Drew Barrymore

The Parking Lot

This book has been the story of a relationship between a girl and me. For those of you who have been following the story and enjoy my work, thank you very much for listening. Like all good stories, they all must come to an end and this chapter is the final chapter in the long book I created. Before I tell the story of how she ended our relationship, I just wanted to say that everything in this book is from completely MY POINT OF VIEW. NOTHING in this book is 100 percent accurate but they are memories her and I created while we were together. Without further ado, here is the story of the night a girl, that I loved very dearly, broke my heart.

The date, September 15th, 2018, a warm Saturday weekend. From what I can remember, our date was at the Sunrise Mall somewhere around five o'clock. I remember that before we met one another at the mall, we were in a state of frustration. I don't specifically recall why we were both frustrated at one another, but we decided to see each other because each weekend was valuable. She had been working Monday through Friday every day right after school which meant I didn't get to talk to her until her shift ended. By the time her shift was over, it was already ten thirty and by that time, I was usually either asleep or right on the verge of going to sleep.

The conversation to arrange the date was slightly dry but in the end, we both ended up meeting one another at the mall around five thirty. There is this one little shop in the mall that most people don't even know exists because it is hidden behind LOFT and H&M. She had discovered the shop with her friends one time and ever since then, she always begged me to go there. They sold these smoothies that were a rip off of Bubbly Brew Teahouse. The shop was called The Candy Apple Factory and its aesthetics were possibly the best I've ever seen for how small the shop was. I remember parking my car near the Food Court which was towards the Cinemark Movies parking lot. It was a rainy afternoon so I came prepared with a blue umbrella in my hand as I walked through the glass doors leading to the Food Court. Once I was inside the Food Court, I saw the ginormous merry-go-round that sits right across from the movies with its yellow colored lights gleaming in all directions.

 I pulled out my phone to text her that I was here and got a response instantly. She told me that she was waiting for me at The Candy Apple Factory which made me feel bad because we always meet by the movies before we went anywhere in the mall. 

Inside the mall there is a movie theater on the far North East side and that was where this girl and I would meet before we actually went anywhere. Every time I would walk in the Food Court, she would be leaning against this rail, waiting for me. I remember how she would look before she saw me. Her ultra light brown hair hanging at the side of her ears with her impatient eyes darting in all directions trying to spot me among the crowd of people in the mall, almost like a 'Where's Waldo' puzzle. Sometimes when I would look at her, she gave off the impression of a scared puppy looking for its owner.

"Oh crap I'm late, she's gonna kill me!", I thought to myself while speed walking through the crowd of people. The Candy Apple Factory is a good distance from the Food Court which meant I had a lot of walking to do in order to get there. It was difficult to get past people in the mall due to the big blue umbrella I carried in my right hand as I pushed through people. I passed GameStop, flew by Victoria Secret, hurdled through Auntie Anne's pretzel shack, because the guy tried offering me free pretzel samples, and finally jogged around the corner of H&M to see the big green apple sign hanging in front of me. "Okay Alec just act cool, you're fashionably late but play it off because she can smell fear," I said to myself before I stepped into the shop. As I entered the establishment, I saw her sitting in the back with a phone in her hand and a drink in the other. She was wearing this purple fuzzy sweater with Sperry's and jeans which reminded me that she was sick. I sat down with a smile on my face and said "hey" as most people say when they greet one another. She looked up at me with a face that I've seen so many times. Her eye brows were scrunched together and the bottom part of her eyes were curled up over both sockets almost like she was scowling at me. We talked for a while about I don't know what and eventually we made up. I asked her if she wanted to play Uno with me, because that was the game we always played when we went there, and she happily obliged. Of course, I beat her at the game and this caused her to get upset. She never liked losing but she HATED it even more when she lost to me. Eventually, she got tired of playing Uno and informed me that we leave. 

I would've never known that where we went next would play a part in the rough breakup that happened later on in the day...