It was Sunday morning, a moment all students could just sigh and relax a moment. This particular Sunday morning was free for us all; the first of the football season. The principle, being a hard-core Dallas fan, decided that the big game tonight was a holiday to be celebrated, and we had to cancel school for tomorrow, leaving us all without homework to cram into our brains. Plus, being the anniversary of 9/11 helped, too.
Mellisa decided today was the day to sleep, and probably never wake up. I doubted she would at least. I couldn't sit around though, just listening to the radio or surfing the web; everything was talking about 9/11 and it was a little depressing. I wondered if I should call Bale, or maybe my mom, or Dad, but I chose instead to go on a walk. It was a nice fall day, still warm, but the leaves were just beginning to change their colors. Aside from summer, fall has always been on of my favorite seasons. The colors and smells, along with the perfect weather, it's always been so beautiful to me. I slipped on a pair of worn jeans, not bothering to change out of my sleep shirt that was five sizes too big, and completed with some tennis shoes.
With a single glance to a snoring Mellisa - though she doesn't believe me that she snores - I headed towards the door and opened it. When I did, I was surprised to trip over a small package in the floor, sitting just outside the doorway. After catching myself on the wall, I picked up the little shoe box, duct taped like it was being sent through the war.
It only took a second the read the big TN that meant it came from the one and only Tennessee, along with 'Dad' written in the top corner, even though the proper thing would be to put his name. I smirked and went back inside, forgetting all about my walk, hugging the box to my chest. Grabbing a pair of scissors from my desk I sat on my bed, tearing at all the silver tape. When the lid opened, I felt my eyes water.
The leather book, weathered from being read too many times, was tagged with several bookmarks, all marking favorite quotes throughout the pages. The title The Notebook pressed into the spine with gold foil seemed to glint slightly in the light. My smile was bigger than imaginable as I looked back into the box and found an envelope with the name Silly Belly written on the front. I quickly put down the book and ripped open the letter.
Dear Annabelle,
Though I didn't go to college, I've heard it can be hard. I bet you're under a lot of stress, probably workin' on getting all those tests done. I can't tell you how proud I am, though! My baby girl, goin' to college! I still can't believe it... Anyway, I thought I would send you a little something that will get you through the rest of the semester. I don't know if you still remember this book, ever since you told me you're engaged, I kind of forgot about it myself... I thought I would send a work of art such as The Notebook to you, in hope maybe you'll find comfort in it and some relaxation. (Jimmy told me how to spell that. Damn English was never my strongest class.)
I hope you enjoy reading this, and I'm sorry we never got to finish it together. Don't worry about me, I've already read it a total of 1,000 times. I just hope you like it.
Love always,
Dad, Jimmy, Joel & Billy
I smiled to myself as I read the letter again and again, happy to have heard from him. It felt like forever since I've seen Dad smile, or hugged him, or even listen to him read to me while we sat in his recliner. Holding the book in my hand just made last summer even more real; the first time I rode Juliet again, seeing Bale, meeting Ashley for the first time, really, and seeing how well she's turned out. We still e-mail each other regularily. She'll tell me how Harry bugged her for a while, saying everything I told her was a lie, but she ended up just changing her number and even began dating again. Last I heard she was dating this cute guy named Leo.
I shook my head, coming back to the present, and opened the book right away, sliding the box and tape off the bed with my feet. When I opened it to the first page, I felt my eyes water once again. Written on the first page, next to the title, was:
My Dearest Annabelle,
"Nothing is ever really lost, or can be lost,
No birth, identity, form--no object of the world.
Nor life, nor force, nor any visible thing;
Appearance must not foil, nor shifted sphere confuse thy brain.
Ample are time and space--ample the fields of Nature.
The body, sluggish, aged, cold--the embers left from earlier fires,
The light in the eye grown dim, shall duly flame again;
The sun now low in the west rises for mornings and for noons continual;
To frozen clods ever the spring's invisible law returns,
With grass and flowers and summer fruits and corn"
Love,
Your Father
Joyfull tears crept down my face, reading my favorite poem again and again. It's been my favorite since he read me this book. I remember him getting lost in the poem, just like I had, and he sounded like a different man. I knew my daddy was smart, and a kind man, but he sounded wiser; like he had lived through everything Noah Calhoun had. I grinned once more before going to the very first page.
The large yellow sun coasted through the bright blue sky, moving from the east to the west within moments it seemed. I lost myself somewhere in the worn pages of this book, at some point kicking off my shoes and laying on my stomach, grinning wildly to myself at times and tearing up at others. I never finished the movie with my mom, and I never finished the book with my dad. Now the ending was up to me, and I had to finish it and find out for myself. Daddy refused to tell me the end, but I was glad he wouldn't.
Some things just need to be left a mystery, for now at least.
When I got to the part where Allie went back to Noah, and they...got together, I laughed out loud when I saw the Post It note stuck to it, saying 'not until you're 50 years old!' I remembered Dad coming to that part as we read together and clearing his throat nervously. "We'll just skip this part for now. Maybe after you're married...or after I'm dead and won't know a thing."
I took off the Post It note to read the page, laughing even if it was the most serious thing you could read, just because of the memories. Once I finished, I put the note back.
"What's so funny?" A voice asked from the doorway.
I whipped around, noticing it sounded nothing like Mellisa, and saw a tall, lean, blonde man standing in the doorway, easy, relaxed, not noticing he didn't belong there. With one leg crossed over the other, he grinned smoothly at me. I sat up, putting a bookmark in my book before setting it down. "Hey, Craig."
"How are you, Miss Annabelle?" He asked.
