Forged in Flames

Ex Good Time

His alarm clock woke him with a start on Thursday. He shot up, heart racing, butterflies in his stomach. He closed his laptop to silence the alarm and layed back down, trying to catch his breath. He somehow fell back asleep and wound up getting out of his room twenty minutes later than he needed. He wanted time to speed up, though. His morning and school day to just whiz by, he had plans to see Summer. It seemed to be a weekly thing, however, they weren't going to walk around the mall today. They were going to walk around a pet store and a craft store. He was fantasizing about seeing her again, every time he saw her, everything felt so new and surreal. As if they had just met and this was the first date, even though they had met so long ago, and have had so many dates. The love always seemed fresh.

Summer was working at her grandparents, something she would be doing two to three times a week for ten dollars and hour. She had been working about two hours when she texted Dylan again. He had just sent her a plethora of online soulmate quotes. She didn't have a response to them, which dampered him a bit. She talked about how badly she wanted a beer. He was hoping she wouldn't imbibe. She had severe liver damage, her body could not painlessly tolerate alcohol. Typically in times of stress, she also desired a cigarette, however, he had told her to begin a nicotine detox a week prior. He was hoping she wasn't going to start up again. At the moment all she was smoking was bud, he didn't mind that because he too, enjoyed it, even if the secondhand smoke made him drowsy. It put his nerves to rest and he felt more at peace than before he got a few inhales. In about two hours, he'd get to see her, and he was antsy for the interaction with his lover, his soulmate.

They met at the mall, Summer's mom took one look at Dylan and knew there was something wrong with him. She insisted that if he needed anything, not to hesitate to ask her. "Hug Summer," she began, "She's really good at putting a smile on peoples faces." She then smiled and asked Dylan once again if he needed anything. He assured her and hugged his girlfriend as she drove off.

They spent a few hours walking around. They browsed Hobby Lobby and upon departure, Summer bowed down and began to flip off the building, the employees and the company. They went to the pet store next where she talked about her ex-boyfriend as they walked around. Jake could not seem to take care of himself by himself. He didn't shower until Summer said he needed to because he smelled. And he hated it when she showered without him, all of a sudden, whenever she wanted to shower by herself she was a whore and a liar and a cheater. Jake also claimed to love animals but he beat Summers dog and didn't properly take care of his pet snake, which had gotten out one day and bitten Jakes brother. The ball python was euthanized and his brother spent weeks in the hospital from a blood infection the snake had given him. Not only was the snake starving, it was ill. Jake cheated on Summer, and constantly talked to his friends about how she was so dumb, how he was only pulling her along and was using her while he banged girls that he actually liked. Summer knew she wasn't his type, deep down, but she was hoping these things weren't true. Turns out it was true. Summer liked to pretend she was having HPV induced sores to make it so she wouldn't have to have sex with him. She didn't enjoy it. Jake was a drug-induced decision. Two years on everything she could get her hands on. She spent two summers on the streets, one of which she slept in a corner in a crackhouse. For being a boyfriend, he never helped her. Now, he was bothering her again, so pissed at her that she had moved on already, two months later. "You never loved me did you?" He asked her, seeming so distraught. "How can i love someone i never knew?" She shouted back. If he tried to speak to her again, Dylan knew several ways to find him, and several more to leave him on the floor crying in a pool of his own depression and blood.