Scene #1119
I smeared Spearmint Chap-Ice all over my slightly chapped lips.
“Are you going to get into line?” she asked. She tapped her wrist. She wasn’t wearing a watch, but she was indicating that getting into line was a time-sensitive issue.
“I’ve got tickets number two and three. What does it matter if I go over there now or not?” I held up two tickets.
“Well, they’re all getting into line. I’d hate for you to miss out on your two Wiis.” She scoffed here.
“I just got out of a thirty minute line for this chapstick.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Well, let’s get back there then.” I walked away from her.
*
“Well, I guess there’s only one copy of Zelda. Who should get it?” asked Jon.
“I’m just going to go ahead and check Target tomorrow,” Josh answered, “so one of you can have it.”
I scrunched my face slightly. “I’m okay without having it right away. You can take it, Jon.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, man. Go for it.”
The line moved at a crawl. My party reached the counter dispensing the consoles after some time passed. I handed the worker handfuls of cash and various gift cards equaling the amount two Wii systems. I placed the two white boxes into the cart. I pushed the cart forward. I walked triumphantly to the front of the store. After deciding to meet up at Jon’s house, I walked her to her car.
“I guess, I should get home,” she said after not having said anything for some time.
“Can I have a kiss before you go?”
She leaned towards me. I planted my lips on hers.
“And in exchange for your kiss,” I picked up one of the Wii boxes, “here is your Wii.” I smiled.
Alternate ending to Scene #1119
“Thank you!” she cried out. She took the white box from my hands and set it back into the cart. She slung her arms around my body. Her grip was tight. Her face broke into a large smile. “You shouldn’t have!”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Oh my.” She planted a kiss on my lips. “Shit.”
“Don’t,” I started.
“Sorry,” she said before I could continue. “Hey. Do you want to get together tomorrow after you get out of church?”
“I would love to.”
“Alright.” She kissed me again. “Call me tomorrow.”
End alternate ending.
Her face wrinkled. “You shouldn’t have.”
My smile faded. “But I did. Aren’t you happy?”
“Yeah, it’s just…” She picked up the box. “Thank you.” She kissed me again. “I’ll… uh… I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Alright.”
“Have fun with your friends.”
“You can come if you want.”
“I should probably get back and get to bed. Don’t stay up too late.”
“Can’t. Church tomorrow.”
“Oh yeah. That.”
I started to walk away.
“Quentin,” she called after me.
I turned around. “What’s up?”
“Why did you pass up Zelda?” she asked.
“I thought Jon would have a little more free time until I could pick it up.” I shrugged.
“I could’ve played it some though.”
“Sorry. You’ll have it soon enough.”
“I guess. Seems like the only game worth playing though.” She climbed into her gunmetal colored car and drove off.
I stood and watched her drive away. I sighed. I walked to my car and drove to Jon’s.
End Scene.
Scene #1137
“We need to talk,” she said.
“Yeah, I need to say something to you,” I said.
“Do you want to go first?”
“Yeah.”
“Go for it.”
“I’ve been thinking,” I paused, “a lot. I had doubts about our relationship. I had a confusing time this past week or two. It was rough. I thought about this relationship. I weighed the good and the bad. I thought about it from so many different angles. I thought about us long and hard. There probably weren’t too many moments these past few weeks where I haven’t been thinking about this—about what I would say here, right now. I thought about ending it with you. I thought about breaking up with you, but I can’t. I don’t want to. I want to be with you. That’s what I’ve figured out after this time spent pondering our relationship. I want to be in it. I want us to try harder. I want this to make it. I want this to last. I want this to be a small shadow on the greatness that is our future relationship. I love you. I want to be with you for the foreseeable future.” I grabbed her hands. “I love you.”
Alternate ending to Scene #1137
Tears filled her eyes, but couldn’t escape. She stared into my eyes. I stared into hers. My heart beat hard to fill the silence before she opened her mouth.
“I... I love you too.” She took her hands from mine. “I really do love you.” Her hands grabbed a hold of my face. “I wasn’t sure where we were headed, but now I think I know.” She pulled my face towards her. “I still don’t know where we’re headed, but I know we’re headed there together. The difference between a good relationship and a bad one isn’t that the good one doesn’t encounter problems, the difference is how the couples handle them.”
