Andrew
“’Sup Shane?”
Phone to my ear, I lie on my bed and play with a ball, throwing it in the air and back while talking to my friend.
“Hey, man. Not much. Feeling better?”
“Yeah, thanks man.”
I hear a pause on the other side of the phone and am about to ask a question when Shane interrupts me.
“I was just wondering…”
I let him finish but his thought ends there.
“You were wondering.”
“Indeed I was. Well I am. Well you get the point. Anyways, back on topic. At my party. You were hanging out with this girl and suddenly you just, well, left her.”
I feel a sudden rush of regret and guilt wash over me. I don’t answer.
“I thought at first you had to go and she knew it, but from the look on her face when she left a few minutes after you did, I realized… you ditched her man,” he says, obviously misunderstanding why I’d left a beautiful girl standing.
“I had things to do,” I answer, standing up from my bed and walking to the window. The torrent of rain pours down and I feel like walking outside and taking a gulp of rainwater.
“Come on Andy, I know you had nothing to do. You’ve got no one to hang out with here but me and that damn hot girl you were talking to.”
“Yeah, because I came all the way here to see you Shane, Mr. I’m-The-Center-Of-Attention.”
I hear him exhale loudly into the phone making a crackling sound.
“I’m just saying man, I know you, and you had nothing to do that night, else you wouldn’t have come to my party. You just had to find a reason to get out of there.”
“Why would I need a reason to get out of there if the girl was just so ‘damn hot’?” I ask sarcastically.
“Because you’re scared.”
His words hit me in the chest and I feel anger rising at the back of my throat.
“Say that again?” I say, my irritation clear in voice.
“You. Are. Scared, Andy. Scared. Scared of what you felt, scared of what you still feel. And I’d be damned if it didn’t look like you liked that girl last night.”
“Her name is Rita,” I say before I can stop myself.
“See? I just don’t understand man. You’ve just changed, and I kno-”
“Well I guess it’s about time I changed,” I interrupt before slamming my phone shut with my fingers and shoving it into my pocket. I walk over to my table and kick it. Surprisingly, it stays standing and the only things that are remotely affected by my kick are my throbbing toes.
I grab my foot in my hands and hop before toppling onto the floor. I grab my elbow, my funny bone screaming from it hitting my closet and I sit up. My head bangs the corner of my desk and I yell: “Damn it! Fuck you! Fuck, fuck, fuck you!”
I clutch my head, elbow, and foot and walk down to the kitchen to get a pack of ice for my injured limbs.
As I make my way down the stairs, I trip and tumble down the last few steps.
“Are you fucking kidding me?!” I bellow.
I hop down, my back now in pain from the fall. I grab three packs of frozen peas and spread myself on the couch.
“Ow, ow, ow,” I say quietly as I set the packs of ice on my head, back, and toe. I lean into the cushions and breathe out to the cold. Looking around the living room, I find it littered with bottles of beer, vodka shots, and bags of chips. I sigh, thinking about how I would probably be the one cleaning this mess up.
I reach to the bump in my pants and pull out my phone. Pressing redial, it composes Shane’s number. He picks up after one ring and coughs, waiting for me to say something.
“I’m sorry,” I grunt.
“Oh, so now you’re sorry,” he answers, dragging his now out long enough for me to understand he’s pissed at me just about as much as I’m pissed at him.
“Yeah,” I answer, “After I hung up on you, I kicked my table and hurt my toe, then slammed my elbow into my closet before hitting my head against a corner. Then I fell down the stairs going to get packs of ice. Now, I’m on the couch covered with frozen peas and I’ve called to say sorry.”
“Wow,” he says, “Karma’s a bitch man.”
I laugh and he joins me.
“Still, I’m sorry bro.”
He laughs louder and says, “You didn’t just call me to say sorry. Spill it.”
I sigh and look to the peas on my foot.
“Could I get Rita’s number?”
He chuckles and I can hear a smile in his voice when he says, “Sure man. I got a number from her friend. Knew you’d ask me eventually.” I can hear his pride bursting through the phone and I smile. He gives me her phone number and I thank him, closing my phone up.
I sit with my eyes closed and say to myself:
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
I open my eyes and type in Rita’s number.
~~~
Her machine picks up.
“Hey Rita. It’s Andrew. I know you probably don’t want to be hearing from me right now, but I just called to say sorry about the other night at Shane’s. I have a lot of stuff going on in my life and I didn’t know how to deal with all of it without you coming along. And when you did, I felt a connection I’d never felt with anyone else before and I got scared because I thought I was gonna mess everything up with you just like I’d done with everything and everyone else I’d cared for.
"But now I’m just rambling a lot and am probably going to go over the time limit of my message so I’m just going to ask: Will you go on a date with me?” I pause and realize how stupid I’m being waiting for an answer from a machine. “If the answer is yes, meet me at the park at seven tomorrow. I’ll be waiting by the fountain. I hop-” I’m cut off by the machine’s voice saying:
“You have exceeded your message time. Please call again and leave a new message.”
I sigh, annoyed, and call her number again.
“I hope you’ll be there. It would really mean the world. Okay. Well, bye.” I say before closing my phone up and pressing it to my mouth.
I start hitting my head with it muttering: “Did you really have to leave two messages? I’m sure she got the point. My god you’re stupid sometimes. And now you’re talking to yourself. Well done Andrew. Well done.”
I kick off my ice packs and head up to my room. I sit in front of my easel, put on a canvas and picture Rita’s eyes in my mind before stroking the canvas with a dark brown.
***
YAY, he's got a date with Rita *happy dance*
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Book: Eragon <--- not normally a big fan of dragon books but this one is reeaally good and you should check out the whole series.
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Things Not Said
Fiksi RemajaKyle Jepsen and Andrew Carter, two artists with their lives ahead of them, never meet yet their lives intertwine in the most unexpected way. Both must live with the loss of loved ones and the hardship of life and, over the years, have learned to dea...
