Live Laugh :) Love

“My boyfriend dumped me,” I started stiffly, sniffling while trying to clear my thoughts. “Well no, he tried to dump me. He kind of dumped me. I don’t know. I guess we’re just not together anymore.” And there it was, my babbling, my lower lip quivering, and new tears.

“You weren’t in love,” he said frankly.

“Excuse me?”

“You weren’t in love, you have never been in love and you probably will never be in love. You don’t know what love is,” this time he looked at me, a shimmering in his eye. “They all said that to you. Am I right? They all said you would never, could never be in love at this age. But you were, I can tell. And I’m sorry. But love is a mutual thing.”

I paused at a loss for words, something which rarely happened. I looked up at him again and this time he was the one to stand.

“Come on, it’s cold and raining,” he said extending his hand. I didn’t know what that was supposed to mean, but I grabbed his hand and walked out of the field.

“Where are we going?” I asked after a few minutes of walking, my nerves kicking back in.

“Don’t worry,” he said as though he could read my mind, feel the slight pause I made. “Don’t worry, we’re going to the bookshop.”

How had he known? I loved the bookshop. I worked there during the summer and near the end of the school year when things weren’t so tough. He opened the door and I stepped into the warmth, realizing then how cold I really was. “Coffee,” he said it as a fact but I nodded anyways and walked into a hidden corner of the bookstore. There were books everywhere, books on every shelf and books that made up the shelves. I sat down on a comfortable chair and curled up as the store cat, Rufus walked over to me, pawing the chair.

“So,” he started, two cups of coffee in his hand. He handed me the larger cup.

I took a sip. “Caramel,” I thought. “How did he know?”

“So,” he said again in a matter of fact tone, “describe it. The relationship I mean. I mean, everything.” he paused and I looked up from my hands, I noticed how careful he really was, noticed how someone could take him for shy. But as he looked up I knew that everything was going to be ok.

“It started on a Saturday night. Me and my friend Ava, we have these, like, weekly sleepovers. And we have this theory, if you like a boy, and you call them while you’re at the sleepover and it’s wicked late at night…he’ll like you too. And I guess it’s stupid because it’s only happened a couple of times the first being when he asked me out. But I like to think it really does work.” I paused, sipping my coffee but he only stared on, a slight smile on his face. “Well the first night this thing actually worked was when I called him, his name is David by the way. He has brown eyes and black hair and even though he’s Portuguese he has freckles, isn’t that the weirdest things?” I paused and smiled then I caught myself and looked over. He was still staring a bored expression creeping into his eyes. “Sorry,” I apologized quickly. “Well anyways, we called him that night and got to talking…and then we got to talking lots and soon I asked who he liked and he asked who I liked,” a smile lighted my face at this memory, “and then he told me he liked me…he liked me” I smiled proudly.

“He liked you…” he repeated, loosing his self in thought.

I continued anyways though, too rapped up in the story to really notice,”Then the next day, he walked to my house. And we kissed. Oh his kisses…they’re,like, Hershey Kisses you know?” I asked not seeking an answer. “And then he called again, and asked me out and we talked. And then the next week was Midyears but I swear it was the best week of my life. I snuck out and saw him and we…went to his house.” Suddenly my voice quickened and the quivering started up all over again, “And after Midyears he was upset because he had failed a bunch and then he kept skipping school saying he was sick. But I know he wasn’t. I just know he wasn’t. And then he stopped responding to me once I said…and then he dumped me. Today, he dumped me,” silent tears were rolling down my face now.

“Kind of,” he said, the slight smile returning to his features. “Remember you said he kind of dumped you.”

I smiled, “Yeah. He kind of dumped me.”

We paused studying each other for a while, the tears coming to a stop in time. Finally I gained enough confidence to speak again without tears.

“What about you? Most people don’t like to walk in the rain.” And his story began.