andy3bru
09-09-2008, 07:16 PM
*READ FIRST* I made this story for a final in my creative writing class freshmen year. It's not good but i just want some feedback. (and yes i know i have a lot of spelling errors, i got a 86%)
It was the beginning of sophomore year, and school was like it had always been, the Stoners still hung out by the café, Band members were still the nicest people in the school, and the hot girls were still *****es. I hung out with my friends where we had freshman year, the library. Nothing much was going on and we weren’t talking about anything interesting, just summer. Then I saw her, sitting by herself on one of the side tables. She was really attractive, Her deep brown hair went down to her elbows, her longs legs fit perfectly with her body, and her shirt was tight in just the right places. I’m not a pervert or anything but she was really good looking and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her until she noticed me looking, and turned towards me. I quickly turned my back.
I nudged my friend for his attention, “Hey Zack, have you ever seen that girl before?” I motioned to the girl and he looked over my head to see.
“No I’ve never seen her before, must be new. Why don’t you got talk to her, she looks lonely.” Zack gave me a sideways smirk.
“Alright, I will.” I stood up from my chair and looked down at his reaction.
“I wasn’t serious, you’re not actually going to talk to her are you?” His mouth hung open in disbelief, I wasn’t well known as a player back then.
“Yeah, I’ll give it a shot.” I turned back to the girl, and I hadn’t notice but she was still looking at me. I swallowed my fear, which made nice pit in my stomach, and walked up to her as smoothly as I possibly could. A small grin formed on her face and I smiled back, “Hi” It was the only word I could get out at the time.
“Hi.” she said looking back up at me with her big brown eyes. I leaned against the table next to her and sat there for about 5 seconds.
“Where ya from?” I asked still trying to be smooth as possible.
“I’m from southern England,” she answered never taking her eyes off me.
“Oh, really, you don’t have an accent?”
“Oh, yeah, I was born in the America. My mom’s family lives in England so we moved there, but my dad’s work made us move back here.”
I held out my hand “Well, I’m Andrew.”
She grabbed my hand and shook, “Nice to meet you, I’m Jess.”
The leather seat in the airport stuck to my butt as I sat sweating profusely in my seat. It was a cool early fall day, but I was nervous as hell and the three screaming kids next to me were not helping. I looked down at my plane Ticket,
Gate: 34
Departure: 8:00 A.M
I looked over at the wall clock to my left, it indicated 7:58 A.M. I couldn’t get any sleep the night before, my mind was moving a million miles per hour with so many thoughts. The airport intercom came on with a female voice: “Passengers on Gate 34 are now ready to board.” I grabbed my one briefcase of clothes and walked towards the counter with a mildly attractive blonde lady checking tickets. I brought one briefcase, and only one, I didn’t want to deal with customs. I handed the lady my ticket and passport which she took with and began to flip through the leafy paper.
“Ah, first time to England? Vacation?” she looked me up and down.
“Well kind of, my girlfriend lives in England and I’m visiting her for 2 weeks.” I grabbed my passport and ticket from the lady.
“How nice, have a nice trip, sir.” She hushed me away and took the person behind me. I walked down the bridge and got stuck in a line right before the entrance to the plane. I can picture the fat man trying to fit his oversized luggage in the above compartment on first class and no one can get by him. After about 2 minutes the line moved again and I strolled down the isle looking for row #17. I eventually found it and scooted into the window seat. The gray clouds in the sky darkened the ground and it looked like it was going to rain soon. I patiently sat in my seat and nobody ended up joining me in my isle, the flight was pretty much empty, just a handful of us.
Then the intercom above crackled on with the deep voice of who I presume is the captain. “Welcome passengers to flight #229, destination England. We thank you for picking American Airlines as your choice of travel. We will take off in about 30 minutes and we will have a flight time of approximately 7 hours. Please enjoy your flight.” The intercom crackled off and I sat back in my chair. I still remember when she left for England; I went with her to the airport. I slowly closed my eyes.
It was a cold October night, I took Jess to Canobie Lake so we could hang out a little. It went very well, we talked and laughed the whole day and Jess wasn’t afraid to do any ride.
“Hey how about this ride.” Jess exclaimed, with a sarcastic tone.
I looked up to see the sign that said “Tunnel Of Love” I felt my fingertips cold and my heart start beating faster. “Haha, Only if you want too.” Jess looked at me like she was thinking for a second and then turned back to the ride.
Jess looked it up and down and turned to me and said, “Nah, I was just kidding, lets go.”
