Brooke
She smiled.
"Wonderful! Okay. When did you meet?"
"Towards the end of Freshman year." I answered.
"How was it?" She inquired.
"... Magic. Right from the start." I looked down as some rebel tears decided to escape.
She reached over and rubbed my shoulder and I looked up at her. We locked eyes. "I know what it's like to have loved and lost too, sweetie. I know it's hard. It'll be okay. I promise. But you cannot progress in a positive direction so lest you allow yourself to let go. Not of memories, just of the pain." She smiled sadly at me. Not out of pity, but of something else. Pain? Then it dawned on me. I looks down at her wedding ring & flickered my eyes back to her. Either she had lost her husband, or someone before him. Either way, I was ready to speak.
I nodded and took a deep breath. "Okay. I'm ready."
She smiled pridefully. "Tell me about the first day you two spent together."
From our first day spent with one another I already knew that I never wanted to spend another day without him.
Kellin had stood me up. Again. And my brother was at work. Causing me to walk home. In the rain.
The tears of God soaked my entire attire. Leaving my hair a wet, stringy mess and my makeup- a watercolor smudge on my face. I was so upset that I was crying. I didn't know why I still allowed myself to cry over such redundancy. Yet, I did. Every single time. As I reached to grab my phone to play some tunes to lighten the moment at least a little, I cursed under my breath when I realized it was dead. Even more pissed of than I already was and decided I'd be better off taking the bus. With that I sat on a bench and awaited the public transportation of druggies and weirdos of the night. After a few minutes of waiting, a black car pulled up in front of me and rolled down the window. "Brooke?" He called. I looked up and struggled to see the stranger who knew my name due to the rain. "It's me. Kyle.. From school?" He said
"Oh hey.." I replied. The stranger who made my blood freeze in the hallway. How could I forget? "C-can I maybe come in your car?" I asked nervously. He scoffed. "Of course you can. Come on in." He said sympathetically. We drove in silence for a few moments. "What happened to you?" He asked.
I looked down at my attire and realized I must look like hell. I blushed. "My boyfriend stood me up, my phone died, and to put the cherry on this shit sundae, I had no ride..I'm so sorry. I'm soaking your seat and I must look like a train wreck."
He pulled the car over and went to the trunk, returning with a blanket. "Don't worry about the seats, they'll dry... I think you look beautiful." He said shyly while handing me the blanket. I blushed. "You think so?"
He looked at me in disbelief. "Of course I think so. Doesn't everyone?"
I thought about Kellin.. "Not everyone.." I whispered.
"Then they're complete idiots." He said with a smile. "Next time you need a ride, you call me..Here. Where do you live? I'll take you there so you can change and then you and I can do something. How's that sound?"
I smiled. "Yeah...Okay, sure." I nodded "Make a left."
We arrived to my house several minutes worth of of small talk and two shitty Pop songs later. I rushed upstairs as fast as I could, leaving Kyle in the living room. I was so excited. Like a tween going on her first date. I picked out my high waisted shorts and Galaxy crop top. I quickly stretched on some knee socks and my Dr. Martens while walking to my bathroom. In there, I brushed my long hair and reapplied my eyeliner and lipstick when I was met with a knock at my door. "Brooke? You ready?" He asked
"Yeah come in!" I called out.
He chuckled. "Wow your room is really rad." He looked around, admiring my pictures and autographs and memorabilia and a bunch of other tumblr shit that I had attempted in my moments of boredom. It was oddly nice to be appreciated for ugly little crafts that I had wasted my life on.
I smiled. "Thanks. Are you ready?" I turned around and looked over at him.
His gaze met me with such awe shining through his eyes that it gave me butterflies.
"Woah. Brooke, you look gorgeous."
I looked down down at my carpet and blushed. With that, he intertwined his fingers in mine and led me back to his car.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"Wherever your heart desires. What do you want to do?" He answered.
I thought about about it for a few minutes before shouting like an overly excited child. "Laser tag!"
"Laser tag?" He laughed. "Are you sure?"
"Yes! I love it!...Kellin hates it so I never get to go anymore. Something about him not liking the whole 'sweating' thing."
He smiled. "Laser tag it is."
Although all we did was run around chasing people for hours, the night was actually so much fun. Me and Kyle were on opposing teams so it was pretty exhilarating to go after one another to get kills for our teams. "Player Barbie! Warning, an enemy has been detected in your side of the map!" Play TomTheMan had Walky talky'd me. "Roger that!" I called back. I loved how serious everyone took this game. With that, I ventured out to search for the so called perpetrator. A few minutes had gone by without any luck as to where the enemy was hiding I was starting to think Tom wasn't really the man, after all. Just paranoid. I had started to jog lightly back up to the tower when I was trapped into a dark corner with a gun pressed to my laser vest. "Say goodbye!" It was Kyle. I laughed. Sure, I'll play along. "Oh! No! Please spare me, good sir."
We both laughed for a few seconds, but after that it was silent. He put the gun back in the sling and reached down to move a strand of hair out of my eye and behind my ear. I held my breath and nervously watched his every move. He looked me over for a few seconds before his eyes met mine and took my breath away just like that first time in the hallway. After that I'm not sure what happened but We kissed. I wasn't sure if it was me who leaned in or he who kissed me. Whatever it was, it was beautiful, loving,sweet, reassuring, and just everything that it never was with Kellin. A few minutes later, the kiss was over and he pressed his forehead to mine, gazing at me. Most likely thinking about what was to come. I opened my mouth to speak, I felt my vest vibrate again. "Gotcha." He whispered.
I finished in second place, and he in first.
