The story of us

The past-Chapter 1

This love story is so special, mainly because it's mine. You're going to hear a lot about my struggles, my heartaches, my pain. Yeah again, you're also going to hear about the most beautiful and amazing thing that ever happened to me. So just sit back, enjoy the ride, and laugh at all the stupid mistakes I made and watch where it brings me.

I walked into the first basketball practice I had been to in about two years. I just loved being there on the court and letting the stress and problems of the outside life take a backseat for four nights a week. The only thing that made it feel a little off is that we practiced in the same gym as the girls basketball team. Next thing I knew had locked eyes with the 5'2", blonde point guard of the girls team. She had personality about her that made me feel happy and up beat. (Just so you know, this isn't the girl I end up with. This isn't the girl that makes me feel special and loved for the rest of my life. To be honest, she kind of does the exact opposite after awhile. Like I said before, just sit back and enjoy the ride.) I played basketball for about two hours and kept noticing her staring at me. Kept noticing her looking at me in this weird way I had never been looked at before, and I liked it. After the practice was over she introduced herself to me. "I'm Rosie." She said looking up to me her head nearly cocked back all the way and her outstretched hand waiting for me to meet her halfway. I chuckled my corny chuckle "Brandon, just started going to school here." I said shaking her hand.

That night was just the beginning of a very interesting and hard eight months. I watched as she drove away with her dad in a big white van. Before you get any crazy ideas, no her father was not a pervert. He drove a big white van because he was a contractor. He fixed bathrooms and kitchens and remodeled homes for a living. There was something about her. It was like I knew what I was getting myself into, but I just couldn't stop myself. It was like wanted it to happen.

We started dating around the Christmas of 2015. It was an odd relationship because Rosie and I were like Oil and Water on certain days but then on good days went together like Peanut butter and Jelly, Grape Jelly of course. She made me laugh with her outgoing spirit and crazy thoughts, but then left me clueless when it came to things she didn't like about me, but before we get too far into the bad stuff, let's continue with the good.

I remember the first time I met her family. It was a couple days before Christmas break and I went to her house after a basketball practice and we watched Elf and wrapped Christmas gifts. It felt weird that this family was excepting me into their Christmas traditions and they had never even met me.

Her mother was short, which wasn't surprising since Rosie was very short herself. She was this small petite woman who always and I mean Always was too nice and kind, which was nice but it made her oblivious to many things. Her father was this average sized man, who looked like, back in his day he was buff and quite a lady killer. Her sister was probably the most sane one in the family, to be completely honest. She was also short and had a kind soul but knew there was such thing as being too kind. Then they had this decent sized brown dog, Diego. Diego and I went good together because every time I would come over for pizza night, I would eat the pizza and he would eat the crust that I hated. What I found out after a while though, is that he liked to eat a lot more than just the crust of my pizza. He liked any kind of food he could get his teeth on.

I found myself wrapping some sort of skinny cylinder as Rosie laid her head on my lap for the first time. All I could remember feeling is that it didn't feel right. It didn't feel perfect the way that I know it should feel when you meet the love of your life. Rosie was Not the love of my life and I knew that, that cold December night. I still somehow let myself carry this relationship on for another 7 months. I'm going to spare you all the gory details. Fair warning though, you're going to get a lot more though later on in this book.

Every basketball game, I could always count on Rosie to wear my bright red jersey with the number 11 plastered across the front of it. It made me mad that she wore that jersey, she didn't deserve that jersey. She wasn't the one that should've been wearing my jersey. The girl that should've been wearing my jersey was a taller brunette with glasses and a smile that lit up my life, but at this moment Rosie wore that jersey every Tuesday and Thursday night in an old ratty gym in Westlake Ohio. I could always hear her over everyone else in the crowd. Screaming every time I hit a three pointer or made a free throw or drove in for a layup.

I guess all I really wanted was someone who really meant it when they cheered for me. I wanted someone who really wanted to see me succeed. Someone who needed me in their life. Someone who needed my stupid, shaggy brown hair. Someone who needed to hear my obnoxious laugh and didn't mind looking at my stupid chipped tooth everyday. Someone who didn't mind that I acted like a goofball 24/7 and someone who loved that all I ever wanted was to be crazy in love. Rosie never was and never will be that person. You'll learn why in the next chapter.