Put your story text here...Chapter I
Shea
"You what?" I say exasperated. All of this is running through my head so fast that I can't comprehend. He looks at me, but with what? Anger? Disappointment? Embarrassment?
"You Shea. I left Emily for you. It didn't seem fair for me to be with her when deep down I know I don't love her." By this point I am sitting on the ground hugging my knees and I know he sees the confusion in my eyes. "Shea, look at me." He sits down next to me and when I didn't look he gently pulled my chin up. As I glance into those deep green eyes, his shaggy hair frames his gentle face and falls into his eyes I can feel mine start to water. He tries to hold me but I push him away. Now I know I've done it, you can see the hurt in his eyes as he stands. It amazes me how tall he seems now when I feel like I just want to be like an ant and go hide in a little hole.
"What did you do to her you jerk!?" screams Emily. Apparently while we were talking she came out to see where I was. She rushes down to my side holding me. "Shea are you ok?" I don't answer but I slowly stand up and go for a walk as she spins around to face Paul. I hear them arguing about something but I really am not paying any attention.
As I walk I think about all that has happened today. First, Paul broke up with Emily and then he shows up at her door and kisses me. When I think of this I can feel my cheeks heating up and my lips tingle. I look around and I still have no clue where I am going. And yet the way he acted around me was oblivious to me. I never really noticed that he loved me, or even liked me for that matter. What seems even worse is I have no clue what I think of all this.
I look up and I ended up in front of Paul's house. How I ended up here is a mystery, but when I would get upset with Emily about something I would always go to his house. I think about turning away and running back home, slam my door and never come out for a million years. So I stand outside his pale yellow, 2 story house. Just studying it while I figure what I am going to do. There on the front porch is a swing set where his mom and dad would sit out at night and Paul and I would be in his room talking about anything and everything. If you go around to the back there is a grave where his favorite dog Lucy is buried. Go to the side of the house and you will see stepping stones from when we were six and the three of us (Emily, Paul and me) made hand prints and wrote our names.
I close my eyes and go back to that nice summer day. We had on our swimsuits and his mom was telling us to place our hand in some gooey stuff and write our names so we could see it when we got older. At the time it was a cool idea. Now I am confused. I walk down to the little stones and look at our work of arts. Paul had trouble writing his A's; they were always backwards for some reason. Then I look to mine. It amazes me how something that seems so big could have been so small at one point, and I take my hand and place it in the print. Maybe it was to go back to that day when things were simple and nothing really matters. But I know the truth; I do this so I can get away from all of this.
When I reach the front steps of the house and knock his mom answers, "Hey Shea," she always had that sweet Brady Bunch mom voice, "Paul isn't home, he said he went out to do an errand but if you want to wait for him in his room that's ok with me."
"Thanks Mrs. Wayland" I say in a cheery voice.
"No problem Shea. To be honest you caught me at the right time. I was out back working on the garden and I came in to get a glass of lemonade. Would you like some?" Mrs. Wayland asks me as I start to walk up the stairs to his room.
"No thank you Mrs. Wayland" I say cheerily.
Like normal families there are pictures of Paul from a baby to his teenage years in frames, like you are walking in a mini time machine. Now as I reached the top of the stairs I head for the room on the far right corner.
When I reach his door, the first thing I notice is that the door is closed. This surprises me because Paul's door is never closed. Then I reach for the doorknob. Turn the knob and slowly open the door.
I sigh at the sight of his room. When somebody knows they are going to have company they clean. It's when they don't expect you that you see who a person really is. Since I have known Paul practically all my life, this doesn't surprise me. There are posters of famous rock stars like ACDC, Led Zeppelin, Kiss, DIO and a whole bunch of others that I can't remember the names to. His bed has royal blue sheets that have been thrown into a heap at the foot of the bed while he slept. On his dresser there is a radio, the CD collection full of rock music is on the shelves next to it, and there is a layer of pure crap on his floor. Paul may seem like the "hard-rocker" kind of guy, but on the inside he is really a nice romantic guy. If you were to look under the floor board in the far left corner of his room, there is a book. This book is hidden for a reason, if any of his friends were to find it they would laugh at him forever.
I find it funny. Nobody except me knows that book is there. Sometimes when I am at his house, like now, and he isn't there I would pick up this book and will start to read it. There is no cover to the book, just its underside that begs you to read. It truly is a sad book, because forbidden love can be hard. Romeo and Juliet has to be my all time favorite book. Just the way Shakespeare writes the book. Both are in love yet they are forbidden to love each other. In my opinion, the remake of the book with Leonardo DiCaprio is phenomenal. The only thing I have against it is why does it seem that everyone in the movie has a gun?
My mind is still wandering about Romeo and Juliet when I decide that it is too quiet so I put on some music. I have to search hard for it but I finally found what I was looking for. Silly Paul. You can't hide my CD from me. I always wondered why you got me this and kept it with all of this rock but I guess I know why now. This is the only country CD in his collection, Brad Paisley Mud on the tires. As I put it in I smile and think about the day we went to get this.
It was sometime in October 4 years ago. Both of us were walking and we stopped at the store to look for some more CD's for his collection. Near the front of the store you have the hip hop and R&B, towards the center you have Rock, heavy metal and screamo, then to the far back on one little shelf you have country. To me that kind of seems unfair because country is my favorite type of music.
"Come on Paul. Please." I was begging him to buy just one country CD for his collection, "All you have is rock music. You need to widen your collection."
"Shea you know I don't like country. Why should I get it if I will never listen to it?"
"Will you get it for me?" I beg, "Please." He looks at me deciding whether or not to go along and buy the CD or just say no. Even his mom likes country so why shouldn't he have at least one?
"Ok," he says, "but just this one time Shea. I don't want word to get out that I am starting to listen to your country stuff."
I smile and give him a hug. At first he hesitates but then he wraps his arms around me as I look up into his eyes. "Thank you." I say softly and let go.
"So uh, do you know what CD you want?" Paul asks
"Um..." That's a good question. What kind did I want? There are little choices but still there are different kinds of country, new, old, men, women, groups, duets, top hits, and classics. This is just to name a few.
"Shea, Shea can you hear me?"
"Oh sorry I was off in la la land. You know what just forget it." It pains me to say no to the offer that has taken me so long to do but I just can't decide. Paul kind of looks at me and shrugs it off.
A few days later while I was at his house because me and Em just had another fight he decided to cheer me up. To my surprise he bought me one of the CD's that I have been wanting. He said that he saw me eying it and thought that since I couldn't decide then he would pick one for me. I thought it was sweet and he was right, it did cheer me up to have the CD. Ever since then it has never left his room but was well hidden. I had always wondered why it stayed there and he never snuck it into my bag or something along those lines. But I know he did it because he loved me. Wait scratch that. He didn't love me, he does love me.