I was relieved. We went on the rest of the rides, I had to lend my sweater to Jess since she forgot hers. I brought her home and walked to her door of her massive white house.
“Andrew I had a good time, we should do this again.” Jess said, looking back at me from the door.
“Yeah, definitely, well I’ll see you later.” I turned back to my car in the road.
“Hey, Andrew,” I looked to see Jess with a quizzical look on her face, “Was this a date?”
“No, this was just two friends going to an amusement park together.” I said. My fingertips were getting cold again.
“Alright, See ya Monday.” Jess got in her house and closed the door. I slowly walked back to my car.
“Welcome to England, the local time is 8:34 P.M.; we thank you again for choosing American Airlines. We hope you have a nice day.” I grabbed my suitcase from the overhead compartment and made my way off the plane. The air was colder here and it was dark and foggy. I threw my sweater on and walked out to the airport lobby where I bought a star bucks coffee. I made my way to the airport exit.
I stood outside the airport drinking my hot coffee as the cold stung my cheeks. I looked around. London was a beautiful city and I couldn’t wait to drive around. The flight was long and I felt like going to bed. I suddenly heard a familiar voice from behind me.
“Hey there, stranger.” I swung around to see the same brown eyes staring me in the face. I had forgotten how beautiful she was. I wanted to hug her right there and just reminisce about high school.
“Hey, Jess,” I took in a deep yawn, I was exhausted.
“Long flight huh?” She looked at me quizzically.
“Yeah, I’m really tired.”
“Well, come on, I’ll bring you back to my place.” We went and got into her car, I let her drive since I’ve never driven in England. Jess was still as beautiful as before. She had gotten taller, and she dressed a little differently then she had in high school.
We stepped into her green civic and drove away from the airport. Her car was cleaner then my apartment in New Hampshire. I slouched in the seat, trying to keep my eyes open.
“So what’s up, I haven’t talked to you in a while?” Jess kept her eyes on the road as she talked.
“Nothing, Just same old stuff.” I struggled to keep my eyes open. “What’s new with you?”
“I got a job as a real estate agent.” She said this very excitedly.
“Oh, cool.” It started to rain, and the drops made a clanking noise on the roof of the car as we drove.
“Yeah it pays a lot, and I’m practically my own boss.” If there was one job that I would have guessed Jess would have, it would be a job where you would have to have really good people skills. Jess always had a way to make you like her, no one hated her. She was friendly with everyone.
After a thirty minute drive we finally reached her house. It was a simple home, not big, just a place to live. The inside was beautiful though. It was extremely clean, all the floors were hardwood, and everything seemed to shine. There was extremely expensive furniture everywhere.
“There is where you’ll sleep.” I followed Jess into a big white room, with a leather sofa and an HD Television hanging from the wall.
“Ok.” I exclaimed, I tossed my self onto the sofa and closed my eyes. I head Jess walk out the room and I slowly dozed off.
It was one of those hot, humid spring nights. It was senior prom; I was going to Jess’s house to pick her up. When I rang the door she answered and stood in the doorway in this amazing white dress that split on the knees and fit her just perfectly.
“Wow! You look beautiful.” I slowly looked her up and down.
“Thanks, you’re looking pretty sharp yourself.” She leaned on one leg and twirled her hair in the doorway, “Shall we go?”
The night went fabulously, Jess was the best looking girl on the floor, and I had a bunch of guys coming up to me saying how lucky I was. She looked amazing, and I couldn’t take my gaze off of her the whole night. The last song came on and it was a slow song, so we danced together.
“You look amazing tonight.” I whispered into her ear, she was leaning her head on my shoulder and was making circles on my back with her finger.
“Thanks, Lucky me to have the best man to accompany me.” She looked up at me and smiled. “I’m sorry.” She put her head back on my shoulder.
“For what?”
“For going back to England; we won’t be able to see each other.” Her voice was saddened.
“Don’t worry, we’ll find a way, it’s not your fault.” She lifted her head back up.
“I feel bad though, it will be devastating to our relationship.”
“It’s not your fault, believe me .We’ll make it work.”
She placed her head back on my shoulder and leaned against my neck “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
On the first week of the vacation, Jess brought me to see all the major landmarks and brought me too her favorite restaurants. We went to Big Ben, The Palace, Parliament, and a bunch of historical churches that were massive. London was amazing, and the food was fantastic. I didn’t want to go back to New Hampshire, I wanted to stay in England, stay with Jess. We joked around the whole time like we used too when we were friends. We never acted like we did when we were going out though, but I didn’t mind that.
