Sam
I wake up to Megan shaking me from my sleep while she says, "Sam, we have to go back to the reception."
I reply to her slowly. "Why?"
"They're probably looking for us."
"I don't want to go back. Can we just leave?" I grab her hand as she tries to pull me up from the bench.
"If that's what you want. I can drop you off at home." She pauses from trying to pull me up.
"I don't want to go home. Let's just drive somewhere, get some food. Let's go watch the stars or something."
"Your wish is my command."
*
Megan and I end up at a burger joint somewhere downtown. The place is crowded with people but we were able to get in due to Megan's connections with the owner. The people in the line were more than angry with us for getting in so fast. This is why you have to book reservations ahead of time, people!
We are sat at a table for two eating and drinking. I know I should've ordered a burger at a burger joint but I was really in the mood for chicken and waffles. Megan ordered a veggie burger to "maintain her diet". Although the both of us were in the mood for some beer, you can tell we're both kind of wreck.
We're still dressed in the dresses we wore to the wedding. We look out of place but we really don't care at the moment. All we care about right now is devouring the food in front of us. We don't say anything, we just eat.
Finally, after my last bite of chicken and waffles I ask, "So why were you in New York?"
Megan doesn't look up from her burger and continues to chew. She takes a big swig of beer and swallows. "Why do you want to know?"
"You completely just disappeared without a word. I kind of want to know why." I play with the chicken bones on my plate.
"It's really a long story; I don't want to bore you with it." She finally finishes her last bite.
"Megan..." I look up at her. She's looking down at her beer.
"I just needed to get away." She takes another swig of her beer.
"From what?"
"I really don't want to talk about it right now, Sam." She finishes her beer and calls for the waiter. The waiter immediately comes over.
"Can we have deep fried ice cream?" It looks like Megan comes here often. The waiter writes the order into his notepad and leaves.
"You're not already full from that burger?" I push my plate away.
"It's not for me. It's for you. To drown your tears into it." She takes her napkin and wipes the corners of her mouth with it.
"Wow, thank you but I'm not that sad."
"Are you sure? If I remember correctly, you just cried about fifteen gallons of tears today."
"I mean, what am I supposed to do when the girl I love decided to marry someone else?"
"You eat deep fried ice cream, that's what." After she finishes speaking, the waiter comes by with the dessert. He sets down two spoons, one for each of us.
I take the spoon in my hand and take a scoop of the dessert. I shovel it into my mouth and I taste the sweetness of the dessert. It definitely helps with my situation. For a second I forget about Alicia and Camille. But immediately after shovelling the last of it into my mouth, I go back to my depressed state.
"C'mon, I'll take you somewhere else to watch the stars." Megan leaves a hundred dollar bill on the table and leaves.
"You paid just a little too much for that meal." I say as she drags me out of the burger joint.
"I like tipping large amounts sometimes." She smiles and continues to drag me out.
We reach Megan's car and once both of us are in, Megan starts the car. Megan makes a left, a right, a left and more turns that I've lost track. I can't make out where she's going so I give up trying to figure it all out. Instead, I decide to play with her radio. I press buttons hoping that it'll find its way to a good station. As I press the buttons a couple more times, it lands on one station playing my favourite song. The radio blasts the chorus to Tori Kelly's "I Was Made for Loving You". Listening to the lyrics fill my eyes with tears once again. I look out the passenger window and try to hide my tears from Megan.
*
"Sam, we're here." I snap out of my daydreams and I turn to Megan.
"Where are we?" I say as I wipe the tears away from my eyes.
"Welcome to my humble abode." She smiles at me. She turns off the car engine and exits the car. She quickly runs over to the passenger side and opens the door for me.
"What a gentlewoman." Megan holds out her hand to help me out of the car and I take it.
As soon as I'm out of the car, she locks the car doors and we make it to the front doors of Megan's apartment complex. I've never been to Megan's apartment before. This is actually the first time in a long time since I've seen her for more than five minutes. We've all just been so busy. I've been off finishing university and Megan has been who knows where?
