"Dad stop it. You're making me cry."I say wiping the next tear that falls on my cheek."I just want to say sweetheart, that it took a really long time. It took us years before we could finally land where we are. And it's the best place we've ever been in a very long time."It's the best place we've been since mom's death. It's like we were just lost souls trying to find ourselves in a world we never imagined to live without mom in it and we were just winging it.For years.But now?"Ok ok dad! Which one are you gonna go with?" I ask looking at the breathtaking pieces of silver and gold bands."I don't know Hunny, when I proposed to your mom I didn't have a lot of money so I didn't have to go through this. I just went for the cheapest ring I could find." He says earning laughs from the jeweler and myself.It sounds unromantic but I know what was on dad's mind was the prospect of spending the rest of his life with the woman he was madly in love with. Nothing else mattered in that momen
I haven't seen Ezra since the game about a month ago, he'd been blowing up my phone but I made it clear I want nothing to do with him. I'd tried building a friendship with him but I can't be friends with people who take me for granted.I certainly didn't invite him to come and spend Thanksgiving with us and I almost ask who invited him but,"Honey, I hope you don't mind that I invited Ezra." This man is clearly wanting to drive me crazy. Of course I mind.Ezra has been nothing but a distraction throughout my life and I don't need that, not anymore at least. I need to rid myself of him and his toxic energy.I know dad knows I'm not cool with him anymore because he hasn't come to visit in a while, also I act deaf whenever he starts asking about him. So clearly he's trying to fish something by not only inviting him, but Cody too. "Hi Cody,"I decide to only acknowledge the other boy. He's usually quiet when he's irritated, I'd learned it was to keep his anger at bay, so as to not do
"Let's see. There was Leo, Martin, Dean, and LorenzoI went out with Lorenzo two times though, he was good company. Oh and Dean was cute, he got me a bracelet that I gave to Josh to give to his crush at school.I still don't know how you'd feel about my telling you all this"It's still very weird but I like to imagine this being the relationship I would've had with her if she was still alive. A relationship where I can tell her anything and everything, including who I've slept with.She would cringe but still appreciate my openness."Oh and then there was Grant. He was a little bit, maybe a lot older than me but he really took care of me, for that week at least."That was before I found out he was married with two kids, I'm not going to tell mom that."I'm slowing down a bit now. It was fun."It really was. For the past four years, I've not been 'falling in love' with other people but myself.I'd realized that beyond the two people I was with, I had no other experiences of dating wha
"He was going through stuff Alex, he's done nothing but try to prove himself since.""I'm sorry, we're talking about the same guy whose actions had us not speaking to each other for two years right?"It's beyond me how she's still on his side after what he did."Alex, he made a mistake. Ok maybe a few but who hasn't? You can never question the fact that this man loves you."I mean I've never questioned it, but love is simply not enough now is it?"I don't know if I'll ever look at him the same again."Yes it's been years, but even though the heart forgives, the mind doesn't forget."You'll never truly know unless you give him another chance."For the umpteenth time, I decide to shrug her comments away. Liz doesn't understand. It's easy to tell someone to forgive and forget but it's different when you're the one having to forgive.Because of this man, I have walls up so high that people can hardly climb them. Because of this man, I have trust issues.So no, it won't be that easy.And y
"What did I do now?"We do this thing where we joke around with each other, this is to ignore the tension that still exists with us.We walk around acting like everything's cool and I guess it is, to an extent but there's clearly stuff that was left unsaid with us. For way too long.That is why,"I just wanted us to talk - to clear the air."If I'm serious then we won't waste time joking around.I want to do more than just 'clear the air'. It's been years and we still haven't really talked about what happened.He takes a seat across from me and then,"Yeah sure."His tone gets a bit serious and that allows me to continue."Where's Bruno?"I don't see him around anymore, for years actually. I know they'd remained friends after we broke up, for a while. I'm not sure what happened with them but clearly something did happen because wherever there was Ezra, Bruno was somewhere around. Never one without the other."I don't know."He says simply.His face is void of emotion, like that was n
It's hot today.He said he was on his way, that was three hours ago.He doesn't live that far but even if he did, couldn't he just text to say he's running late? Or that something came up and he can't make it anymore. Anything would've been better than silence.It takes me a while but I finally decide not to wait anymore and then get ready to meet the girls like I'd originally planned, before he made me cancel. There's a party tonight that I honestly would've much rather missed. But now that he stood me up, I don't want to spend the rest of my evening overthinking about it. That's certainly happened before.I know he's not going to be happy but I'm also not happy that once again, he failed to show up for me.I shuffle through my closet for a short tight dress that's also not too revealing but I end up settling for a pair of high-waisted bum shorts with a tight blacktop.
After my countless tosses and turns, I finally decide to make my way downstairs to see who's disturbing my peaceful sleep. The whole point of summer is that I don't have to worry about waking up early."Dad!" I shout when the excruciatingly loud noise gets louder as I get closer. What is he doing?"In here Hunny," he shouts back and I finally reach the garage where my darling father and my dear friend and neighbor, Cody seem to be welding onto a metal case, seemingly trying to open it.Could this seriously not have waited until everyone's stopped dreaming?"What are you guys doing?" I ask rhetorically as I put the palm of my hands against my ears to block out the noise."This was Cody's dad's sweetheart. He found it in the basement and we just want to see what's inside," he answers clearly not getting the question behind the question I was asking, or rather the meaning behind it.
It's intense.Everyone in the VIP room and everyone down on the field and the bleachers is beyond stressed. The players are all dirty from throwing themselves on the dirty grass and sweaty from all the running around they'd been doing. Michaela is holding on to my hand so tight it feels numb. It's so quiet.The camera points at Ezra and the commentator says something about how even he is stressed.He's sweating and rocking his body side to side slightly. I know he's got his thinking cap on when he does that. I smile gently because they have no idea what's coming. He's about to blow their minds.Two minutes on the clock and the score is a tie. The players line up facing each other then bend down so that their chests are facing the ground. The opposing team has the ball.Soon the players start tackling each other roughly fighting for the ball that's now passed in the air to be caught by their te