“That’s beautiful. Did you think of that just now?”
“No. I got it from Scrubs.” A tear escaped from the pools in her eyes. She pulled my face into hers. Our lips smashed together in a perfect moment before she pulled away. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
End alternate ending.
The tears dripped from her eyes to her cheeks. The tears dripped from her cheeks onto my hands. The tears dripped from my hands to her hands. The tears dripped from her hands to the ground as she moved her hands from mine.
“I don’t think it’s going to work. I have to break up with you.” She turned away from me. She left me standing on the porch. The light above me flickered. I stood on the porch with my hands still slightly wet from her tears.
End Scene.
Scene #1628
She walked away. I looked left towards the direction she was walking. I looked right and saw the other man. I kicked the sidewalk in front of the bench on which I was sitting. My right hand wandered over the worn wood. I picked and pried at the gray bench.
“So, what are we going to do about this?” asked the other man on the bench.
I shrugged. I looked down at the sidewalk.
“I just want her to be happy.”
I doubted that. “Me too.”
“We have to decide something. We can’t keep doing this.”
I sighed. “What do you suppose we do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Because whatever we fucking decide, it doesn’t matter. It’s all up to her.”
He nodded.
I sat in silence with him for a few moments. I lifted myself from the bench. I kicked the sidewalk again. I looked at him. “Listen, just… I don’t know. Just lay off for awhile. Everything was fine until you came back.”
“Yeah, well, everything was fine before this until you showed up and stole her.”
“I didn’t—”
He stood up. “You didn’t? You’re just gonna stand there and tell me that you didn’t do what you did?”
I took a deep breath. “I didn’t do anything that she didn’t do also.”
He shook his head. “Fuck you. Fuck this.” He started to walk away from me.
“You know what? Yeah. I wish you would just leave. Just leave us alone.”
He turned towards me. “I wish I could have told you the same thing before the summer.”
“Do you want to just punch me in the face? Get it all out?”
He walked towards me. He stood close to me. “Is that what you want?”
“Kinda.” I looked down at the ground and then back up at him. “Yeah.”
He pulled back his fist. He bit his lip. “You’re lucky I love her.” He turned away from me and walked back towards the dorms.
I unclenched my body. I looked across the oval. I saw her entering the middle of the oval. She walked past the flag poles.
I ran. I ran past the bench. I ran past the parked cars. I ran past the pavement. I ran past another row of parked cars. I ran past the unkempt sand of the volleyball court. I ran towards the line of tress that cut the oval in half. I ran towards the benches where once before I told her I didn’t know what she should do, but I would be there for her. I ran towards the body of soft skin that at night could keep me awake or put me to sleep. I ran towards what I wanted to be my future. I ran.
She was within reach now. My heart beat faster and faster. I couldn’t control my emotions.
She saw me. “Well, did you guys—”
Alternate ending to Scene #1628
I placed my arms around her and held her. I hugged her tight. An “I love you,” escaped from my lips. I held onto her. I held all my cares away. I squeezed out all the images of her with him. I forgot about all the problems we had and ever would have. I lifted her off the ground and spun her around.
“I love you too,” she finally said when I set her down. She smiled.
“Sorry. I just can’t think of being without you.”
Her smile fell a bit. “Yeah, I...” She bit her lip.
I put my hands on each side of her head. I looked deep into her eyes. “But above all, I want you to be happy.”
“I know that, and that’s...” She bit her lip again. “That’s why I have to be with you.”
My hands dropped from her face. “Really?”
She smiled. “Yes.”
“Like, really really?”
“Yes yes.” She grabbed my hands and pulled my towards her. She kissed me beneath the moonlight. We were happy once more.
End alternate ending.
I placed my arms around her and held her. I hugged her tight. I said, “I love you.”
She wrinkled her brow. “I love you too, but did you guys hash everything out?”
I shrugged. “I thought you might like this kind of romantic moment a little more than you did.”
“I thought when you were running over that you were going to do something different.”
“Like, come in with a kiss?”
“Yeah. That would have been more romantic.”
“I can still kiss you.”
“I think I need to walk alone for a little longer.” She paused. “To think and stuff.”
“Come to my room after?”
“I told him I would stop by after.”
My body clenched.
End scene.
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