We make our way to the elevator and Megan presses the button for the fifth and final floor. It's only us in the elevator. None of us say a word as the elevator slowly makes its way up to the top of the apartment complex; a ding on each floor is the only sound we hear. On the fourth floor, another resident joins us in the elevator. It's an elderly lady with grey hair. She uses a cane to walk. As she walks in she comments on our dresses saying, "What beautiful dresses you two girls wear. What's the special occasion?"
Megan smiles at the elderly lady and answers, "A wedding, ma'am."
"Was it your wedding?" The elderly lady asks and pushes the button to the ground floor.
"It was a friend of ours." Just then, Megan takes my hand and continues to speak, "Ours is coming up soon." Megan smiles at me and a rush of electricity rushes through my veins.
"Ah, that's beautiful. You are both so beautiful. Treat her right, young lady." She says to me.
Finally, we reach the fifth floor and we step off the elevator, leaving the adorable elderly lady alone. Megan lets go of my hand and I feel like something is missing all of a sudden. I think no more of it though as I follow Megan through the long hallway. We reach Megan's apartment and I grab her hand before she walks inside.
"Megan, why did you tell the old lady that we were together?" I ask her.
"I just wanted to see how she would react." I drop her hand and I follow her inside.
"So, how are we going to watch the stars from your apartment?"
"There is a reason as to why I chose to live on the top floor."
"And what is that reason?" I follow her closely as she walks around her apartment looking for something.
"I have access to the roof. I got it!" In Megan's hand is a key and in the other is a picnic blanket.
"Do you take girls on the roof often?" I say to her playfully.
"Just the ones I like." For some reason her answer makes me blush. "C'mon, let's go."
We make our way back into the hallway and down to end of it where there is a door that is clearly labeled to be the stairs. We walk up the stairs all the way to the top and into another door. Megan opens the door with the key and walks through the door, keeping it open for me.
It looks beautiful out on the roof. There's a small greenhouse and potted plants were spread evenly everywhere. Lights were shining brightly, hanging from the two and a half foot tall brick fences surrounding the roof. A bench is placed right beside the greenhouse. It's clear that someone's been up here making the place look pretty.
"Did you do all this?" I ask Megan as she places the picnic blanket on the ground.
"How did you know?" She lies on top of the blanket.
"Well you said that's the reason why you chose the top floor." I explore around the roof, examining the plants.
"I do it because it keeps my mind off of things." Megan says.
"What kind of things?" I sit next to her on the blanket.
"School, mostly. People... everything."
"Megan, why did you go to New York?"
"I thought that maybe I could dodge the wedding by staying in New York." She sits up to stare at me.
"Did you not want to see Alicia getting married?" I face her.
"No, it's not her that I was avoiding."
"Then who was it?"
Megan sighs. "I was trying to avoid you. I didn't know how to go on seeing you sad about the whole wedding."
"You came anyways. Why is that?"
"I decided that you would probably need someone there to be for you, considering how Jennifer has been pretty busy."
"Thanks." I say as I play with my hands.
There's a short pause between us. For a little while, it's only the sounds of cars rushing by filling the silence but then Megan says, "You know, I've been writing."
"What are you writing about?" I look back up at her.
"It's a love story." Megan gets up from the blanket and walks around the roof.
My eyes follow her around as she wanders. "What kind of love story?"
"The kind that I never got to have. I wanted to write myself a happy ending." She laughs to herself. "I'm so silly for thinking that we all get happy endings."
"No, you're not silly. We all think that. I thought I was going to have that with Alicia but I didn't turn out to be her happy ending." I get up and join Megan leaning on the stone fence. "We just need to stop looking and chill out. The right person will come. That's what Jennifer always told me."
"Are you saying that maybe the person we're looking for was right there all along?" Megan turns to me.
"That's something we'll find out in time, I guess." I stretch out my arms and I yawn.
