1Stranger

Casey McDonald walked up to her porch with her date that night. His name was Dominic Bankes and they had been dating for 5 years. As Casey waited for the usual peck on the lips and then walk into the house, she was surprised that Dominic had dug something out of his pocket and then started to lean down.

"Casey, baby, I love you," Dominic said dreamily. Don't get me wrong, Casey liked him too, but she didn't exactly know if she was going to be able to marry this guy. They had spent the past five years together happily in love and now Casey was having second thoughts.

Casey met Dominic her freshman year in college. They had been dating all through college and then even when they had graduated, making them both 23 years of age. Dominic bent his knee on the cement of Casey's porch. "Casey, will you marry me?" Casey felt like she was about to pass out. The world around her was spinning, Dominic's eyes were full of hope, she reached for the front doorknob and missed it. She fell to the ground with a girlish shriek.

"Honey, are you okay?" Dominic jumped off his knee and held her up. "What's wrong darling, am I too early?"

"No, no, I was just a little woozy. I'm fine. What were we talking about?" Casey sleepily answered, breathing very hard.

"Oh, nothing," Dominic lied. I guess I'll try again another night, when things aren't so crazy.

So Casey wearily walked to her bed and flopped down until morning, when she woke up. Casey, already late for work, decided to skip a day and do something else. She checked the messages on the answering machine. There were a couple of calls from Dominic this morning to make sure she was okay, a couple calls from Emily, and then one call from Derek. What could he want? She wondered.

She decided to call Derek back. All that was running through her mind as she dialed the number was the fact that he probably called to ask for money. When he finally answered, he seemed very happy.

"Shhh, it's Casey," he whispered to someone in the background.

"Why did you call me, Derek?" Casey asked, annoyed, as usual.

Derek laughed, "Oh, I just wanted you to know I have a visitor in town and maybe you two would like to get together."

"Derek, I am not going on a double date with you again. I have a boyfriend, remember?"

"Not a double date, it's someone you know and I was just thinking you would like to see this person."

"You're not going to tell me who it is, are you?"

"Nope."

"Fine, tell whoever it is to meet me at Le Ice Creame Parlour at 7:30 pm. If you get me in trouble with Dominic, I will so never forgive you!" With that, she hung up. She racked her brain of all her current friends to find out who it would be. She couldn't think of anyone.

Later, when Dominic called, Casey couldn't think of a reason to tell him she couldn't go out that night. Finally she just told him the truth and he responded by saying, "Oh, I get it. It sounds like a date with one of your old boyfriends. Fine, but please don't leave me for him."

As Casey slipped on a t-shirt and jeans to get ready for her casual meeting, as she liked to call it, she couldn't help but think that it might as well be one of her old boyfriends. But then she remembered, she had only one boyfriend before Dominic, but she couldn't quite think of his name right now.

When she arrived at Le Ice Cream Parlour, she spotted Derek with a familiar, yet strange, looking man in a booth in the corner. Why was Emily with them? Emily had been dating Derek for a long time, longer than Casey dated Dominic. What was that on her finger? A ring? Had Derek proposed?

"What did you do to my poor friend?" Casey shouted accusingly.

"We're engaged, you got a problem with that?" Derek joked.

Casey's frown turned into a smile. "I am so happy for you guys! As long as Emily is happy, and Derek is slightly just a little bit happy, I am happy!"

"Nice to see you too," said the familiar man.

"I'm sorry," Casey apologized. "Who are you?"

"Casey," Derek cut in, "You remember Sam?"

Casey could've crawled into the smallest hole about then. Her previous boyfriend, the love of her life, before Dominic, and her prom date, Sam. How could she forget him? A tear of joy fell down her cheek.

"God, Sam, how come you look so different?" Casey cried.

"Casey, I missed you. None of my college girlfriends were like you," Sam said sadly.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Casey stared. She sat down in the booth next to him, while Emily and Derek sat across from them. "I mean they don't have their dumb month-aversaries or Saturday night chick-flicks, do they?"

"No, no, that is why I liked you. You were a total control-freak and I like that. I kind of have to give in to people like you."

"Wait, did you just call me a control-freak?"

"Casey, I didn't come here to fight with you. I came here to get back together with you. Please, will you be my girlfriend again?" Sam pleaded.

Casey hesitated. She loved Dominic, yet Sam was her whole life. "Can I get back to you on that?" she asked, in a confused tone.

Derek pushed his way into the conversation. "Casey, what's there to think about? You love Sam, Sam loves you, happily ever after. Bang! You get married have a few kids, then you shrivel up and, still in love, make your way up."

"There's a lot to think about, Derek!" Casey shouted. "I have a boyfriend. I've dated him for 5 years, and I don't think I should leave my love just because Sam shows up and calls me a control-freak."

"Your boyfriend's lame. Date Sam," Emily put into the conversation.

"You guys may think he's lame, but last night he proposed and I had to fake fainting just to get out of giving him and answer. It's not as easy as you think. I don't know if I want to marry Dominic, but I don't think I can leave him. Bye Sam," Casey said stubbornly.

Sam's heart was broken. Casey had found love while he was gone. How could this happen? He specifically told her not to forget him, yet, 5 years later, she couldn't remember his name. Watching Casey walk out of that ice cream place was the saddest he had ever been. How stupid he had been to propose that while they were at college, they see other people. Why didn't she love him?

Casey walked back to her house, with tears falling down her cheeks. She wished she could do what Derek had said about the happily ever after, but she couldn't. But her only other choice was to marry Dominic and live the life she had wanted since she had started dating him. But that wasn't where her heart was anymore.