Ain't No Mountain High Enough

"Tainted Love"

1,989 miles. Thirty-one hours.

That's how far Valerie was moving away.

I had known Valerie since I was in the sixth grade. I had seen her nearly every day all through middle school and high school. Yes, things were a little tense between us now, but that didn't mean we didn't practically grow up together. Somehow this felt worse than finding out she had a boyfriend.

"It won't be until January," she continued. She still wouldn't look at me. "We've found a place we want to move into, So all we're waiting for now is to finalize the paperwork. I've already been accepted into a university there, so..." She trailed off, then shrugged.

"January," I said. I put everything I had into the smile on my face, and I forgot to put excitement into my voice. Either way, I knew she knew I was faking it. "That's exciting."

She took a long sip from her coffee. "And soon. A little too soon, if you ask me," she said after she put her cup down. "You'll...have to visit sometimes."

"Only if you visit down here."

"Of course I will," she said. She fiddled with her half-empty cup. "And of course I'll be in contact, and don't worry about breaking up the team." She winked. "I'll still be doing concept art for you guys and everything. That's my dream, anyway."

That was some relief, anyway. Keto and Veronica would be devastated if they knew she was going to leave us in the dust. Arjun would be upset too, he just wouldn't show it. He would be the one who'd just simply go find someone else to replace Valerie.

"Anyway, I wanted to give you something." She took something from her pocket and put it on the table between us. The tears in her eyes were becoming harder to ignore.

For a second, I just stared at it. It was a necklace, one that I recognized immediately. Two rings had been looped onto the thin chain. They were cheap, of course. I couldn't afford anything too expensive in high school (heck, I can't afford anything expensive now), so I settled for two silver rings, both with tiny engravings of a Papuo Fruit. Ever since Keto got Valerie into Kingdom Hearts, she had always loved the game's idea of characters sharing the star-shaped Paopu Fruit to symbolize that their destinies were forever connected. I just thought it was cheesy. I still got her the rings, though. One for me, and one for her. I was never the jewelry kind of guy, so I ended up giving her both of them.

I picked it up to study it closer. It was supposed to symbolize how we were connected. If she was giving the necklace back to me...what did that mean?

"So that's it, then?" I said, nodding.

She stared at her lap. "Randall, I want you to know it has nothing to do with the accident."

I stuffed the necklace into my pants pocket. Why did she even bother telling me that? Why did she bother asking me to come here, for that matter?

She kept on talking. Maybe she thought she could make this better. I don't know. "I'm serious," she said. At least she found it in herself to look me in the eye. "I still care about you. I care about you a lot."

"Then why Stephen?" Oh, I couldn't believe the words exited my mouth, but there was nothing I could do once they were out there.

She winced. "I care about him, too," she said softly. "Randall, if you would give him a chance, you would know he's a really great guy."

"Oh, I'm sure," I said, the sarcasm heavy in my tone. There went the volcano... "I'm sure he's just fantastic. He's a real golden child, running all those marathons and everything."

"Randall..."

I drained the last of my coffee, then tossed it in the nearby trash can. "Goodbye, Valerie." I barely looked at her as I wheeled myself backwards, then towards the door.

"Come on, Randall!" Valerie cried, getting up to come after me. She got to the door before I did and stood in front of it. "What do you want me to do, call everything off?!"

The baristas were watching us. This was just fantastic, wasn't it? And I just kept digging myself in a deeper hole. "That would help!" I said, laughing mirthlessly. "Yes, maybe you should consider that! Now please let me go home!"

"You can't go home without me!" Valerie said, crossing her arms.

My face grew hot from the rage that was blowing out of my internal volcano. "Watch me!" I made like I was going to plow right over her, and that got her out of the way. I did my best to push the door open and get through it. The glass door was heavy, but I made do.

"Randall, please!"

I ignored whatever she said to me and let the door slam shut. I knew it would take me forever to get home at this rate, but I was too far into this now. I rolled onto the dip in the sidewalk and those red tactiles, then started off towards home. It was nearly night now. Gosh, what had I done?

I went further down the road until I came to a highway right beside me, and my nerves immediately went on edge as I wheeled myself down the sidewalk. The wind rushed past me at a frightening speed every time a car zipped by, but I tried to ignore it. I was wearing a thick sweatshirt, but I was starting to shiver. And it wasn't even that cold!

To make matters worse, I had a terrible sense of direction (and I still do to this day), and I found myself, oddly, in a HEB parking lot. It had to be nearing nine o'clock, now, and my shoulders were sore from pushing the wheels on my wheelchair so much. Now my temper had started to wear away, and I was feeling pretty terrible about what I said to Valerie. Of course she couldn't help what was happening. And maybe she was right, and Stephen was a really good guy. I could tell she loved him a lot...maybe even more than she ever loved me. And I was just feeling sorry for myself since she wasn't dating me, and here she was having to move to a totally different state where she didn't know anyone.

I was a real idiot, and I guess what happened next was some sort of punishment.

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I'm back! I hope everyone is having a good time with the holidays! With Christmas over, I'll be returning to my regular posting schedule. Thank you for sticking with me!

Listen to Soft Cell's "Tainted Love"!

Peace ✌ ~ A.J.