Memories

Nick found me crying against his car an hour later. “Jay came into the woods crying…it was a first…what’s wrong…what happened?”

“I broke up with him”

“Oh no…for Eric?” he asked. I shook my head.

“I was thinking about what Eric was talking about” I stood up. “And it dawned on me that he was right”

“About what?”

“We really don’t know what love is” Nick hugged me.

“I dated my first girlfriend for 6 months in the 7th grade. Everyone thought we were destined to be high school sweet hearts. But the thing was, it was our first relationship. So I broke up with her, I dated other girls, I came full circle to the first girl I dated, and when I was much older I realized we had nothing in common, our relationship was horrible, and I’m glad I got out of it. The I met your sister” Nick smirked. “Very hot stuff” I chuckled. “Even though I enjoy the sex, that’s not love either”

“What is love?” I asked him.

“Baby don’t hurt me” Nick sung.

“Don’t hurt me?” I asked.

“No more!” he sung.

“…”

“You’ve never heard that song before” I shook my head. Awkward moment. “You do need to date other guys. Date nice guys, date rich guys, date emo guys, if you both come full circle again you were meant to be together”

That was some pretty good advice. “Thanks Nick”

“Your welcome” I gave him a big bear hug.

“Can you drive me home?” he smiled.

“No problem”

…

Lacey called me around 9 pm that same night. “ANYA WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY!” she screamed over the phone. The volumn was low but even that sound hurt my ears.

“What’s wrong?”

“Log onto facebook, ASAP”

“Ok, ok” I grabbed my lap top quickly and signed onto facebook. The biggest news was Jay writing a whole paragraph about how I’m a terrible girlfriend. I’m apparently rude, blunt, selfish, mean, offensive, a bad kisser, slutty, and I have a STD only known to whales.

It was actually a funny read, but the last part of what he wrote made me lose it.

‘Jason Richards: Even though I said all those things about her, in reality she’s still the prettiest, sweetest girl I’ve ever known, and I love her’

I couldn’t help but cry. Lacey picked up on this.

“So are we gonna beat him up?” she asked.

“No” I shook my head. She heard me crying.

“Anya, it’s not that bad” I couldn’t control it. Nick was wrong, I needed Jay and he needed me. “Come down to the Pizza place on 42nd street, we’ll grab a pizza then walk to my house. Sound good?”

I smiled. “It does…I’ll meet you there in 10” I hung up my phone

…

I sat in the pizza place alone for a while. Lacey has a record of being late, even though she literally lives right next to the pizza place.

I sat in the corner looking outside, watching the rain hit the glass.

“Hey Anya” someone started. I turned to see it was Eric. He had one of those delivery bags in his hand. He took a seat across from me. “Have you been crying?” I nodded. “I won’t ask” he got up.

“Stay” I muttered out. “I need someone to talk to” he smiled and sat back down.

“What’s wrong?”

“I broke up with Jay”

“yeah I know, I saw the facebook status he made…it was mean but at the same time sort of sweet”

“I know, that’s what I don’t get, did I make a bad decision?” I asked.

“Well did that decision come from your heart or your gut?”

“Why does it matter?”

“Well if you follow your heart then you didn’t love him and your heart was telling you to end it”

“I did love him”

“Then you had a gut feeling that breaking up was the best for the both of you” I sighed. “You might be confused now but in the future it’ll make more sense. Trust me, when your turning gray reflecting on your life you’d realize if you didn’t leave Jay you wouldn’t have married the guy of your dreams”

I smiled. “Thanks”

“for what?”

“For being nice, I don’t care what Jay says about you, you’re a sweet kid”

“Well thanks…and your welcome” he got up. “I’ll see you tomorrow in school?” I nodded. He smiled and walked away.

At the same moment, the sun started to peak out a little from behind the storm clouds. I couldn’t help but giggle. His smile lights up the sky.