I Fell For You

“What do you mean gone?” I asked. Jesse shook his head and let himself into the room.
“He seemed fine last night! He was there when we all went to bed. Then we woke up this morning, his stuff was gone and so was he.” Jesse said walking around the living room.
“I…” I stopped, Raine looked at me.
“I just wanted to know if you talked to him at all last night. Did he call you or did you call him? Where you hanging out with him or did you see him at all?” Jesse rambled.
“It’s my fault.” I said shaking my head. Jesse looked at me.
“What?” He asked, confused.
“I called Shaun last night and he met me at this club to take me back to the hotel and we ended up getting into this big fight. I’m so sorry Jesse.” I said.
“Teena, it’s not your fault. At least you talked to him.” He said. I looked at him.
“Do you know where he’s at?” I asked. He thought about it then nodded his head.
“He’s got this personal Halfpipe in the Colorado mountains and I bet you anything that’s where he went. He’s probably been snowboarding, I’ll call him again and leave a message.” Jesse said grabbing his phone and walking out of the hotel room.
“Thanks!” He shouted as he continued down the hall. Raine closed the door and I fell onto the couch.
“I feel horrible.” I said. Raine sat next to me and laid her head back against the couch, closing her eyes.
“You shouldn’t.” She said.
“I made Shaun leave. Our fight was so horrible that, without telling his family, he packed his stuff and left. It was so bad that he couldn’t even stand to be in the same country as me anymore. How should that not make me feel horrible?” I asked.
“Oh I thought you were talking about the after effects of too much alcohol. No, no THAT you should feel horrible for.” Raine said. I shoved her and she fell over to the other side of the couch.
“Seriously. I feel really bad.” I said. Raine got up and walked towards the bedrooms. She came back a little bit later with one of my duffle bags filled with some clothes.
“If you feel that bad, then do something about it.” She said, tossing the bag at me.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“We are going to Colorado.” She said grabbing her coat and taking a piece of paper and a pen out of the desk by the door.
“And what about your parents?” I asked. She taped the paper to the back of the door.
“Left them a note, explaining. We’ll be back before they know it. Now hurry up, let’s go. I want to get to the airport before nighttime.” She said opening the door. I hurried to change clothes and rushed out. Raine and I hurried to the airport, realizing we had no idea where in Colorado this Halfpipe was at. I searched through my phone and called Jesse, realizing I had saved his number when we were at the Olympics.
“Jesse, do you know where Shaun’s Halfpipe is at?” I asked.
“Well no one really knows where it’s at.” He said. I explained that I needed to know the city where it was, not the exact location. He told me and we hung up. We stood in line, finally able to talk to someone and buy the first available tickets to Colorado. Raine and I sat in the airport, waiting for our flight.
“What if he doesn’t want to talk to me?” I asked.
“I’m sure he’ll listen to what you have to say.” Raine said.
“What if he hates me?” I asked.
“He doesn’t hate you.” She said.
“What if we don’t even find him?” I asked.
“We’ll find him, Teena.” She said, a slight tone of aggravation in her voice.
“And if we don’t? Then I’ll never get to talk to him.” I said.
“Teena, would you stop? We’ll find him, you’ll talk to him, he’ll listen to everything you have to say and, even if you guys don’t end up getting together, at least you can go to sleep tonight knowing you don’t hate each other’s guts.” She said.
“Thanks.” I said smiling at Raine. She always knew the right thing to say.
“Now boarding flight 102 to Colorado.” A woman said over an intercom. Raine and I grabbed our stuff and headed to the plane. We found our seats and I sat back, closing my eyes, hoping this meeting would go better than our last.

Six Years Ago

“Wow the Olympics, huh? That’s awesome.” Teena said, talking to her friend over the phone. He smiled too.
“Yeah, it’s not for another two years but that gives me lots of time to train.” Shaun said. Teena shook her head.
“What an awesome birthday present too. To find out that you’re going to be in the Olympics! I mean, wow!” Teena said. Shaun nodded his head.
“Speaking of, have you decided what you’re going to do for you’re big seventeenth birthday?” Shaun asked.
“Well one of my friends is going to throw a surprise party for me and I’m not supposed to know about it, but I do.” She said. There was a long moment of silence.
It had been six years since the last time they saw each other and talked less and less each and every day. This was actually the first conversation they had in almost eight months now. And the only reason for this conversation is because he was going to the Olympics.
Teena stared out her window, Shaun doing the same in his room.
“So um…” She started.
“How’s school?” Shaun asked. He didn’t know what else to say.
“It’s good.” She said. There was another long pause. The thoughts of that last day was running through both of their heads.
He wanted to say how bad he felt for not calling more.
She wanted to say how horrible she felt for letting their relationship get to this point.
Though they both knew this would happen. They lived so far apart, he was a pro in his sport and was barley seventeen, traveling everywhere. How could they possibly stay in touch when all that is going on with it?
“So did I tell you?” Shaun started.
“What?” Teena asked.
“I um…” He started. The words just couldn’t seem to leave his lips.
“You what, Shaun?” Teena asked. Saying his name was strange. It had been so long.
“I’m going to be doing a photo shoot for this ESPN magazine.” He said, though that’s not what he was planning on saying. Why couldn’t he tell her? Maybe because he didn’t want her to know. But why wouldn’t he want her to know? She’d be happy for him, wouldn’t she?
“Oh that’s, cool.” She said somewhat unenthusiastically.
“Well I better go. I’ve got some practice I need to start doing.” He said. She nodded her head looking down at her feet.
“Bye.” She said.
“Bye.” He said.
They both hung up their phones and continued to stare out their windows. She felt the emptiness in the conversation start to overtake her and she started to cry.
She missed her best friend more than she could ever explain to anyone. She wanted so desperately to go back to the old days. The days that consisted of slumber parties and scary movies. Inside jokes and trips to the mall. Late night phone calls and sneaking out to just walk in the park. Those were the days she wanted. The same one’s she knew she’d never have again.

Present Day

The plane landed in Colorado and Raine and I walked out of the airport carrying my one and only duffle bag stuffed with both of our clothes.
“Now where to?” I asked.
“Maybe we should have thought this through.” Raine said. I rolled my eyes and looked at her, somewhat annoyed.
“You think?” I asked. I looked back out to the road.
“Well maybe we should walk around. See if we can spot a red head around here.” I said.
“Sounds great but could we get something to eat first? I’m starved!” She said, grabbing her stomach. I laughed and nodded my head.
“Yeah, we’ll get something to eat then start looking for this fool.” I said. We walked around, looking for a good enough place to eat.
As soon as we walked into a restaurant, I saw him.
“Raine, look!” I said pointing to a table. Raine looked and her eyes grew wide.
“No way!” She said.
“Let’s go talk to him.” I said. Raine grabbed my arm.
“No, let’s um let’s leave.” I said. I pulled her over to the table and stood in front of him. He was shocked to see us there, to see her there.
“Raine?” He asked.
“Scotty, you remember Raine right? She really needs to talk to you. She flew all the way here to see you!” I said, exaggerating. Scotty looked from me to Raine.
“Really?” He asked, lighting up. Raine started to shake her head but I stopped her.
“Yeah, she has something to say.” I said pushing her towards him. He stood up and looked at her. There was silence, then she smiled.
“Scotty, I’m sorry. I was being stupid. I just…” She stopped and looked up at him.
“Raine, would you like to go out with me?” He asked. She smiled.
“Defintley.” She said, giggling at the end. They hugged each other and I smiled, happy that they had made up. One relationship down, one more to go.