Tear Tracks Forever

I woke up that morning and my first thought was, “Where the hell am I?” I glanced around at my surroundings—the empty, sandy, beach with a cool morning breeze. I almost freaked out when I realized someone was holding me but then I calmed down as I realized it was Alex. I stood up and brushed the sand off myself, pulling out my phone and checking the time. 4:22 in the morning. Shit! Maybe we could get back before anyone woke up. I shook Alex.

No response. I sighed and whispered in his ear while shaking him, “Alex.”

“Huh?” he woke up, startled.

“Oh, hey Rhee.” He smiled at me as he stood up, yawning and rubbing his eyes. He ran his hands through his messy, sandy blond hair and asked me, “What time is it?”

“4:23,” I told him.

He frowned. “Why are you waking me up this early? I wanna go back to sleep.”

I rolled my eyes. “You can’t. We have to get back home before anyone realizes we were gone the whole night.”

“But all we did was sleep and talk,” he hinted mischievously.

“Yeah, but I doubt your mom will believe that,” I sighed and continued walking, Alex following behind me.

“Wow, I feel drunk,” Alex yawned as he staggered into a lightpost, still rubbing his eyes.
I laughed. “I know. My head hurts. I’m going back to sleep as soon as we get home.”
“Same chiz.”

We continued walking until we got to the house. Before Alex put the key in, he sighed. “If we open the door it’ll make too much noise,” he told me.

I frowned. “True. How are we supposed to get inside?”

Alex paused. “Well…there’s a balcony there. We could climb up,” he said, pointing toward my room.

“Is there any other choice?”

“Probably…not.”

“Alright. boost me up.” I sighed. Alex picked me up, wrapping his arms around my legs and I grabbed his shoulders, squealing to steady myself.

“Shhh,” he told me as he boosted me up onto his shoulders and I grabbed the railing of the balcony.

“Okay, do you have it?” he asked, his arms still gripping my legs.

“Yes….oh, shit, no!” I shrieked as he let go of my legs and I dangled aimlessly, holding onto the railing.

“Pull your feet over,” he called.

I pulled my feet over and fell face-first on the balcony.

Alex was doubling over in laughter. I frowned at him.

“Oh, Juliet! Will not thou help-eth me get-eth onto-eth this balcony-eth?”Alex asked me in a bad imitation of Romeo.

“No. This isn’t exactly a romantic moment,” I sighed, rubbing my forehead on which I had fallen.

“Come on! You could at least say, ‘Wherefore art thou, Romeo?’” he quoted.

“Fine. Wherefore art thou, Romeo?” I asked, spinning around dramatically and tumbling into the railing.

“Here-eth I am, Juliet! Help-eth me onto this balcony-eth!” Alex improvised, making up lines.

"Oh, Romeo! But my father shall have thou’s head if he shall see-eth here! For you are a Montague and I am a Capulet!” I knew those weren’t the exact lines, but there was something like that in Romeo and Juliet.

“Alrighty then. I shall recite a sonnet to win your love.”

Alex got down on one knee and bellowed in a deep voice, Sonnet 18 from Shakespeare, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds shake the darling buds of May—”

“Stop! Stop!” I whispered. “Your parents will hear! Seriously!”

“Okay, then let me up.”

I checked to see where his guitar case was, and I realized it was hooked onto the belt loop of his pants. Wouldn’t it be funny if they fell down? But, of course, they didn’t.

Sighing, I leaned over the balcony, almost upside down and grabbed Alex’s arms. He pulled himself up and used his legs to swing himself over the balcony and land perfectly. Ugh.

Alex grinned, gesturing to the front of my shirt. “I got quite a good show there.”

Rolling my eyes, I pulled the front of my shirt up, murmuring, “Perv.”

Alex grinned, his blue eyes laughing.

Then a thought occurred to me. “Hey, how did you memorize Sonnet 18? Did you make it up?” I asked him.

