The Way I Loved You

Chapter Four

            I met Will through work. He was already a surgeon by the time I got there, and he was my boss. But after my internship ended and I got a job as a true doctor, Will and I got closer and closer.

            He was everything I’d ever wanted. He was kind and compassionate. He was handsome. He made all of my friends jealous.

            After a couple months of dating, we moved in together. Will never took anything too slow, but I could tell he’d truly been ready to find someone.

            Don’t get my wrong by the way I talk about Alex, I love Will. I love Will with all my heart. I finally got what I always hoped for.

            Will was rich. He was a big surgeon. When he picked me up for every date, he always opened the doors for me and told me how beautiful I was. Never has he ever let me pay a bill for him, from a dinner bill to heating.

            And don’t even get me started on his family. His father was also a doctor, and their house is huge. He has a younger sister and an older sister, so he’s truly been trained well. His older sister Emma is four years my major, but she’s a lovely woman. She is always taking me for girl’s night outs and inviting me to every family event. His younger sister Lizzie is 14 years old, and it seems as if she likes me. His mother is a wonderful woman, welcoming me with warm hugs and bright smiles. I always feel like part of the family.

            I suppose my life has gone well since Alex and I broke up, but that doesn’t mean I can ever get those days out of my head. Here I am, days from my wedding, and all I can think of is the man that I left.

            I took the day off of work to go shopping and do wedding stuff with my best friend, it’s just me home. I’m trying whatever I can to just get him off of my mind. I’m reading a book, watching TV; I even called May and talked to her for a while. I paid my bills, I went online. Finally, I just laid my head back and went to sleep.

            But that was never a good idea.

            It’s late. I’ve set myself up with a book about the classes I was taking for the next year… The one I will spend in Harvard. To finally fit in, I feel almost too grateful. But I needed to make sure I fit it.

            My glasses are fit tight to my face as I struggle through the boring text book. I’m wearing my favorite pajamas, an oversized  tee shirt and my Spongebob pants. I begin to get tired… And that’s when I hear it.

            PING.

            I automatically look up, turning my head to face the window when I hear it again. PING, PING, PING. I get up from my bed and slowly make my way to the window. I’m scared out of my mind as the pings continue. I keep telling myself to be brave, and finally, with a pair of scissors in my hand, blades pointed outward, I open the blinds.

            There, standing in my yard right in front of my window with a handful of rocks, stands Alex.

            “Alex!” I hiss, keeping my voice down. “What on earth are you doing here?”

            Alex is laughing as he knocks on my window again, this time with his knuckles. “How can I throw rocks at your window like Romeo if your window is on the first floor?” He says, the amusement displayed obviously on his face. “I mean, you house is set up not to be romantic!”

             I roll my eyes, opening my window to let him in. “Alex, you can’t just come over my house this late!”

            He laughs, “Calm down, my Juliet, we’re not staying here.”

            “We’re?” I repeat, automatically shaking my head. “Oh no, uh-uh. I don’t care what’s going on. Jesus could be making a speech for all I care, I am not leaving this house with you at 11pm.”

            He sighs, looking at me. “C’mon, Mary!” He whines. “Look, what if I told you that you don’t have to leave at 11…” He grins. “You get to leave at 10:54.”

            I roll my eyes at him once more. “No!”

            “Sorry, Mar-Mar.” He says, his cocky grin getting bigger. “You said exactly 11pm, and it is, in fact, not 11pm. Therefore, you must come to Jesus’ speech with me!”

            I slap his shoulder. “Shut up!” I say, “Where are we really going?”

            He shakes his head, holding the window open for me. “You’ll find out.”

            I’m walking through my yard, and then finally out onto the street. Alex starts getting super impatient, grabbing my hand and running with it, trying to get me to where ever we were going.

            “Alex!” I scream, fighting his grip. “Where are we going?”

            “Just hurry up, Mary! You’ll miss it!”

            We’re running as fast as my legs will take me, until finally, we hit a little abandoned grassy hill. He pulls out a blanket, setting it down. “Finally, we’ve made it.”

            “Here!” I yell at him, my face covered because I’m laughing. “Hurry, Mary! You’ll miss a big hill!”

            “Turn around,” He says, his voice is soft.

            I turn slowly, sitting myself on the blanket. And then I see it. Fireworks. Big, beautiful fireworks.

            “They’re beautiful!” I say, grinning at him.

            “What? Those?” He shrugs his shoulders. “Not as cool as the hill I made you run to see,” He gives me a playful grin.

            I laugh, pushing his shoulder as I snuggle into him. And then, he says it….

            “I love you, Mary.”

            I should have seen it coming, but I didn’t. Inside, I’m freaking out. I look over him, my eyes full of shock. One; this is Alex, the schools biggest player, and he’s told me he’s loved me. Two; this is the first guy to ever tell me that, other than my dad. And three; I realized that I felt it, too.

            “I love you, too.” I told him. And there we sat, kissing on a deserted hill at 11pm, in front of the most beautiful fireworks I’d ever seen in my life… You know why they were so beautiful, because they were our fireworks, it seemed like. The fireworks that would forever remind us of the love that we shared.

            “Mary, I’m home!” Will’s voice rang through to the kitchen. I, again, woke to a surprise of not being with Alex… Not reliving my favorite moments of my life, but preparing to make new ones.