Tragic and Wonder: An Un-Fairytale [On Hold]

Chapter 12 - Happily Ever After

The meeting with Mr. Sullivan, Jessie, James, and myself went extremely well. I felt like it was a bonding experience for all of us. I thought I would be reprimanded for leaving during my shift, but the opposite happened. Mr. Sullivan said that he appreciated taking the responsibility to have another manager on shift to cover for me. He also agreed to have Jessie take on a managerial role. We discussed hiring a couple more part-time employees to take over Jessie's position in the café. Of course, this would all take place after the fire investigation is completed. Jessie and James really seemed to bond after the fire incident. I was beginning to think that maybe there was something to what Jessie had said about James flirting with me.

After the marriage of my two best friends, one of which was my lifelong crush, I decided that maybe I should give myself a chance to find happiness out there. It may not be what I had pictured growing up, but it could be just as good, if not better. So, I tried to stop distancing myself. I did not want to go throw myself into a relationship with anyone just to get my mind off Casper, but I was starting to feel like I needed to change something in my life. It seemed like everyone was moving onwards and upwards, except me.

I began paying more attention to what James was saying when James and I began hanging out more, which usually involved being at work or getting together late into the evening because we alternated the manager shifts. I was nervous about it. I never really went on dates with anyone. I would just hang out with my friends. Sure, I had boys in high school that would flirt, but I ignored them as I secretly only had eyes for Casper. Once high school was finished and I thought about university, I pretty much threw myself into work so that I had enough money for classes. After Casper asked Amanda out, I kind of just gave up on relationships. I did not want to get hurt. Then again, no one signs on to a relationship purposely to get hurt. I just had a hard time putting pieces of my cracked and broken heart back together.

James was a good-looking, young man. He was a year younger than me, which was a little strange at first but easy to overlook after a little while. He was tall, tan, long, dark blonde hair, a scruffy yet well-groomed beard, piercing chocolate eyes, and overall, had a surfer look to him. I have no idea how he kept that look going living in the Midwest, where there is nowhere to surf, but he kept his look sharp. He would pull his long golden locks back at work and it showed off his big brown puppy dog eyes. I cannot believe that I never noticed those things before. At work, he would often wear white, V-neck t-shirts, which was not against code as we only were told to wear white shirts, but his were snug on his arms. He was a lady's man, but I never saw him with anyone, and he never mentioned a girlfriend or that he was dating anyone.

When James made the smirking comment about bouncing ideas off him, I began to think he really was flirting. He was handsome and he did seem interested in me. Looking back at all of our interactions, he sure seemed to be flirting with me a lot.

That was part of the reason I decided to try to find my happy ending with him. So, we casually started talking, then dating, then became "official." I tried not to make a big deal about it, but everyone in my family and all my friends blew it way out of proportion. I guess that they thought when I started dating, whoever it was would be "the one" and that would be it. I would be lying if I said that I did not wish for that. I did. I wished and dreamed about that desperately. I wanted to wait for Mr. Right to come along and make me forget all about my first love, the one I could never tell anyone about: Casper.

James was gentlemanly. He would open doors, hold my hand, link arms, and whisper sweet nothings into my ears. He was everything that I was hoping for in a boyfriend. He seemed to enjoy being in my company and always joked with me. All the flirting he did with other girls before we were official ended as soon as we were boyfriend and girlfriend. It was like we had been friends for a long time. He felt like he was my other half. He seemed to complete me. Where I was more reserved and less out going, he was the life of the party. He always had a smile and could bring anyone out of their shell. He brought me out of my shell. A shell that was there for many, many years. A shell that I was sure I would never leave.

We would travel together, to each other's parents' houses. His family welcomed me. They were surprised that he was in a good, healthy, long-term relationship. They said he always seemed to be the one who was never going to settle down. I was not quite sure what to make of that, but I decided that maybe it meant he was looking for forever like I was. My family all loved him and so did all my friends. Amanda was so happy for me. She was usually a good judge of character and she liked him right away. Casper took a little more convincing as he seemed oddly protective, but I did not read into it any farther than he just wanted to keep me, his friend, from getting hurt. They would joke around and ask us when we were getting married, but we would just laugh it off.

I thought that James and I were quite serious about where our relationship was heading, though we had never actually sat down to discuss it. Our relationship just felt right. It was smooth, it was fun, it was like a fairytale that was coming true. Sure, we had good days and bad days, but we always found a way to forgive each other. We never went to bed angry with one another, even if it meant being on the phone late into the night. We had an unspoken agreement to never to go to sleep angry at each other and we kept it until one night. One night, can make all the difference. The difference between finding a happily ever after and finding the worst place you ever saw yourself.