friend. I just feel like I let him down. I feel like I let the whole family down, too. I can't even face Aunt Linda and not want to break down."

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"Oh, Stephen, she knows it wasn't your fault, and you did everything you could-"

"But it wasn't enough, Mom. It wasn't enough," he ended finally, before the tears made his words incoherent. He just collapsed into his mother, who held him dearly, and waited for him to recover. She patted his back and consoled him the best way a mother knew how.

It must have been close to ten minutes before the tears stopped flowing so freely, and Stephen pulled away, using a napkin to wipe out the excess from his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Mom," he said, pulling away and looking at her finally.

"Nothing to be sorry about, Stephen. It always amazes me how much and how deeply you care. Not just for friends and family. I think anyone in the world would be lucky to have a friend like you, sweetie," she replied, giving a quick kiss to his forehead.

He just gave a small smile, choosing not to respond. If I'm so great, then how come I don't have any friends, no girlfriend, and I'm just an overweight loser, he thought to himself. Not to mention, I'm twenty one years old and crying to my mother. But then again, she's the only family who would listen.

His thoughts gave him an idea, something that he just had to ask.