"Are you tired? The couch is open if you want it." Megan says, yawning by the end of it.
"No, I really shouldn't bother you. You just got back from New York; you probably don't want any visitors."
"You're already here, Sam. I don't mind." Megan walks over to the blanket and gathers it up. "We'll watch stars another time if you're feeling tired."
"Well, if you insist." We laugh as we make our way back to the roof entrance. "When we get back, I want to read this love story of yours."
Megan stops at the door and says, "No! It's really cheesy, you won't like it."
"C'mon, I would love to read it!" I push her forward so I could get through the door.
Megan pushes me back playfully. "In time, Sam, in time you'll get to read it!"
"I'll be waiting then!"
*
Sam
The next morning I wake up on Megan's couch. I wake up to a delicious smell of bacon, pancakes and coffee. I stretch in the pyjamas Megan lent me and I make an inhuman noise to warn Megan of my awakening.
"Good morning. You didn't have to cook me breakfast." I say to her as I walk to her dining table consisting of only two seats.
"Oh, I didn't. There's actually only enough for myself." Megan walks over to the table with her food and she sits down on one of the seats.
"Well, then I should that you should have cooked me breakfast. I am the guest after all." I steal a piece of bacon from her plate.
"Calm down, there's some more." She steals back the bacon I took from her. "Just sit down; I'll get it for you."
Megan gets up from her seat and walks back into the kitchen to retrieve my food. She comes back with an exact replica of her own food and a cup of coffee as well. As she places them in front of me I say, "Thanks, babe."
Megan blushes and grins slightly. "I don't know how you like your coffee so I just kept it black." She places sugar cubes and cream in front of me.
"Do you have any plans for the day?" I ask Megan as I place two sugar cubes into my cup of coffee.
"Nope, I'm still not done my little vacation. I was thinking of just staying at home and relaxing the whole day." Megan takes a sip of her coffee. "Don't you have work at the hospital?"
"I only work three days a week for twelve hours each. I usually try to get more shifts but I think I deserve some time off." I blow at my coffee and I take a sip. "Fuck! That burns."
Megan laughs at me and says, "Great job. Do you want some water?"
"Don't laugh at my pain! And yes, water would be great!" I stuff bacon into my mouth.
Megan rushes over to get me a cup of water and delivers it at the table. "Here you go, Madame."
"Thank you, Monsieur!" I nod at her as I accept the gift of water.
Megan takes a bite out of her food and says, "Sam, we need to talk about something."
"Talk about what?" I ask with a mouthful of pancake.
"About... how much... you want to read my book!" She says, taking another bite of her food.
"Oh yeah, I would love to read it!" I dip my pancake into the syrup and into my mouth. "Or you could just tell me what happens because reading is too much work."
"Okay, so do you want to read it or do you just want me to tell you?"
"Just tell me the story."
*
"Jacob is a hardworking office man in his late 20's living in New York. Anne is an independent woman also in her late 20's, working as a middle school teacher." Megan says as she cuddles up in a big blanket on the couch.
"Okay, so Jacob and Anne." I nod.
"Yeah, so Jacob and Anne both take the same train to work every single day. They take notice of each other every now and then but have never been interested to talk to each other. They would have the occasional smile here and there but they've never had a conversation with each other ever." Megan pauses to take a sip of her second cup of coffee. "So for the two, they have a daily routine. Wake up, get ready, catch the train, go to work, finish work, back on the train, go home and repeat. But one day, Jacob's daily routine is interrupted. Jacob would usually come home to his girlfriend, Shannon. Then this one Saturday night, Jacob didn't come home to her. Rather he came home to her and another man, whom she's been seeing for quite a while now."
"Whoa, Shannon cheated on Jacob?" I punch a pillow. "I hate cheaters!"
"Calm down there. You cheated on Alicia remember?" Megan puts down her mug onto the coffee table.
"Are you forgetting the part where I cheated on her with you, her best friend?" I cross my arms at her.