He shook his head. “No. We learned it in school and I guess it just…stuck.”

“Oh. Weird.” I murmured as I pulled the door open and Alex unhooked the guitar case strap from his pants.

Before I crawled into bed and Alex left for his room, he gently kissed me and then grinned. “Parting is such sweet sorrow,” he called over his shoulder.

I smiled slightly, shaking my head and then crawling into bed.

*~*

I woke up around 10, and showered, straightened my hair, and put on black cropped sweatpants and a Turtle Cove Aeropostale shirt. I debated whether to put on my usual eyeliner or not, and in the end I did. I went downstairs, where Carmella was playing Wii Sports Resort.

“Hey, where’s Alex?” I asked her.

“He’s still sleeping. Wanna play?” she asked me, gnawing on her fingernail.

I swatted her hand away from her mouth. She was so cute and innocent. Around ten years old, she had flawless skin and large, brown eyes. Her shimmery brown hair was shoulder length and perfectly straight.

“Sure,” I said, picking up a second Wii remote. We played Swordplay, which I beat her at, and then Wakeboarding, which she kicked my butt at.

“I’m hungry. Mommy left to go shopping and Daddy’s at work. Can I have lunch?” she asked around 1.

“Sure. What do you want to eat?” I asked her.

“Hmm, anything.”

I searched in the fridge for inspiration, and then saw salsa and tortillas. “How about a quesadilla?” I asked.

I made one quesadilla for her and one for me. I left the ingredients out in case Alex woke up soon.

When I finished my quesadilla and Carmella was finishing up her last slice, Alex came downstairs, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

“Hey,” he said, smiling at me.

“Hey,” I smiled back.

“I’m hungry. Is that for lunch?” he asked, gesturing toward the quesadillas.

“Yeah, I’ll make you one,” I stood up and turned on the stove once again, laying a flat tortilla onto it.

“I’m gonna go for a shower,” Carmella stood up and gave Alex a hug as she made her way up the stairs.

Alex walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed my neck. “Mmmm, last night was awesome.”

“Yeah, if you call almost falling off a deck awesome,” I giggled.

“You did not almost fall,” he rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I did.”

“Did you get hurt?”

“A little,” I giggled.

“Lemme make it all better,” he turned me around and kissed me, and I kissed him back.
We were so absorbed in each other, we didn’t even notice the wisp of smoke curling from the stove and the burnt tortilla. At least, not until the smoke detectors went off.

“Shit!” I gasped. I pulled away from Alex and used a spatula to pick up the tortilla and throw it in the sink. I quickly turned off the stove and watched in relief as the coil turned back to its normal black color.

“Is everything okay?” Carmella called from upstairs.

“Yeah, everything’s fine! Don’t worry!” Alec called back.

I whirled around to face him, putting on a pouty face.

“Meanie.”

He held up his hands in defense. “What did I do?”

I glared at him.

“Alright, alright, fine. I’ll make my own food.”

He looked confused as he laid the tortilla on the stove and then flipped it over.

“The stove’s not on,” I hinted.

He turned it on to high, then medium.

I sighed, shoving him aside and taking over. “You really don’t know how to cook, do you?”

“Not a clue.”

‘Well, you’re gonna have to learn,” I mentioned as I put the salsa inside and added some cheese.

“Maybe you could teach me,” he added.

I flipped the tortilla over. “Pssch, no way. I don’t feel like getting distracted every two seconds and burning the house down.”

“So you admit that my charms are very attractive.”

“What?”

“I distract you with my awesome sexy charms.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Tell me…that this isn’t sexy,” he pulled me closer and gave me a long, lingering kiss.

I grinned, pulling away and forcing myself to turn back to the stove.

“Bullshit,” I mumbled as I flipped the quesadilla over for the last time and turning the stove off.
I flipped the quesadilla onto a plate and handed it to Alex, who took a bite and grinned. “Perfecto,” he exclaimed.

“Thank you,” I grinned. He finished his quesadilla and then put the plate in the sink.

