Always and Forever

Chapter 1: Jason

  It was the summer of my sixteenth year. My relationship land was cold, dry, and barren. I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling thinking about Jason, my ex. "What did I do wrong?!" I thought sadly in my head. I rolled over onto my stomach and cried into my rainbow bear pillow pet named Bambi. A small knock came at the door, and me being upset replied roughly with "Go away!" The door creaked open and a seven-year-old brunette popped her head into the room. I looked up at her with my puffy, red, and bloodshot eyes. I wiped my nose and eyes and sat up. "What do you want?" I said vaguely to the little brunette standing with mismatched socks. She started toward the bed, sat down beside me and put her head on my shoulder.

"What's wrong Tanna?" Said Emma with worry in her tone. I turned to look at her, my face red from crying and spoke.

"Boys are stupid, dumb, and mean!" I sniffed and continued. "Emma, listen closely," I said. I had calmed down by this point and wasn't stumbling over my words. "Promise me you won't date until you're thirty?"

She looked up at me with her puppy dog brown eyes and said: "I promise Tanna." I pulled her into a strangling hug and kissed her silky brown hair. I could always count on Emma to be one of the things that made me feel better. I hoisted myself off the bed and gave Emma a sly, yet cheeky, grin. Her brow furrowed with confusion. I ran into her as fast as a cheetah, grabbed her by the arms, and spun her around. She screamed with delight. I stopped for a moment and put the diffident girl down. She stumbled, fell, and laughed from dizziness and just pure goofiness. I picked her up bridal style and carried her out the door.

I sat her down at her place at the table, then I sat down next to my other sister, Madi. She looked at me and glared an eccentric glare and smiled. "It's about time you got out of bed! You've been up there since Christmas ago!" I laughed and playfully punched her. I looked around the table at the rest of my family. Across from me sat my mom, Laura, my brother, Sean, and my brother, Logan. To the right of me sat my last brother, Darrow. To the left, Madi, Emma, and Sharli. At the head of the table sat George, my stepdad.

I have a big family if you haven't noticed. I was exhausted from crying and almost fell asleep in my bowl of Lucky Charms. I rested my head on my fist, my eyes started to flicker, flutter, then they closed. My face slipped off my fist and landed in my now, soggy cereal. I lay there sleeping completely sound. Madi leaned over to wake me.

"Let her be." My mom said in a quiet tone.

I slept for what felt like hours. Then after a protracted time of sleep, I felt a nudge on my shoulder. I groaned and turned my head the opposite direction on the table. I felt something wet brush my face. My hands went up to stop the sticky, stinky, gross, pink dog tongue. "Lulu stop!" I said all shrilly. "Ahh!" I was pushed out of my chair and onto the ground by my Great Dane puppy, Lulu.

The kisses and playful bites came quickly. I laughed and laughed and rolled over Lulu, panting with happiness. I patted her head and stood up. Smiling for a long long time. "I can always count on you to make me feel better!" I said to my now tired Great Dane puppy. I climbed the stairs to my room Madi following shortly after. I lay on my bunk bed staring at the beams that held the bed together and thought.

Madi laid down next to me and stared at the bed beams too. She spoke in a taciturn tone; "whatcha thinking about?"

"Jason," I replied quite dismally. Thinking about him just made it worse. Why was I still thinking about that creep? That I have no idea. "Jason broke my heart. Breaking up with me was his worse idea ever!" I said to Madi.

"Why are you still thinking about him??" Madi said. "He was a jerk for breaking up with you, he doesn't know what he's missing out on. He was a fool for breaking your fragile heart and ego!" She was pissed but so was I. She was outraged but so was I. I couldn't stop thinking about him. Even though it was as virulent as shards of glass toward me. I turned my head to look at Madi, we made eye contact, and I spoke.

"What did I do wrong??" I said through streams of tears and weakness. Shortly thereafter I collapsed into a heap of hormonal sadness. Tears streaming down my rosy cheeks.

"I'll give you some time to get your emotions intact again," Madi said as she patted my thigh and left the room.

I sat for a long time with my emotional, hormonal, curled up self, and thought. What could I have done differently?? I said in my head. My brow furrowed with concentration. I then lay my head on my pillow and thought some more. My phone buzzed, it was a text from Jason. I looked startled like someone had jumped out from behind a door and scared me. I read the text in my head.

"Bear." That's what he called me when we were together. "Bear, I felt like I made the right decision in breaking up with you." That's all it said. I hung onto every word, my body cringing from anxiety. I sat for a long time contemplating if I should reply or not. I finally did and this is what the text said.

"Why boo bear?? You told me I was your everything! We talked about settling down and starting a family!! We were supposed to be together forever you made a promise!! I sent the message, waiting anxiously for a reply. The typing bubble appeared on my screen, I heard a *pop* and there was his reply.

"Well, sweetheart we're not in kindergarten anymore! Our love life is NOT a fairy tale!" This was just the first text, I heard another small *pop* and another message was on my screen. "I never had any true feelings for you... EVER! I was desperate so, you looked like a good start. I cast out my reel and you took the bait without hesitation. You're so gullible that's why you made it easy for me to play the loving and caring boyfriend. Maybe that's why you believed it was real!! Because I played the part! So long toots!"

I sat staring blankly at my phone with disbelief. I was shocked. Had he really meant all that? Was it true? Was I gullible enough to let him manipulate me? I texted back my final text. I had reached my last straw. I sent the text. Malice still coursing through my veins, and this is what it said.

"You no good lying bastard! I loved you! And for what?? To be played! Why would you do this to me?? You're lucky you're not here! I'd break your nose so fast and quick you would never see it coming!" I slammed my phone down out of anger and disbelief. I sat in silence thinking: Now what?

Sharli, my younger sister, came into my room and saw my furrowed brow and asked: "what's wrong, my favorite sister that I love and adore?"

I looked at her with one eyebrow raised and said cautiously, "what did you do?"

She looked at me confused, trying to raise one eyebrow and failing. "How do you do that??" She tried to raise an eyebrow again but failed once more. "Ahh ha! I know how to do it now! She covered her right eyebrow with her right-hand and raised both and said with a smile, "am I doing it??"

I laughed and shook my head. "No, that's cheating," I remembered what my question was and repeated it to her.

She looked embarrassed and turned beet red. " I was running in from the yard and ran into the screen door." She was being so bashful she lost her balance and fell off the bed with a notorious thud.

I started to chuckle, then giggle, then broke into a laughing fit. I was laughing so hard I fell off the bed as well. Now Sharli and I were laughing together. We looked at each other and I spoke: "we're stupid idiots!"

"Yeah but we're stupid idiots together!" Sharli said as I patted her head.

"Thanks, I needed this," I said to Sharli with a smile.

A/N

Hi! For all the new readers I will be trying to update every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Don't count on me updating on these days thanks.

tanzania2000