"No need to add the 'Miss', just sit." I laughed. He nodded, accepting my invitation and sat down in my desk chair across the room. I looked over to Mellisa's bed, but saw she wasn't there. She must have left while I was reading. Wow, I was really into that book.
"What are you reading?" Craig's voice called, lurring me to look back at him.
I shrugged, "Just The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. It's the best book I've ever read...my dad sent it to me this morning, it's kind of our book. We spent last summer reading it together. Every night we'd sit in his recliner and he would read it to me...and I don't know why I'm telling you all this, you don't really care." I ran a nervous hand through my hair, realizing I was rambling.
Craig shook his head, "Nah, I totally understand. I'm the same about my favorite book. It's actually one of Nicholas' books, if you'd like to borrow it some time. It's called The Rescue."
"Oh, that'd be nice, thanks."
"No problem,"
We sat for a moment in awkward silence, Craig scratching his slightly unshaven cheek while I just looked down at my feet. I was trying to figure out a nice way to say 'what are you doing here?' while he snapped his fingers once and made me jump. "I got it! Since the two of us don't really have plans, why don't we go get some dinner?" He asked.
I smirked as I looked at him; so that's what he was doing here.
"Is it really that late?" I asked, avoiding his question. Craig was a nice guy, but I love Bale; I'm not going to dinner with him.
Craig nodded, "The perfect time for Olive Garden," He nodded, bringing the question back up.
"Look, Craig, you seem like a great guy, but-" I began, but he shook his head.
"No, nothing like that. No pressure at all; a bunch of my friends and I were going to go. You can bring your room mate, too, if you want. I just figured you Tennessee girls eat, too, you know." He winked.
I found myself laughing quietly at him; he was funny. Thinking about it for a moment, I was starving. After eating nothing but peanut butter for the past couple days, and not eating anything at all today, I was so hungry I could eat a cow. I didn't say that, though, I didn't want to seem like a total country girl. Then I thought about something and winced. I guess I'll be eating peanut butter again... "I can't go."
"Why not?" He defalted, looking disappointed.
"I don't have any money. We've been eating jars of peanut butter in here for the past week."
Craig waved my comment away, "That doesn't mean you can't go, I'll pick up the tab. It's really no problem. My dad gave me some starting money, and I already have a job, so I'm sure I have enough money to buy you a bowl of noodles and a coke." He grinned.
I shrugged, "Alright. I'll get dressed, try and find my room mate... God knows where she is-"
"She is here!" Mellisa chimed, walking through the still open door. She was carrying a grocery bag in one hand, while in the other she had tons of news papers. "I kind of stole these from all the coffee shops around here. They wanted a dollar fifty for these things!" She rolled her eyes and dumped all the papers on her bed, not noticing a surprised Craig sitting beside the door. She then pulled two jars of peanut butter out of the grocery bag. "I bought you dinner! And look," She fished around the bag again, then came back out with a bottle of Hershey's chocolate syrup. "Dessert!"
Craig laughed, which made her jump and see there was a guy in our room. "Hello hot guy I've never met before." She said, making me blush. "What are you doing here?"
Craig smirked, "I'm flattered. I'm Craig, I live next to you two. I was just offering Annabelle to take the two of you, along with many of my own friends, to dinner tonight at the Olive Garden."
Mellisa turned to me right away, "UM, YES! I'm not eating peanut butter toniiiiight," She began singing. "I'm not eating peanut butter to-niiii-iii-hiiii-HIIII-ght!" She danced around in circles a couple times before looking down at herself. She looked just as bummy as I did; jeans, t-shirt, and tennis shoes. "Um, can we change first?" She asked.
"Yeah," Craig nodded, standing up to leave. "We're leaving around seven, which is in about thirty minutes...that enough time?"
"Plenty," I laughed. "It takes me five minutes to get ready."
"Well I know my sister takes about three hours to put on her makeup..." He shrugged.
"Ha! I can catch and gut a fish in three hours."
Craig smirked, not really knowing what to think of that, before heading for the door and closing it behind him. Mellisa turned to me right away, reminding me of Hazel. "He's hot. I want one." I giggled, but then turned away quietly and picked out an outfit. I missed Hazel, a lot. I talk to her pretty much every day, but we used to practically live together. And now she's not here; but off in Tennessee college. Why wouldn't Bale let me go there? Then I'd be close to him, Hazel, and all my friends and family there. So what if the education is better here; I'd rather be around loved ones.
Thinking about him, I took out my phone and went to dial Bale's number. Not thinking about the fact he was at work, it went to voice mail and left me disappointed. I quickly got dressed, having wasted time, and swiped on mascara, a bit of lip gloss, and pulled on clean jeans and a purple sweater, along with some heels. I didn't know why I was dressing up; maybe it was because I haven't in a while, or because I wanted to show Craig I was thankful for this and wasn't just wearing jeans and going 'thanks! *belch*'.
"Do you like him?" Mellisa asked micheviously.
I turned around and saw her hopping around, trying to get into a pair of skin tight skinny jeans. I laughed at her and shook my head, "No, I have a boyfriend, remember?" I haven't told anyone I'm engaged.
"So, I don't see any ring on your finger." She sighed, buttoning the top of her jeans once she finally got them on. She then decided against them and peeled them off, even after all that effort.
"Look at my neck, then." I muttered.
A/N: Sorry I haven't uploaded this in a while! But I got inspiration yesterday (reading The Notebook, the official inspiration for this book now) and decided it was time to write this one again! I hope you liked it, loves! Let me know what you think is happening, because I don't have a darn clue. ;)