Love and Conspiracy

The final tears rolled down my face as I looked at the last pages in the photo album. Every picture brought back unwanted memories in my mind, but I couldn’t stop myself from looking at them or in this case, him. As much as I wanted to hate him, I still had that same loving feeling for him no matter how much he hurt me. What the hell is wrong with me?

A fresh batch of tears began to roll down my face, yet again, as I thought over the same situation, as I had already done a hundred times before. The thought just wouldn’t leave my mind.

*flashback*

Junior year had finally ended and I was happier than ever. Even though I didn’t have many friends, I still had my one true love in life, Scott. It was almost our two year anniversary and I couldn’t wait. He had this special “surprise” for me that he was planning on giving me for our anniversary. He already had done so much in our relationship; I couldn’t even imagine what else he could possibly do. Maybe it was diamonds, a romantic dinner...

Scott was extremely good at keeping secrets, so I couldn’t get a single word out of him of what it could possibly be. However, when that special day got closer and closer, he started to act a little odd. Whenever I asked what was wrong, he would always brush it off and say that he was just nervous about getting into college.

He was a year older than I was, so he had already graduated high school and he was trying to get into UCLA. He strived to be a writer one day and I agreed with him all the way. He was an outstanding author since he had already written his own novel, but hadn’t published it yet. The only problem was, I still had one more year of high school in Arizona while he was going to college in California. I was worried of what would be coming soon, but I didn’t realize that it would come that soon.

It had finally come to our anniversary and I was so excited to see what Scott had in store for me. However, Scott didn’t feel the same way. As I arrived at his house, he tensed up once I gave him a hug.

“Scotty, what’s wrong?” I asked with a worried voice. He shook his head.

“Lucy… we need to talk.”

“Well, what is it?” I began to grow nervous. He shifted awkwardly where he was standing and lead me to his couch.

“The thing is… Something came up. I got accepted in UCLA.” He still had a somber look on his face.

“Oh Scott, that’s wonderful! I’m so happy for you!” As I wrapped my arms around him, he gently pushed me away and stood up.

“That’s not it though. I… I… I met someone new. She went to our school, you know, Jackie?”

“Uh, yeah I guess so. What about her?” I asked, still completely confused.

“Well, we kind of hit it off at a party. We both got out of hand and went farther than either of us intended on going…” My eyes widened as he looked at the ground.

“You-you mean that you slept with her?!” My voice raised a pitch higher. He slumped his head down and sighed.

“Yes.” He said quietly. I immediately exploded.

“So, this was your fucking surprise to me?! Telling me that you slept with some slut at our school?! What kind of fucking anniversary present is that?!” I stared at him incredulously.

“Luce, that’s thing. There is no present anymore. I was meaning to give this to you, but after I
met Jackie, it made me realize that maybe what we have isn’t really love.” He pulled a diamond necklace out of his pocket. I continued staring at him. I tried to speak, but nothing came out.

“Jackie and I… we really like each other. I’m really sorry that you had to find out this way, but I had no other choice. Plus, she’s going to UCLA, too.” He shook his head, “It just had to work this way.”

“So, you’re breaking up with me?” I squeaked. He slowly nodded.

“I suppose this is goodbye.” He said and handed me the necklace. I looked at it in disbelief for a few moments before throwing it back at him and screaming, “Fuck you!” and leaving his house in a rush. As soon as I reached my car and started driving away, that’s when I started bawling my eyes out and couldn’t stop ever since then. I felt like a piece of shit. I already had no friends and now I have no boyfriend. What a great fucking anniversary. How would I ever find another guy like him?-

*end flashback*

“Lucy!” An angered voice yelled at me from downstairs.

“What?!” I screamed back with the same tone as I wiped the tears away from my face.

“Get your ass down here!” I scrambled to my feet and went downstairs. “Where the hell are my car keys?” he said, scrambling around.

“You mean, my car keys,” I corrected him. He looked up to glare at me.

“No, you lost your privilege of having a car a long time ago,” he answered as he continued to search.

“Why, because you caught me smoking in it? I don’t see how that’s such a big deal considering that you’re the one dealing coke to our neighbors.” I knew better than to start a fight with him, but I was in no mood to kiss his ass.

“You little piece of shit, you better keep your mouth closed,” he growled.

“Or what? You’ll hit me again, just like you always do?!” I spat before heading back to my room. He spun me around again and slapped me hard across the face. I could feel the tears well in my eyes. “The keys are on the key rack dumbass,” I yelled before running upstairs. I slammed my door shut and locked it. My cheek began to insatiably burn and sting as I flopped on my bed and continued sobbing for the next hour.

My crying slowly came to a stop and I decided that I needed to get out of the house. So, I put on some jeans and a black tank top and headed downstairs.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Greg yelled from his spot in front of the TV.

“Out!” I yelled back and rushed out the front door. Finally I was free from that hell hole.

I began walking down the street to the nearest strip mall where my sanctuary was located. Guitar Center. I know it doesn’t seem like much of a place to go to get away from things, but music was my greatest love in life. I couldn’t afford a guitar of my own, so I always went there to get out my feelings through music. I went there so many times that the workers all recognized me as one of their regulars.

“Hey, Lucy.” One of the girls sweetly said as I walked in the door.

“Hey, Sam.” I waved and walked to straight to my favorite area.

I couldn’t wait to get into that little room and just strum out my heart before the audience of guitars in there. I opened the door to the acoustic room and realized that, for once, I wasn’t the only one there. It was surprising to see someone else, actually. That place was practically deserted almost all the time. Not only was someone there, but they were playing my favorite acoustic. A Gibson J-45. Their back was facing towards me, but I could definitely tell that it was a man. I slowly made my way towards the brown-haired figure and stopped beside him. After a few moments of his random strumming, he looked up and met my eyes. They were the perfect shade of ocean blue and I recognized them immediately.

“Mike?” I asked in disbelief.