Remember What Went Wrong

“And then, I, like, asked him about Saturday and...” a dramatically deep breath was taken, so loud, that even I could hear it, “...he said he didn’t cheat on me! Can you believe that?!”

A girl stood in front of me as I tried to shove my books in my locker as quickly as possible, talking about a party she had gone to on Saturday night. She had long brown hair and bangs that swept almost into her eyes, and she was around my height and build, if maybe a little curvier.

She had introduced herself as Macy, but her conversation had long since bored me, and the details of her arrival and introduction were now blurry. Macy had the thing that most girls seemed to have at this school—a way of putting together clothing so that everything just worked, and seemed special and pulled together but also casual and effortless.

Her white t-shirt clung to her curves but somehow remained loose, she had a few delicate gold chains with old Tiffany charms and heart pendants on top of each other, and these seemed to coordinate perfectly with her gold heels.

Her makeup was done to the extreme, and her lipstick was so dark that it made her lips seem like a single gash of red on her orange-coated face. She wore a pair of giant gold hoop earrings that seemed to swing back and forth as she moved her head, which continued to distract me.

“So I was like, Justin, I totally know you sleep with her. But he was all ‘You just want the attention you whore.’ And by that time I was like, if you cheating me on just admit it. But he was li—”.

Macy was obviously angry now, and her hands proceeded to fly in different directions as she attempted to tell her story. I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me, or if she just wanted to rant out into the open air, but either way, she was clearly upset.

“Hey, Macy.” A velvety voice came from the right of me, and I turned to see Alex standing beside me, his backpack slung casually over his shoulder.

“Oh.” She stopped her rant, not even noticing that he cut her off. “Hi, Alex. What are you, like, doing here?” She blinked her wide brown eyes at him, and he smiled slowly.

“Sorry to interrupt, but Audrey and I were supposed to help out Mr. Frost in room 41B, and we’re kind of late.” Alex grinned a charming grin, and I could see Macy’s defences falling down.

“Oh, okay.” She smiled brightly nodding her head, her large hoop earrings moving with her. “Bye Audrey! It was great talking to you. You know, you are, like, a great friend!”

She waved and spun on her heel, turning back into the sea of students and finding another girl to rant too. Alex raised an eyebrow and waited as I unloaded some of my books into my locker, before I slammed it shut and turned to him.

“Whose Mr. Frost? I don’t have to help him.”

“I know.” Alex grinned, grabbing my wrist and pulling me along the hallway towards the double doors.

“Alex, class starts in five minutes.” He sent me a look, raising both his thick eyebrows this time.

“I also know this.”

“But Alex—” I stopped, and Alex must have seen the realization as it dawned on me as he gave me a smirk that made my heart accelerate. “You are not taking me with you to skip class!”

”Yeah, actually, I am.” He chuckled, and the air got quiet as I refused to comment, merely pouting my lips and crossing my arms across my chest.

I had never skipped school before—I usually hung out with the ‘good’ crowd of kids back at my old schools, and I never had the guts to go off the premises because I always felt like I would be caught.

While my heart slammed into my ribcage however, Alex seemed to be completely at ease. He still had hold of my wrist, and I took note at how rough and nice his hands felt against my soft skin.

I tried to hide my blush as we headed towards his car, but I failed to do so as he opened the car door for me, smiling widely. I sat in the passenger seat, getting comfortable and thanking him before he joined me in the driver’s seat.

He pulled out of the parking lot calmly, and began driving onto unfamiliar roads. Maryland was still new to me, and I had no idea where we were going.

“Where are we going?” I decided to voice my thoughts aloud, and I noticed then that the radio had been playing softly in the background, a rock station that currently played Blink-182.

“You’ll see.” That smirk that seemed so familiar found its way too Alex’s face, and the rest of the ride was filled with comfortable silence and the occasional joke or light conversation.

This was one of the few times I had fully been alone with Alex, at his house it had been awkward and quiet with Eden, and Alex had dropped us back early. Now, it was just the two of us in his car, and it made me nervous.

Finally, we came to a stop and Alex parked. Confused I got out of the car, only to find that we were in a wide open space, with nothing around us except another beat-up truck diagonally parked.

Alex must have detected the disappointment I felt through my facial features for he laughed quietly. “It’s a parking lot, Audrey.”

Feeling stupid, I ducked my head slightly in order to hide my tomato coloured cheeks. Laughing even louder at my blushing cheeks, Alex grabbed my hand this time, before pulling me in the opposite direction of the parking lot.

Relieved and confused, I tried not to focus on Alex’s hand grasped around mine as I came face-to-face with a statue of some sort. I opened my mouth to ask a question, but I soon realized that this was the entrance of a park.

Excited, I walked further into the park dragging Alex along with me, and began to take it all in. The park was beautiful, with wide oak benches and big green trees, towering over the open space to create a barrier between he quiet park and the vicious afternoon sun.

A circular pathway extended across the area, and a single woman with long blonde hair tied in a bun jogged along the path, her iPod headphones swinging with her body as she ran.

I looked up at Alex in wonder and awe, and it was his turn to drag me over to a bench. We sat down, and I squinted to look at him as the afternoon sun rose penetrated the branches of the trees and landed on the bench.

“This place is beautiful, Alex.” I smiled sincerely, showing him that even though I was nervous out of my mind of missing class, I was grateful to be here.

“I know,” Alex nodded, stretching his legs out and examining his sneakers, “I love this place. It’s near my house so I can walk here when I want to think or write lyrics, and it’s great because not many people think to go here.”

“Thanks for bringing me.”

“I only bring people that I think are special to me over here.” He smiled, and silence engulfed us once again.

I looked into his brown eyes and felt hypnotized, and I didn’t even notice as he moved closer to me, his face slowing inching towards mine as his eyes flickered to my lips.

I noticed all the signs immediately, and waited as my brain and heart screamed that Alex was about to kiss me.

My heart thudded in my chest, and my started to close as I felt Alex’s hot breath on my face. I waited, my whole body practically tingling at the idea of kissing Alex, as he closed the space between us and...

“Do you know what time it is?” Alex reached for my wrist and my eyes snapped open, suddenly freaking out at the fact that my lips remained untouched.

“What?” I took a step back but realized we were still attached, as Alex had a hold of my wrist and was currently looking at my watch.

“It’s one fifteen. We better get you back if you want to be back in time for World History.” My eyes widened, confused as Alex babbled quickly, his words blurring together as he started walking towards the direction of the parking lot.

I remained where I was, confused and startled, and had to be broken out of my trance by Alex, who gave me an odd look before stating, “You coming, or what?”

Maybe I had it all wrong. Had I imagined it? Had all the signs been incorrect? Alex seemed hardly interested in me at all now, and was currently walking two steps ahead of me, the silence absorbing us as we walked hastily towards the car.

The jogger, who had previously been on the opposite side of the park, circled around the benches before picking her pace once again, complete oblivious to the awkward situation I had just put myself in.

Alex was already in the car by the time I reached it, a Green Day song playing on the radio. His hand was on the keys and he waited impaciently as I clumsily stumbled into the car, almost slamming the car door on my fingers.

He started the car, pulling out of the park and onto the road, heading back towards the direction of Dulaney. Looking out the window and then at my watch, I realized that I had been gone from school for at least forty five minutes, and all that I could do now was stare out the window and watch the greenery go by.

Alex seemed to be avoiding me all together, cutting me off as I tried to speak and causing all conversation topics to die easily, as he focuses on the road in front of him and clutched the steering wheel tightly.

Silently, I died a little on the inside.