And I'm in Love, With Everything You Do

Stephen

I laid on my bed, thinking about what had been going on this past week. Well, Devon always comes to practice everyday now, and when she was around me, bit by bit, memories about Chelsea were fading away.

“Dude, dinner.”, John appeared on the door away. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”, I nodded. “Do you think mom would mind if I go out for a bit?”

“Where?”

Shit. John would tease me if I said I’m going to Devon’s house. “Ugh, I need to give Brian…something.”

“Oh, can I come?”

“No.”, I smiled as I stood up and patted his shoulder on my way out.

“Meanie!”, John called out. After telling mom that I would be back in an hour, I rushed out to the drive way and into my car. After turning on the ignition, I drove off and the streets were already dark, making the street lights as the only sources. I turned left on the neighbor hood and stopped at the Williams’ curb.

I got out and walked up to the porch. I knocked the front door, and soft footsteps heard from inside. The door swung open and revealing an older version of Devon.

“Can I help you?”

“Yeah, I’m looking for Devon.”

“Are you her friend?”

I nodded slightly. “Yes.”

She smiled and called Devon from the inside. Another footsteps, but rushed, were heard from upstairs, until she was already at the stairs.

“Stephen?”, her face lit up and smiled. “What are you doing here?”

“Do you wanna go for a walk?”

Her mom went inside, giving us privacy. “It’s 8 at night.”

“So? You have a curfew?”

She rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms. “No.”

“So, let’s go.”, I took her hand and pulled her to the sidewalks. We went to the nearest park and spotted a couple swings. We sat there and swing back and forth.

“I heard from Jess.”

“What?”

“About your ex.”

That hit me right. “What about her?”

“Can you tell me why you guys broke up?”

“Can we not talk about that?”

“Why? She’s not your girlfriend anymore.”

“Stop.”, I said through my teeth. I stood up and started to walk away.

“Stephen! I’m sorry!”, she called out, but I just kept on walking.

Devon

I sighed when Stephen was out of sight. I think the topic about his girlfriend made him sensitive, and I just made a humongous mistake. I walked home alone and I passed the Bowens’ residence. Without anymore thoughts, I rushed to the porch and knocked on the door.

“Oh, Devon. Looking for Jessica?”, Mr. Bowen asked. I nodded and he let me in.

“Devon? What’s wrong?”, Jess walked out from the kitchen. She noticed my expression and pulled me up to her room. when we were in her room, I sat on her bed and she sat near the window edge. “So?”

“Stephen came to my house earlier.”

“What?! For what?!”

“He asked me to go for a walk, we went to the park, and then, I asked him about Chelsea.”

Jess groaned and rolled her eyes. “Devon, I told you. You can’t talk about Chelsea with Stephen!”

“But, come on, he needs to move on!”

“And that’s what me, John, Josh and Brian trying to do! You should help us, not making our job harder!”

I looked down to my hands and sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“Okay, but you need to tell Stephen yourself.”
*********
I walked into the Gomezs’ garage and everyone eyed me. Jess motioned me to talk to Stephen with her eyes. I took a breath and tapped Stephen’s shoulder.

“Can we talk?”

“No.”, he replied coldly.

“Stephen, I’m sorry.”

“I don’t need a sorry for you, and I don’t wanna hear your voice.”, he spat and went inside his house. His words were like venom, and made a hole in my heart.

Honestly, I like him since the first, even though he was a semi-jerk in this past week, but today, I think he’s back to his old jerkiness.

Stephen

‘That’s what you get for letting a new people in your life, Stephen. That’s what you freaking gets.’

I rushed to my room and fell back to my bed. It hurts to hear her name again, echoed in my ears. The memories of her dancing behind my lids, drifted me to sleep.
*********
“Hey! Stephen!”

I groaned, not wanting to wake up.

“Stephen, come on.”, she said, with expanding the e on my name.
“5 more minutes.”

“Oh, come on, we’re going to the beach today!”

My eyes shot open and the sunlight peeked into my room from behind the curtains. I turned around my head around and Chelsea’s smile greeted me. “Morning, sleepyhead.”

“Chels?”

“Yeah, who do you think I was? John?”, she giggled.

“No, but I thought we were through.”

“Did you hit your head or something?”

She looks real and sounded real. “No, no I didn’t.”

“You promised me we’re going to the beach today.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “Yeah, so get up and get ready!”

She stormed out of my room and calling my mom’s name. I shook my head and got up. I was packing my clothes and towel, when Chelsea walked into my room.

“Are you ready?”

I nodded and she pulled me downstairs. After saying bye to my mom, we went to the beach with my car. It was a sunny, perfect day. We sat near the water edge, and talked about everything.

“Hey, you want to go for a swim?”

“Yeah, sure.”

She stood up and pulled me up. We ran to the water with our fingers laced. When we were already in the deep side, she released my fingers.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t do this anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“I want to break up.”

“Why? Chelsea, tell me why!”

“There’s another guy. I’m sorry, Stephen.”

Then, a wave was coming in and pushing me down to the water. I couldn’t see anything in the black pitch water, and I could feel something was pulling me under, farther from the surface.

I sat up straight on my bed, sweats ran down on the back of my neck to my back. rush footsteps were heard from outside until my door slammed open. “Dude! You okay?”

“Where’s Chelsea?!”

“What?”, John’s brows twitched. “Chelsea’s not here.”

“But I saw her! She asked me to the beach.”

Memories filling in my head. She asked me to the beach when she dumped me. that was the dream. Suddenly, tears broke down from my eyes. I pulled my legs to my chest and buried my face on my knees.
“Stephen, I’m sorry.”, John said as he sat in front of me and rubbed my arms. “I know you missed her.”

I nodded and letting the tears keep on falling.