On the second week we traveled around the English isles and slept at motels in random neighborhoods. It all depended on where the road took us. Half way through the second week we drove down to Southern England, towards the coast. It was another foggy day, and we eventually lost our way in the fog. We stopped at a convenience store on the side of the road.
The sign read “Mr. O’Malley’s” outside the store. The inside looked a lot like a 7/11 but with random wood fixtures around the store. I guess it was to give the coastal store feeling. The man behind the counter was a big husky guy, with a long brown beard. He looked more like a member of Hells Angels, then a store clerk. I asked him the way back to London and he nicely marked it on my map. Jess came from the back of the store holding two sodas and a bag of chips.
We went back to the Green civic waiting outside, I opened Jess’s door for her, and we both got in. I was driving because Jess was using the map, she knew her away around better then I did. It was still foggy and a little dark out. I started the car and got on the road.
“hey, There were 2 teenagers in the back making out. Maybe when we were like that?”
My fingertips got cold again, “yeah, I remember.” The car became quiet and an awkward feeling hovered over both of us. “Whatever happened to that?” I quickly said. I didn’t mean to say it, and I didn’t really think of saying it, but it just came out.
“I don’t know, it just kind of ended.” Jess kept her eyes on the map and I kept my eyes on the road, telling myself to stay on the left.
“How about we bring that back?”
“We can’t.” Jess was quiet, almost at a whisper.
“Why not, remember what it was like, we loved each other.” Jess was quiet. “Jess?”
“What?” She kept her eyes on the map the whole time. She wasn’t reading it though, her stare was blank.
“Why don’t we go out again?” My fingertips were freezing
“I told you, we can’t.” Her voice was still quiet, distant somehow.
“Why not? We were perfect together.” Stay on the left, stay on the left, that’s all I had to worry about.
“Because Andrew, we just cant.”
“Well, why not?”
“Because…” she became quiet.
“Because what?” stay on the left, all I have to do, stay on the left.
“Andrew, I have a boyfriend now.”
My face became cold, I kept my eyes on the road. I couldn’t believe this happened. Why the hell am I even here then? I slowly pushed my foot on the pedal. Why didn’t she tell me? My mind felt jumbled, I couldn’t think straight. My foot continued to push the gas pedal towards the floor of the car. The revving grew louder, It sparked a pleasure deep inside me. I pushed down the pedal further, the road veered left and right. All I had to do was stay on the left. The pleasure grew from inside me as the revving grew within the car.
Jess started to say something next to me. I blocked her out, my heart was beating at a thousand miles per hour. She began to yell at me “Andrew, stop the car!” I turned left on the road. The feeling came over me like ecstasy. My fingers were trembling on the black leather of the steering wheel. “Andrew!” She was now screaming in my ear. I gripped the steering wheel so my knuckles became white. I took my foot off the gas and slammed both feet on the brake. Jess and I flew forward in the car, but our seat belts stopped us from hitting anything. The backside of the car swerved left, the screeching of the tires pierced my ears. It only took 5 seconds, and then the car had completely stopped where it was; I was pulled over enough so that any passing car could get by.
A red wave of anger took over my body, my fingers were still trembling and my teeth were clenching in my mouth. I unbuckled, got out of the civic, and slammed the door behind me. I walked over to the damp grass and fell to the ground. I closed my eyes to think. The sound of crashing water came from my right, it was pretty far away. I opened my eyes to the dark gray clouds in the sky. I sat up, a breeze came and swayed the wet grass around me. I looked out in front of me. There was a collapsed stone cottage a little way in front of me. But to me it was just a shadow nestled in the fog.
Soon my anger had been taken over by a great sadness that swept through my body. I hadn’t realized what just happened until now. I spent so much time planning for this vacation, took so many days off, just to find out that my girlfriend, well ex-girlfriend, has a new boyfriend. I sat cross-legged and listened to the waves crash against the shore, thinking about what to do next. Suddenly I heard the passenger car door behind me open and close followed by footsteps walking towards me. The sound of walking stopped behind me. It was silent for a minute, it was peaceful, but a storm was raging inside my mind.
“Andrew?” Jess decided to break the silence, I needed to think, I needed to get away. “You don’t have to talk to me, but…I’m sorry.”