"Okay, c'mon now. Anyways, so Shannon cheated on Jacob. Jacob was devastated and left. He got back onto the train and made his way to a bar somewhere in NYC. And then guess who he sees there!"
"Who?"
"Anne! Jacob doesn't recognize her at first but Anne remembers him quite well. She remembers him as the guy on the train that wears awful ties. Jacob spills his guts to Anne and they become quick friends." Megan goes to reach for her coffee mug.
"Let me guess, Jacob and Anne fall in love." I pull the blanket up to my face stealing Megan's half from her.
"If you keep interrupting me I won't tell you the rest of the story." Megan steals back the part of the blanket I pulled on top of me.
"Okay, I'm sorry! Keep going."
"The bar on the weekends becomes part of his new routine. Jacob has moved out of his apartment with his ex-girlfriend and into his new bachelor p-"
"So they do fall in love?" I ask once again, unable to stop myself.
"Okay, that's it. I won't tell you the rest of it. You'll just have to read it!" Megan tells me, taking a big sip of her coffee.
"No! Sorry! I won't interrupt you again. I promise." I put up my right hand in the air as to symbolize my promise.
"Nope, you'll have to read it."
"Well, at least tell me if it's a happy ending."
"People have their own ideas of happy endings."
"What's your idea of a happy ending?" I look at her straight in the eyes.
Megan looks straight back into mine. "Right now, my only idea of a happy ending is for the person that I love to start falling in love with me too. But, I know that their heart is in a different place. No matter how much I love them, I know they'll never love me quite in the same way. No matter how much I dream about kissing them and having them wake up next to me every morning, it'll never happen. I'm just not the one for them like they are for me. It breaks my heart but I'd rather have them in my life than not. That's all I can ask for."
"Have you told them how you felt?" I start tearing up from Megan's speech.
"I don't bother because I already know the answer." She wipes away a tear from her right eye.
"You never really know until you ask."
Then at that moment, Megan and I just sit there in silence. She looks like she's contemplating something. I wonder what it is but I don't ask because I don't want to interrupt her train of thought. The way that she's talking about this "love" of hers, seems like she really loves this person. I really wonder who it is.
"Sam..." Megan begins to say.
"What is it?" I say softly back at her.
"Do you still love Alicia?"
"Of course I do. She was my first love. Why do you ask?" I stare into her wide eyes.
"What about me? Do you still love me too?" She drops her stare at the ground.
"Megan..."
"Don't answer that. I already know what you're going to say. You're going to say that you don't love me anymore and that we can never be together. You're going to tell me that you're still too in love with Alicia to ever want to be with me. You're going to say that I'm not the one for you. You're going to say that what you felt for me was just a crush and nothing more. But that one night that we kissed each other, you can't deny how good it felt. You can't deny that you felt something too. You felt your heart beating faster and butterflies were fluttering around in your stomach. You can't deny that you felt fireworks with each kiss. You can't deny that you wanted more. Sam, I still love you." Megan begins to cry. "I'm still in love with you and I wish I would've said it sooner."
I take Megan in my arms and I hug her tight. Her face is buried in my chest, soaking my shirt with her tears. I stroke her hair comforting her. I kiss her head and I say, "You're right. I can't deny any of those things because I really did love you too. I loved Alicia too and I still do. But I can't say that I don't have feelings for you anymore because I do."
Megan looks up at me and stares into my eyes. "So what are you saying? Do you want to be with me?"
"We can most definitely try. We'll take it slow."
"I'd love that."
Megan moves away from our embrace but before she can get too far, I grab her close and kiss her on the lips. She makes a look of surprise, her eyes wide open but after a little while, she realizes just what is happening and closes her eyes to take it all in. She wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me back. I wrap my arms around her waist and I move her closer to me, probably the closest we've ever been to each other. The butterflies start fluttering again. The fireworks start going off again. My heart starts beating faster again. The electricity in my blood starts running again. I feel nothing but Megan's lips. I'm totally consumed in her once again.