The Twists and Turns of Love

After the horrible date with Brandy, Eric was convinced he would never accept an invitation from her again. It was better to go insane by himself than with her.

He lay down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Why was this happening to him? Why couldn’t he never have crashed into her so he didn’t think of her constantly? Maybe if she had been on time, they wouldn’t have met. Maybe it was all her fault they had bumped into each other. But was that a bad thing?

Eric turned on his side and spotted To Kill A Mockingbird on the bedside table. Maybe he should give it a chance.

He grabbed the book and slowly opened it. A slip of paper fell from the interior. He unfolded it. It read:

Linda:
Here’s my number. Call me before 6 pm tomorrow.
-Sarah
(949) 642- 3743

Eric sat up quickly. Maybe this had fallen out of her things when they had crashed and he had accidentally stuffed it into his book. If it was hers, her name was Linda. Somehow he couldn’t imagine her with that name.

Should he call this Sarah girl? Would it be too weird calling her friend?

He stared at the numbers scrawled in black marker. He would expect her to write like that: in informal penmanship. That was just the vibe he gave her. That only time he had seen her, she wasn’t wearing a pink skirt or heels. She was simple, maybe even tomboyish, but in a way that completely worked for her. It wasn’t in an extreme way, or else he wouldn’t have fallen so hard over her, except it was her friend’s writing and not hers.

He stared at the number. Maybe he should take the chance. What did he have to lose? Doubting only led him to believe he didn’t really care that much about her. Or did he?

All the questions rushing through his head confused him. He put down the slip of paper and picked up the book.

He opened it up to the first page, where he had written his name in a barely legible scrawl. As he started reading it, he found it wasn’t as bad as he thought. Maybe he would even ace the test, which was that Tuesday. Maybe.

But his eyes wandered back to the phone number. It was seriously troubling him. He decided he would call the next day, after a good night’s sleep and a clear head. If he called her friend now, right after making the discovery, he wouldn’t know what to say and would end up messing everything up.

~~~

A shaft of light hit Eric in the face. He quickly turned around and blocked himself from the brightness. He hated when he forgot to close the curtain and then he was awaken from his wonderful Sunday sleep.

In a few seconds he remembered just what he had planned to do that day, and all the annoyance at being up early vanished.

He planted himself in front of the mirror and recited some lines he had practiced. Okay, the wouldn’t see him, but it helped anyways.

Eric breathed in and grabbed his phone. As he dialed the number his heart raced faster. He was going to find Linda. He was going to find Linda.

He put it to his ear and waited. Without even ringing, a fake lady voice on the other side told him some bad news. That phone number was no longer in use by the ex-owner.

Just like that, all his hopes crashed down. It would have been so simple to find her. So stupidly simple. But, no, he couldn’t have it easy just one time.

He punched his pillow in frustration. Why could nothing lucky ever happen to him? He thought for once it had, when he had found the number. It was like destiny didn’t want them together.

As he stared at the number, trying to cheer himself up, he realized he had just jumped to the conclusion that it was hers. What if it wasn’t and he would have made a fool of himself over the phone? But as much as he wanted to convince himself of it, he just couldn’t. Something in him told him it was hers.

I’m going to find her, Eric thought frantically, even if it’s the last thing I do.