Her voice was like a constant ringing, I wanted to get away from it. All the **** I did for her, all the time I wasted, for her. It all meant nothing I guess, not to her at least. 7 Years of my life, completely wasted on somebody who I thought was the one. The one who would make my life perfect, the one I would spend the rest of my life with. I held back tears that I desperately wanted to let out. It was all a joke, the whole time; I should have seen it coming. There was only one person to blame, and that was me.
I stood up and went to the car. I didn’t get in but stood at the door. The breeze was nice on my face, and I didn’t want to be trapped in a little space with Jess. I opened the car and slowly got in. Jess got in too, I was hoped to god she wouldn’t say a thing the whole way back. Luckily she didn’t, I started the car and went back to Jess’s house.
I slowly awoke with my face in the Tan leather couch in Jess’s living room. I slept with my clothes on and probably needed a shower. I got up and looked over to the digital clock next to me. It read 11:34. The smell of bacon and eggs filled the air and a sizzling noise was coming from the kitchen. I wanted to leave the house, get some fresh air, and eat some lunch. I had to go through the kitchen first. I dragged my self over to find Jess making eggs and bacon, she was wearing jeans and a purple shirt, her. Her hair was up and she had fresh makeup on.
“I thought I’d make lunch for us.” She looked over at me with a smile. I stared at her in disbelief. How stupid is she? I looked at her for a second, the smile on her face disappeared as she held the pan of bacon towards me. Does she not realize or something? I felt confused and helpless, and Jess could probably see this. She put down the pan of sizzling bacon back on the stove. “Andrew I’m sorry I…” I couldn’t stand her voice, I slowly walked across the kitchen and left the house.
I stopped at a local market store and bought my self a sandwich. It was ham, I always get ham. I could either try something new and hate it, or get what I always love. The sandwich wasn’t as good as the ones that I get at Ordways back home. I watched the people walk by. I missed my house back home, I miss my friends. The snow would fall soon, and then snowboarding season would begin. I wanted to go home.
I walked around London, wandering aimlessly. I didn’t know where I was going, just as long as I wasn’t at Jess’s. I screwed up, I let her take control of me, she took advantage like anyone else would. I gave some change to a homeless person on my walk and stopped at a couple bookstores. I couldn’t stand London anymore, it smelled like cigarette smoke everywhere. I was leaving tomorrow, I had called the airport and they changed my plane ticket. Early in the morning was when I was leaving, I didn’t want to say goodbye to Jess, it was unneeded.
It was getting dark, and I had spent the whole day walking around thinking. I slowly made my way back to Jess’s house. I was tired, and wanted to go to bed, and I hadn’t eaten much all day. I hoped that Jess was a sleep, I didn’t want to talk to her. Unfortunately when I approached the house, the light was on in the living room. I got into the house and walked to the living room to find Jess curled up under a blanket on the couch watching TV. She looked over at me, she wasn’t going to say anything this time, I could see that.
“So who is it?” I asked in a muttered voice.
“Who?” She seemed surprised I was talking to her.
“Who’s your boyfriend?” I asked leaning against the entrance to the leaving room.
“He’s lives in Germany, I met him when I traveled there for work.” Guilt was written on her face, I could see it.
I walked over and sat on the couch with her. I sat up straight and looked at the TV. It was Soccer, or I guess futbol, Manchester vs. London. After about 10 minutes of silence awkwardness, Jess decided to end the peace again.
“Did you still love me, I mean through college and the year after?” Jess stared up at me with the same brown eyes like she did in high school.
“Yes, I did.” I remembered the picture of Jess next to my workbench at work.
“Oh,” Jess kept watching me, I turned back to the TV. “I’m sorry.” I suddenly didn’t want to talk to her. It’s like she thinks a simple apology will fix everything, make it ok. I looked down at the floor. She saw this and got up and went to her room. I turned off the TV and went to bed.
I sat in the airport with my one suitcase of clothes next to me. It was 6:50 in the morning I was boarding at seven. I sat back in the leather airport chair. I knew I would never speak to Jess again, I left a note on her kitchen counter, just a simple goodbye. The intercom came on with an attractive ladies voice: Passengers boarding at gate seventy-two, may now board. I grabbed my suitcase and walked over to a line with a lady checking passports. Just like the ride here, only a couple of us were on the plane. I handed the lady my passport and boarding ticket.
“Hi sir, were you on a vacation.” She leafed through my papers like the lady at the other airport.
“Something like that,”
“How did you enjoy your stay?” I looked up at the lady.
“It absolutely sucked.” She looked up at me with a surprised face.
