They All Laughed

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Chapter 1

'I don't love you anymore... I'm sorry, Beth, but I can't keep pretending I love you when I don't anymore... I'm sorry.'

Beth stared blankly at the screen of her phone, only seeing those four words from Sebastian; even the sunlight streaming into her room had faded into the background. She couldn't make herself delete that one text message from last night; the reality of the break up still hasn't sunk in. Her heart turned once again into a heavy, cold stone in her chest as Beth held down the glaring red power button, trying to keep her hands from shaking. She wasn't going to bother to reply for a while for even that simple action would bring on a river of salt and despair from her eyes. As her phone shut off, she saw that she couldn't avoid what seemed to be the truth.

'I don't love you.' A flash of those words is like a scene on a DVD stuck on replay, like a Déjà vu that makes every word a slap in the face. Despite all Beth's efforts to stay calm, tears build up in her eyes as the memories of her and Sebastian flash through her mind. She remembers how he said her hair swept him off his feet, how her light blue eyes sparkled. Those memories unleash another painful river of tears. Beth remembered how he whispered 'Je T'aime' in her ear when he held her close. She remembered their first kiss, how awkward it was, and how they talked about it after. She leaned in for a hug, and as she was pulling away, he pulled her close again and kissed her like he never had before, in a complete and new way. Beth had been so dizzy from that experience since it was their first kiss that she accidentally lost balance and would have fallen onto a nearby chain link fence if Sebastian hadn't caught her in his sturdy arms. Her heart fluttered like metal acid wings of a humming bird inside her chest as she remembered the feeling of that fire that used to burn through her.

Then, there were the precious memories of their dream family. Sebastian and Beth talked late on the phone at night, laughed and dreamed of having kids and getting married. They both wanted a family with a boy and a girl. They would call them Raven and Jessica. Raven, a beautiful, blonde haired boy with Beth's light blue eyes, and Jessica, the little daddy's girl with Sebastian's blonde hair. They would be together, a happy family of four, living in Australia with Sebastian continuing management of the National Animal Preserve there. This was always the highlight of Beth and Sebastian's conversations. But an idea of a family had not come into the picture until that one night. They had been talking late, or very early in the morning-depending on how you look at it-when the question of the purpose in life got brought up by Sebastian.

"What would you want to accomplish in your life before you pass on?" Sebastian asked. It took a while for Beth to answer, but she finally came up with an earnest conclusion.

"I would love more than anything if I could travel around the world, and maybe go to France or Rome or Newport; but of course I hope to take that significant other with me too, which I hope that far into the future will still be you, hun." She anxiously awaited his response. She didn't know what he would think of her saying something as serious as this, since most of the time she felt like Sebastian always stopped replying when Beth got sentimental with him. However, she was soon reassured of his affection for her in the reply.

"That does sound so amazing. But I, on the other hand, would like to start a family of my own before I make other plans. I mean college would come first indubitably, but after a couple of years, I would like to have the comforting sensation of coming home to a loving wife and seeing our kids sound asleep in their beds. Doesn't that sound nice?" A feeling of warmth spread over Beth as she read that. She instantly replied eager for this conversation to go on, for she had realized that this is what she would want as well later in life.