The Twists and Turns of Love

“And you guys are ok now?” Claire asked.

“Totally. I can’t believe it went so well. After he criticized how I look, I half expected myself to strangle him. But I managed to talk it out.”

“I’m so glad!”

And the way she said it made her realize something. Something she had been too blind to see before.

“You still have feelings for him, don’t you?”

“What? No… it’s over and it’s going to stay that way.”

“Claire, don’t lie to me. I know you too well. I don’t mind if you do, you know. I never really liked him that much anyways.”

“I don’t know anything lately. Not even how I feel about Eric. How lame am I?”

“Not as much as I am. I have no idea how I’m going to apologize to Brandon.”

“Just tell him exactly how you feel. I’m sure if he hears that, he’ll take you back for sure. I mean, look at you! He’s a dumb guy if he’s going to let you get away.”

“You think so?”

“Of course! You have everything the ideal girl should. Except you’re a little too nice,” Claire teased. “So, are you going to do it or not ?”
“Of course I’m going to do it.”

“Then what in the world are you still doing here?”

It seemed to take longer than ever to get back to her town. She felt just as when she had left it: nervous and happy at the same time. Except this time she knew it was for real and she had no doubt about what she was doing.

Claire called her a few times to make sure she was doing alright, which only made her treasure their friendship even more. They had been so stupid to fight like they had.

When she finally arrived, she was a mess. Her heart was racing at dangerous levels and she was practically shaking because of how nervous she was.

She went to his house and his mother told her he wasn’t home. She didn’t want to ask where he was just in case his mother knew who she was and didn’t want to give it to her.
She tried calling him, but he probably saw who it was and didn’t want to pick up.

Great. Things were going just great.

Sarah tried calling him again and again, but even then he wouldn’t pick up. She felt so lame calling him so much like that when he obviously didn’t want to talk to her.

Maybe he had already found a girl more worthy of his affection. Maybe he had already forgotten her.

She did not feel like going to her house at all, since they’d probably start asking too many questions about why she was so upset that she really didn’t want to answer. Even though she saw ominous grey clouds in the sky, she decided to ignore them. It almost never rained during the summer anyways.

So she went to the park she used to play at as a kid. She had always loved the slides that seemed so high up back then and the swings that made her feel as if she could almost touch the sky.

And there she just sat. Almost as if waiting for the world to give her some kind of sign that everything was going to be alright, when it clearly wasn’t. She thought about calling Claire but the news would only upset her too.

The sun began to set and still she was there. She was in a sort of paralysis. Something inside her didn’t want her to move or get away from that place she felt so comfortable in.

She didn’t know when exactly, but the tears started running down her face. Why did she have to mess everything up when everything had been going so well?

The rain started to fall so softly she didn’t even notice it at first. It was only when she was drenched that she thought about finding some sort of shelter. But it didn’t really matter anyways if she did or not. She was already soaked through.

Sarah couldn’t stop crying and her salty tears eventually mixed with the raindrops until her face was as wet as the rest of her body.

She heard some footsteps approaching her and didn’t even turn to see who it was.

“Do you need any help?”

It was Brandon’s voice.
She looked up at him and he neared her when he recognized who it was.

“Sarah, what are you doing here?”

He tried to get his umbrella to cover both of them, but it was much too small. Only their faces were under the waterproof fabric, really.

She began trembling, but she wasn’t sure if it was from the cold or how near his face was to hers.

“You need to get out of this rain…” he said.

Just then, almost as if nature was teasing them, a fast rush of wind blew Brandon’s umbrella from his grasp. It flew away rapidly. So quickly, in fact, they had no idea where it had gone to.

“Brandon…”

“What?”

When he said that, his eyes had such a sad look to them, Sarah wanted to start crying all over again. His face, now also covered in rainwater, had such a look that made her heart hurt more than it ever had.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

He didn’t say anything.

“I know you may be mad at me, but-”

“I’m not mad at you.”

“But then why didn’t you answer your phone today?”

“Oh, I left it at home by accident. I would never ignore you like that, Sarah. Even though what happened did hurt me, I still care about you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“I was confused and I made a huge mistake, Brandon. I don’t care about Eric in the least bit. The whole time I was there I was thinking about you.”

“Let’s just forget this ever happened, okay?” he said, smiling.

“Ok.”

He put his arms around her and smiled again.

“You’re beautiful. Even all wet and with your mascara running all over your face,” he teased.

They both laughed.

“And you’re the most amazing guy I’ve ever met.”

He leaned in and kissed her slowly.

He looked at her and smiled.
“What are we still doing in the rain?” he asked.

Sarah giggled. For some reason everything seemed so much funnier, lighter, happier.

Even though it was raining terribly, neither of them made a move to leave. Instead they sat on the bench she had previously been on alone. Brandon gallantly removed his coat and put it on her shoulders.

And they stayed there, talking about nonsense and nothing at all.

And at that moment, in that kiddy park, with the rain running down their faces and talking about nothing and everything, she knew that that was the closest thing to perfection she’d ever felt.