“Well I’m sorry to hear that. Here ya go sir, have a nice flight.” She handed me my passport back with a smile. It was weird I thought. This week I fount out something that ruined my life forever, I will never be the same. But life still goes on.
It was the beginning of sophomore year, and school was like it had always been, the Stoners still hung out by the café, Band members were still the nicest people in the school, and the hot girls were still *****es. I hung out with my friends where we had freshman year, the library. Nothing much was going on and we weren’t talking about anything interesting, just summer. Then I saw her, sitting by herself on one of the side tables. She was really attractive, Her deep brown hair went down to her elbows, her longs legs fit perfectly with her body, and her shirt was tight in just the right places. I’m not a pervert or anything but she was really good looking and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her until she noticed me looking, and turned towards me. I quickly turned my back.
I nudged my friend for his attention, “Hey Zack, have you ever seen that girl before?” I motioned to the girl and he looked over my head to see.
“No I’ve never seen her before, must be new. Why don’t you got talk to her, she looks lonely.” Zack gave me a sideways smirk.
“Alright, I will.” I stood up from my chair and looked down at his reaction.
“I wasn’t serious, you’re not actually going to talk to her are you?” His mouth hung open in disbelief, I wasn’t well known as a player back then.
“Yeah, I’ll give it a shot.” I turned back to the girl, and I hadn’t notice but she was still looking at me. I swallowed my fear, which made nice pit in my stomach, and walked up to her as smoothly as I possibly could. A small grin formed on her face and I smiled back, “Hi” It was the only word I could get out at the time.
“Hi.” she said looking back up at me with her big brown eyes. I leaned against the table next to her and sat there for about 5 seconds.
“Where ya from?” I asked still trying to be smooth as possible.
“I’m from southern England,” she answered never taking her eyes off me.
“Oh, really, you don’t have an accent?”
“Oh, yeah, I was born in the America. My mom’s family lives in England so we moved there, but my dad’s work made us move back here.”
I held out my hand “Well, I’m Andrew.”
She grabbed my hand and shook, “Nice to meet you, I’m Jess.”
The leather seat in the airport stuck to my butt as I sat sweating profusely in my seat. It was a cool early fall day, but I was nervous as hell and the three screaming kids next to me were not helping. I looked down at my plane Ticket,
Gate: 34
Departure: 8:00 A.M
I looked over at the wall clock to my left, it indicated 7:58 A.M. I couldn’t get any sleep the night before, my mind was moving a million miles per hour with so many thoughts. The airport intercom came on with a female voice: “Passengers on Gate 34 are now ready to board.” I grabbed my one briefcase of clothes and walked towards the counter with a mildly attractive blonde lady checking tickets. I brought one briefcase, and only one, I didn’t want to deal with customs. I handed the lady my ticket and passport which she took with and began to flip through the leafy paper.
“Ah, first time to England? Vacation?” she looked me up and down.
“Well kind of, my girlfriend lives in England and I’m visiting her for 2 weeks.” I grabbed my passport and ticket from the lady.
“How nice, have a nice trip, sir.” She hushed me away and took the person behind me. I walked down the bridge and got stuck in a line right before the entrance to the plane. I can picture the fat man trying to fit his oversized luggage in the above compartment on first class and no one can get by him. After about 2 minutes the line moved again and I strolled down the isle looking for row #17. I eventually found it and scooted into the window seat. The gray clouds in the sky darkened the ground and it looked like it was going to rain soon. I patiently sat in my seat and nobody ended up joining me in my isle, the flight was pretty much empty, just a handful of us.
Then the intercom above crackled on with the deep voice of who I presume is the captain. “Welcome passengers to flight #229, destination England. We thank you for picking American Airlines as your choice of travel. We will take off in about 30 minutes and we will have a flight time of approximately 7 hours. Please enjoy your flight.” The intercom crackled off and I sat back in my chair. I still remember when she left for England; I went with her to the airport. I slowly closed my eyes.
It was a cold October night, I took Jess to Canobie Lake so we could hang out a little. It went very well, we talked and laughed the whole day and Jess wasn’t afraid to do any ride.
“Hey how about this ride.” Jess exclaimed, with a sarcastic tone.
I looked up to see the sign that said “Tunnel Of Love” I felt my fingertips cold and my heart start beating faster. “Haha, Only if you want too.” Jess looked at me like she was thinking for a second and then turned back to the ride.
Jess looked it up and down and turned to me and said, “Nah, I was just kidding, lets go.”
I was relieved. We went on the rest of the rides, I had to lend my sweater to Jess since she forgot hers. I brought her home and walked to her door of her massive white house.