He leaned in to kiss me again, and as soon as our lips touched, Mrs. Markin stepped into the room.

“Oh. Hi,” she smiled as she noticed the two of us kissing. Blushing, I pulled away from Alex.

“Hey,” I mumbled.

I rushed to help her with the bags she was carrying, some of groceries and some of clothes.

“Thank you, Rhee. By the way, I picked something up for you,” she grinned.

“What is it?” I asked curiously.

“A new pair of flip flops. I was looking for some for Carmella, and they were on sale. They totally screamed, ‘Rhee!’ I just had to buy them,” she gushed.

“Really? You didn’t have to,” I smiled at her. I was kind of happy that she got something for me, yet a little wary because I hated people buying clothes for me.

“Of course I did. Now that we’re your legal guardians, we treat you like our own children,” she said, in a ‘duh’ sort of tone.

I didn’t really know how to respond to that, I still wasn’t used to being the Markins’s ‘daughter’, so I just mumbled, “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem at all. Now, Rhee, Alex I need you guys both to stay here. There’s something important we have to talk about,” Mrs. Markin said.

God, I hoped it wasn’t something embarrassing, like a talk about “being protected during sex.” I didn’t think I could handle that. But then again, Mrs. Markin was a type of mom who trusted her goody-goody son and me. It could easily be something else.

I sat on the loveseat, next to Alex as Mrs. Markin went into the kitchen to put some things away. “What do you think it is?” I asked Alex.

He frowned and shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s about school.”

“Maybe.” I shrugged as Mrs. Markin returned and sat on the couch across from us.

“Well, Rhee, you know your father’s funeral is next week,” she continued as a lump formed in my throat. I didn’t want to start crying, but I was afraid I would start bawling like a baby if she mentioned anything else about my dad.

Alex sensed my discomfort and took my hand, weaving his fingers through mine and squeezing my hand. “Mom—” he started.

“Alex, let me talk,” she paused and then continued. “Rhee, this school year is your senior year and Alex is going to college when school starts. You were planning to finish school in New York, right?” she asked me.

I nodded.

“Well, I’m not sure how that would be possible. You obviously can’t live in that apartment by yourself, because, well, its senior year and there will be a lot of forms to send home an tests and college applications and no legal guardian to sign them. So we have two options. You either go to school here and finish up your senior year or…Alex? You told me you have a second decision.” she glanced at him.

“Well, Rhee, I could live with you in that apartment and take off school for a year. Then, after you graduate, we could both go to college together,” he told me.

“No. That’s not fair to you,” I said immediately. I really wanted to finish up senior year with Karina, Melia, Angie, and everyone else, but not if it meant that other people had to make big sacrifices. It wasn’t that important. Besides, there was more to life than just friends. I could make new friends here in Virginia Beach. And spend time with Alex.

“Are you sure?” Alex asked.

“Yeah. It’s not fair to you to make such a huge sacrifice. And it’s not that important to me to finish up senior year with my friends,” I told him firmly.

“Rhee, you’re absolutely sure?” Mrs. Markin asked. I nodded my head firmly.

“We’ll visit New York often,” Alex offered.

“We better,” I told him and they both laughed.

“Now, Alex, which college are you going to? I remember you had two in mind. You told me you’d decide today” Mrs. Markin reminded.

“Yeah. I’m going to West Virginia University,” Alex answered.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the one in Michigan?” Mrs. Markin asked.

“I’m sure,” he answered.

“West Virginia University is only a half hour from here. I’ll be back every weekend and maybe sometimes after school if it’s a slow day,” Alex explained to me, smiling and squeezing my hand.

“That’s perfect,” I smiled back.

“So it’s all settled? Rhee will go to school here and Alex is going to West Virginia University in the fall?” Mrs. Markin asked, looking from side to side at the two of us. We nodded.

“Great! Now, help me put the groceries away,” she said, and we followed her into the kitchen.