By: Katelyn Tijerina
One morning I awoke well refreshed and ready for what the day had to offer. At first, I felt a chill in the air like something bad was bound to come and tear down this wonderful day. Ahead of me like a looming darkness ready to strike. I shook the feeling and opened the window to find the lovely chirp of the birds singing their songs. My love walked into the room and plopped down on the bed next to me. He let out a happy, but heavy sigh. His presence reassures me of what the day has to come. I hug him; I can feel his energy spreading throughout my body. I release and instantly feel the difference.
Two hours later, I’m dressed in a button down white shirt with sunflowers outlining it, a pair of white denim shorts with some turquoise flats. I have straight blond hair and green eyes. I head to work with a smile in my heart. I smile as I walk. The air is cool and refreshing. I love the feeling of breathing in and feeling as if I’d eaten a mint. I get to work and I’m tired! The walk took me out without my daily coffee fixing. I lag on, and at five at night, Lucas texts.
I’m excited to hear from him I’d been missing him since this morning. I look at the text, the words stinging my eyes and stabbing my soul. I stare at the words, desperate. Like they might change or he might text me back and say it was a joke. There, on my phone, under the words “Love,” it says:
I think we should part ways.
I walk to the bus, not wanting to walk to my apartment, a little more than a mile. With tears streaming down my face, I get some sideways glances from some street walkers and hobos like I’m the strange one.
I get home and get in the elevator to my apartment. I open my door, and a flush of cold air blows my hair back like a spirit just escaped. I look in my eyes stinging all his stuff is gone. I mean all of it, not a single trace of the man I loved. I go to my room and lie face down on my pink silk bedspread. Tears of streams and rivers fell from my burning eyes, leaving a wet circle on the pink pillow my face had been against. I’ve been deprived of my once loyal love. The more I thought of him, the more I cried. He had forsaken me. My heart, like a stone pulled me down toward the bed. My heart ached for my once warm chest. My soul buried with our love. I go to sleep thinking of him.
The next morning, I call in sick saying I have the flu. My eyes still burning from the night before. I knew nothing to do but watch a romantic comedy on Netflix while scrounging on wine and ice cream holding on to the bear he won me on our first date, November 5, 2013.
Days go by, and I haven’t gone outside the apartment for a week; I’m sure people at work think I’m dead; inside that’s how I feel. I finally go outside to get more coffee. I decide to drive; I get to the coffee shop; buy my coffee and start walking out but then I see him! Lucas! The person I’ve been missing more than coffee or daylight. He looks so perfect with his curly brown hair and blue eyes. I walk up to him. I’m nervous about my appearance. I’m in yoga pants and a big Virginia Tech sweatshirt.
“Hi,” I say while brushing back my blonde hair, saying it in an involuntary high pitch. He gives me a head nod.
“So, how have you been?” he asks.
Of course, I’m not gonna tell him the truth.
“Oh, I, uh, got a promotion at work,” I say.
“Congratulations,” he responds.
“Um, yeah, how have you been,” I say, trying not to sound nervous.
“I’ve just been uh, alive…” he retorts. I laugh at his stupidness. I sit down at the little wood table. I put my coffee mug on the table and bag on the floor. The table is a bit sticky. He’s sitting on a cushion while I’m sitting on a wood chair that is bound to mess up my back. The cafe’ is decorated with plants green ferns and pink flowers decorated the railing the look beautiful. We started talking about things like movies and what the other has been doing; I lied the whole time like I totally have not been laying on my couch binge watching movies like 20 First Dates and ha, ha I totally haven’t thought of you once in the past week ha, ha. I made an effort not to look needy or desperate even though I totally was. After a while of talking, we decided he’s stupid for letting me go and maybe try again. We make a dinner date for this upcoming Saturday.
The night came. I’m in my most expensive purple dress with a v-neckline. It was tight and uncomfortable, but I wanted to look my best. I wore makeup and burned myself curling my hair, which fell right back down an hour later. He picked me up right before 8:00 p.m. He was wearing a sloppy white T-shirt and ripped pants, my personal rebel without a cause.
He took me out to dinner. The restaurant was decorated with candles and dim lights. The table was draped with a white tablecloth and red napkins under silverware. There was a flower on either side on his side was a red flower on mine was a white. I could see a leaf had fallen off the white flower into the water. As the night went on, I started to see things little annoying things I was to blind to see before. While we were talking I was looking straight into his eyes while his eyes tracked the waitress walking past us. In the beginning, I thought these moments of fleeting infidelity were slightly attractive, that he might look, but I was the lucky girl who got to sit with him, but now it’s just expressly disrespectful. He even burped loud like nobody was there. I used to think that was funny and would give a cute little laugh, but again rude. Sometimes it seemed he wasn’t listening so to prove it I said a random phrase.
“Hey have you ever thought about how getting a demotion at work is better than going on a date with you?”
“Hey, James Dean!” I said to get his attention
“What?” His attention snapping back to me from the woman at an adjacent table.
“ What are your thoughts on the subject?”
“ Um, yeah. Sure.” was his hypothesis on the topic.
We got back at ten at night. I stood outside his car while he came around to say goodbye. We stood close, his blue eyes almost looking gray. We leaned in and almost touched, then I stopped and leaned away
“Look your a cool guy, but I can’t do this. You do these little annoying things that make me want to punch you. Also, I realize this week hasn’t been all that bad after I took a step to evaluate how much you meant to me. You’re a slob, practically unfaithful and you never listen.”
“I listen,” he half mumbled.
“Fine, tell me one conversation you heard.”
“Uh, uh”
“Bye”
“Bye.” He hopped off the curb, swung his keys around his finger, jumped in his car and just drove off, leaving me standing there like I saw someone’s head chopped off. I could not believe it. I actually thought he would be sad, but no, he just ran off like I was a dog nobody loved. I guess it’s better than him being sad. I started to cry again.
Note; I wrote this in 6th grade and submitted it to the Young Authors Competition, sadly I did not win but I did get 3rd in the realistic fiction genre, hoped you liked the story.
Picture from;
Bandages, In. “Two Doctors Wrapping Large Heart in Bandages.” Getty Images, 2021, www.gettyimages.dk/detail/illustration/two-doctors-wrapping-large-heart-in-bandages-royalty-free-illustration/200433710-001. Accessed 29 Jan. 2021.