“Andrew I had a good time, we should do this again.” Jess said, looking back at me from the door.
“Yeah, definitely, well I’ll see you later.” I turned back to my car in the road.
“Hey, Andrew,” I looked to see Jess with a quizzical look on her face, “Was this a date?”
“No, this was just two friends going to an amusement park together.” I said. My fingertips were getting cold again.
“Alright, See ya Monday.” Jess got in her house and closed the door. I slowly walked back to my car.
“Welcome to England, the local time is 8:34 P.M.; we thank you again for choosing American Airlines. We hope you have a nice day.” I grabbed my suitcase from the overhead compartment and made my way off the plane. The air was colder here and it was dark and foggy. I threw my sweater on and walked out to the airport lobby where I bought a star bucks coffee. I made my way to the airport exit.
I stood outside the airport drinking my hot coffee as the cold stung my cheeks. I looked around. London was a beautiful city and I couldn’t wait to drive around. The flight was long and I felt like going to bed. I suddenly heard a familiar voice from behind me.
“Hey there, stranger.” I swung around to see the same brown eyes staring me in the face. I had forgotten how beautiful she was. I wanted to hug her right there and just reminisce about high school.
“Hey, Jess,” I took in a deep yawn, I was exhausted.
“Long flight huh?” She looked at me quizzically.
“Yeah, I’m really tired.”
“Well, come on, I’ll bring you back to my place.” We went and got into her car, I let her drive since I’ve never driven in England. Jess was still as beautiful as before. She had gotten taller, and she dressed a little differently then she had in high school.
We stepped into her green civic and drove away from the airport. Her car was cleaner then my apartment in New Hampshire. I slouched in the seat, trying to keep my eyes open.
“So what’s up, I haven’t talked to you in a while?” Jess kept her eyes on the road as she talked.
“Nothing, Just same old stuff.” I struggled to keep my eyes open. “What’s new with you?”
“I got a job as a real estate agent.” She said this very excitedly.
“Oh, cool.” It started to rain, and the drops made a clanking noise on the roof of the car as we drove.
“Yeah it pays a lot, and I’m practically my own boss.” If there was one job that I would have guessed Jess would have, it would be a job where you would have to have really good people skills. Jess always had a way to make you like her, no one hated her. She was friendly with everyone.
After a thirty minute drive we finally reached her house. It was a simple home, not big, just a place to live. The inside was beautiful though. It was extremely clean, all the floors were hardwood, and everything seemed to shine. There was extremely expensive furniture everywhere.
“There is where you’ll sleep.” I followed Jess into a big white room, with a leather sofa and an HD Television hanging from the wall.
“Ok.” I exclaimed, I tossed my self onto the sofa and closed my eyes. I head Jess walk out the room and I slowly dozed off.
It was one of those hot, humid spring nights. It was senior prom; I was going to Jess’s house to pick her up. When I rang the door she answered and stood in the doorway in this amazing white dress that split on the knees and fit her just perfectly.
“Wow! You look beautiful.” I slowly looked her up and down.
“Thanks, you’re looking pretty sharp yourself.” She leaned on one leg and twirled her hair in the doorway, “Shall we go?”
The night went fabulously, Jess was the best looking girl on the floor, and I had a bunch of guys coming up to me saying how lucky I was. She looked amazing, and I couldn’t take my gaze off of her the whole night. The last song came on and it was a slow song, so we danced together.
“You look amazing tonight.” I whispered into her ear, she was leaning her head on my shoulder and was making circles on my back with her finger.
“Thanks, Lucky me to have the best man to accompany me.” She looked up at me and smiled. “I’m sorry.” She put her head back on my shoulder.
“For what?”
“For going back to England; we won’t be able to see each other.” Her voice was saddened.
“Don’t worry, we’ll find a way, it’s not your fault.” She lifted her head back up.
“I feel bad though, it will be devastating to our relationship.”
“It’s not your fault, believe me .We’ll make it work.”
She placed her head back on my shoulder and leaned against my neck “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
On the first week of the vacation, Jess brought me to see all the major landmarks and brought me too her favorite restaurants. We went to Big Ben, The Palace, Parliament, and a bunch of historical churches that were massive. London was amazing, and the food was fantastic. I didn’t want to go back to New Hampshire, I wanted to stay in England, stay with Jess. We joked around the whole time like we used too when we were friends. We never acted like we did when we were going out though, but I didn’t mind that.
On the second week we traveled around the English isles and slept at motels in random neighborhoods. It all depended on where the road took us. Half way through the second week we drove down to Southern England, towards the coast. It was another foggy day, and we eventually lost our way in the fog. We stopped at a convenience store on the side of the road.
The sign read “Mr. O’Malley’s” outside the store. The inside looked a lot like a 7/11 but with random wood fixtures around the store. I guess it was to give the coastal store feeling. The man behind the counter was a big husky guy, with a long brown beard. He looked more like a member of Hells Angels, then a store clerk. I asked him the way back to London and he nicely marked it on my map. Jess came from the back of the store holding two sodas and a bag of chips.
We went back to the Green civic waiting outside, I opened Jess’s door for her, and we both got in. I was driving because Jess was using the map, she knew her away around better then I did. It was still foggy and a little dark out. I started the car and got on the road.
“hey, There were 2 teenagers in the back making out. Maybe when we were like that?”
My fingertips got cold again, “yeah, I remember.” The car became quiet and an awkward feeling hovered over both of us. “Whatever happened to that?” I quickly said. I didn’t mean to say it, and I didn’t really think of saying it, but it just came out.
“I don’t know, it just kind of ended.” Jess kept her eyes on the map and I kept my eyes on the road, telling myself to stay on the left.
“How about we bring that back?”
“We can’t.” Jess was quiet, almost at a whisper.
“Why not, remember what it was like, we loved each other.” Jess was quiet. “Jess?”
“What?” She kept her eyes on the map the whole time. She wasn’t reading it though, her stare was blank.
“Why don’t we go out again?” My fingertips were freezing
“I told you, we can’t.” Her voice was still quiet, distant somehow.
“Why not? We were perfect together.” Stay on the left, stay on the left, that’s all I had to worry about.
“Because Andrew, we just cant.”
“Well, why not?”
“Because…” she became quiet.
“Because what?” stay on the left, all I have to do, stay on the left.
“Andrew, I have a boyfriend now.”
My face became cold, I kept my eyes on the road. I couldn’t believe this happened. Why the hell am I even here then? I slowly pushed my foot on the pedal. Why didn’t she tell me? My mind felt jumbled, I couldn’t think straight. My foot continued to push the gas pedal towards the floor of the car. The revving grew louder, It sparked a pleasure deep inside me. I pushed down the pedal further, the road veered left and right. All I had to do was stay on the left. The pleasure grew from inside me as the revving grew within the car.
Jess started to say something next to me. I blocked her out, my heart was beating at a thousand miles per hour. She began to yell at me “Andrew, stop the car!” I turned left on the road. The feeling came over me like ecstasy. My fingers were trembling on the black leather of the steering wheel. “Andrew!” She was now screaming in my ear. I gripped the steering wheel so my knuckles became white. I took my foot off the gas and slammed both feet on the brake. Jess and I flew forward in the car, but our seat belts stopped us from hitting anything. The backside of the car swerved left, the screeching of the tires pierced my ears. It only took 5 seconds, and then the car had completely stopped where it was; I was pulled over enough so that any passing car could get by.
A red wave of anger took over my body, my fingers were still trembling and my teeth were clenching in my mouth. I unbuckled, got out of the civic, and slammed the door behind me. I walked over to the damp grass and fell to the ground. I closed my eyes to think. The sound of crashing water came from my right, it was pretty far away. I opened my eyes to the dark gray clouds in the sky. I sat up, a breeze came and swayed the wet grass around me. I looked out in front of me. There was a collapsed stone cottage a little way in front of me. But to me it was just a shadow nestled in the fog.
Soon my anger had been taken over by a great sadness that swept through my body. I hadn’t realized what just happened until now. I spent so much time planning for this vacation, took so many days off, just to find out that my girlfriend, well ex-girlfriend, has a new boyfriend. I sat cross-legged and listened to the waves crash against the shore, thinking about what to do next. Suddenly I heard the passenger car door behind me open and close followed by footsteps walking towards me. The sound of walking stopped behind me. It was silent for a minute, it was peaceful, but a storm was raging inside my mind.
“Andrew?” Jess decided to break the silence, I needed to think, I needed to get away. “You don’t have to talk to me, but…I’m sorry.”
Her voice was like a constant ringing, I wanted to get away from it. All the **** I did for her, all the time I wasted, for her. It all meant nothing I guess, not to her at least. 7 Years of my life, completely wasted on somebody who I thought was the one. The one who would make my life perfect, the one I would spend the rest of my life with. I held back tears that I desperately wanted to let out. It was all a joke, the whole time; I should have seen it coming. There was only one person to blame, and that was me.
I stood up and went to the car. I didn’t get in but stood at the door. The breeze was nice on my face, and I didn’t want to be trapped in a little space with Jess. I opened the car and slowly got in. Jess got in too, I was hoped to god she wouldn’t say a thing the whole way back. Luckily she didn’t, I started the car and went back to Jess’s house.
I slowly awoke with my face in the Tan leather couch in Jess’s living room. I slept with my clothes on and probably needed a shower. I got up and looked over to the digital clock next to me. It read 11:34. The smell of bacon and eggs filled the air and a sizzling noise was coming from the kitchen. I wanted to leave the house, get some fresh air, and eat some lunch. I had to go through the kitchen first. I dragged my self over to find Jess making eggs and bacon, she was wearing jeans and a purple shirt, her. Her hair was up and she had fresh makeup on.
“I thought I’d make lunch for us.” She looked over at me with a smile. I stared at her in disbelief. How stupid is she? I looked at her for a second, the smile on her face disappeared as she held the pan of bacon towards me. Does she not realize or something? I felt confused and helpless, and Jess could probably see this. She put down the pan of sizzling bacon back on the stove. “Andrew I’m sorry I…” I couldn’t stand her voice, I slowly walked across the kitchen and left the house.
I stopped at a local market store and bought my self a sandwich. It was ham, I always get ham. I could either try something new and hate it, or get what I always love. The sandwich wasn’t as good as the ones that I get at Ordways back home. I watched the people walk by. I missed my house back home, I miss my friends. The snow would fall soon, and then snowboarding season would begin. I wanted to go home.
I walked around London, wandering aimlessly. I didn’t know where I was going, just as long as I wasn’t at Jess’s. I screwed up, I let her take control of me, she took advantage like anyone else would. I gave some change to a homeless person on my walk and stopped at a couple bookstores. I couldn’t stand London anymore, it smelled like cigarette smoke everywhere. I was leaving tomorrow, I had called the airport and they changed my plane ticket. Early in the morning was when I was leaving, I didn’t want to say goodbye to Jess, it was unneeded.
It was getting dark, and I had spent the whole day walking around thinking. I slowly made my way back to Jess’s house. I was tired, and wanted to go to bed, and I hadn’t eaten much all day. I hoped that Jess was a sleep, I didn’t want to talk to her. Unfortunately when I approached the house, the light was on in the living room. I got into the house and walked to the living room to find Jess curled up under a blanket on the couch watching TV. She looked over at me, she wasn’t going to say anything this time, I could see that.
“So who is it?” I asked in a muttered voice.
“Who?” She seemed surprised I was talking to her.
“Who’s your boyfriend?” I asked leaning against the entrance to the leaving room.
“He’s lives in Germany, I met him when I traveled there for work.” Guilt was written on her face, I could see it.
I walked over and sat on the couch with her. I sat up straight and looked at the TV. It was Soccer, or I guess futbol, Manchester vs. London. After about 10 minutes of silence awkwardness, Jess decided to end the peace again.
“Did you still love me, I mean through college and the year after?” Jess stared up at me with the same brown eyes like she did in high school.
“Yes, I did.” I remembered the picture of Jess next to my workbench at work.
“Oh,” Jess kept watching me, I turned back to the TV. “I’m sorry.” I suddenly didn’t want to talk to her. It’s like she thinks a simple apology will fix everything, make it ok. I looked down at the floor. She saw this and got up and went to her room. I turned off the TV and went to bed.
I sat in the airport with my one suitcase of clothes next to me. It was 6:50 in the morning I was boarding at seven. I sat back in the leather airport chair. I knew I would never speak to Jess again, I left a note on her kitchen counter, just a simple goodbye. The intercom came on with an attractive ladies voice: Passengers boarding at gate seventy-two, may now board. I grabbed my suitcase and walked over to a line with a lady checking passports. Just like the ride here, only a couple of us were on the plane. I handed the lady my passport and boarding ticket.
“Hi sir, were you on a vacation.” She leafed through my papers like the lady at the other airport.
“Something like that,”
“How did you enjoy your stay?” I looked up at the lady.
“It absolutely sucked.” She looked up at me with a surprised face.
“Well I’m sorry to hear that. Here ya go sir, have a nice flight.” She handed me my passport back with a smile. It was weird I thought. This week I fount out something that ruined my life forever, I will never be the same. But life still goes on.