I don't know how I feel about this, but hey, first one shot so give it a try?
…...
She loved him at his darkest hour, Massie wrote.
She cringed at the cliché sentence and erratically hit the backspace button. She had exactly three weeks until her deadline and had nothing. It wasn't her fault, really. Her editor had never told her that she had signed with a company she couldn't even pronounce. He had also never warned her that she had an apparent deadline for the first three chapters of her apparent "next best-selling book," that was currently non-existent. This sudden announcement would have been useful two months ago, when her editor was given this information, but now it only seemed impossible. She noted to herself to fire him and let out an exasperated sigh as she slammed her fists on to her poor wooden desk. Coffee, that's what she needed.
Massie strolled down the long spiral staircase and began grabbing the materials she needed in the kitchen. It seemed like forever since she had the soothing aroma. The aura was nice, but she was never very fond of the bitter taste. The only reason she would drink it was when she was stressed out and that seemed like ages ago when she was back in college.
College, she sighed. She missed it, she truly did. It was back when everything seemed easier and her parents were still there for her, but now, she was alone in the dangerous world. She had bills to pay and no money to pay for them. She was already in debt to the bank from her previous book and she needed this one to be even more successful than her last one, but she still had nothing. She had no idea what she could possibly write about.
She could write about her mother, maybe, demonstrating what if felt like to be ignored for her entire childhood and the corruption of being involved in the upper class of Westchester. That was original, right? Or maybe she could write another one of those dystopian novels; those seemed to be popular these days. She winced. She couldn't believe herself. This was her passion. This is her passion. She shouldn't be writing a completely unoriginal idea just to make a living, but the three weeks kept haunting her.
Massie let out another sigh as her eyes began to wander towards a painting that was neatly placed above her wooden table, collecting dust. It featured sunflowers, her favorite, and two people, just enjoying the view. A male, wearing a ratty old plaid button down, and a female who had her arms wrapped around the males strong built. She suddenly gasped at the sight. It had been years since she remembered placing the intricate piece of art on her walls.
.&.
"It's beautiful," Massie said truthfully as she ran her hands against the large canvas filled with multiple colors of enchantment. It was more than beautiful to her. It was charming, marvelous, exquisite, alluring, angelic, and all the synonyms one could possibly think of.
"It's nothing special." He shrugged, suddenly taking more interest of the hem of his shirt.
"Are you kidding me?" She questioned, as her eyes darted towards a nervous-looking Derrick. "This is something people in Westchester would pay millions for." She hummed gleefully as she trotted around the painting, truly mesmerized by the elegant work.
Derrick watched her with wonder, as she continued to walk around the canvas. It was amazing how interested she was. She was different, Massie. For someone that acted superior to everybody at school with her cliché clique, she always seemed to surprise him.
In fact, during their awkward early stages of dating, she was a mere conquest to him. She was the most popular girl and he was the most popular boy, their relationship was deemed inevitable. But then word had gone around that Josh Hotz had grown an interest towards Massie Block and soon enough, Derrick knew he had to have her.
When he had finally gotten her, they realized how different they were. Massie expressed that she had always held an interest in writing and literature, something that she would never confess to her friends, while Derrick admitted that his true passion was towards art, but soccer was always a nice extracurricular.
And then somewhere between the late night phone calls, meaningful stares, and long drives to nowhere, he found himself captivated by her. She was no longer Massie Block to him, a stranger. She was just Massie.
"Can I have it?" She asked, though her mind was still aimlessly staring at the painting.
"You really want it?" Derrick scoffed. It wasn't even his best piece. "I could… I don't know, do something better, yeah, better."
Massie shook her head erratically. "No, I don't want something better," she remarked. "This. This is perfect."
And Derrick knew she was telling the truth.
.&.
Massie smiled as she walked up to the painting and recalled the memory. She began to run her fingers up and down the canvas, like she had done when she had first seen the masterpiece. She had been so happy during that time of her life, when he was in her life. She couldn't even remember the last time she had felt like that. Free, she hummed.
She shook her head to rid herself from her thoughts and quickly took another sip of the bitter brown liquid. She would never admit it, but she still had feelings for him. She had only loved two men in her life and he was one of them. He had held such a special place in her heart and she would never forget how much he meant to her, so so much. She silently scolded herself from relishing on the memories. He was gone now and she would probably never see him again.
She never liked going down memory lane and this was exactly why. He had been one of the most life-changing people in her life and everything revolving him, hurt her. Every thought of the kisses they shared, how he touched her in her most secretive places, and even his scent made her nauseous. She couldn't even play chess without the thought of him being brought up.
.&.
"Are you sure you know how to play?" Derrick asked with a hint of curiosity, crossing his arms as he admired the concentration Massie was putting into the game.
"I'm basically the king," Massie replied.
"Well, that's a problem, considering the queen," he strongly emphasized, "is the most powerful piece in the game."
"Well, women are always in power," Massie retorted, as she swiped Derrick's queen off the board with a smirk. "Checkmate," she grinned with delight.
.&.
Massie sighed for what seemed like the ninety-seventh time.
They had broken up four years ago. Why was she still reminiscing on the memories they shared? He probably hadn't even thought of her once since their break up. She threw her arms in frustration as she downed the last drops of her coffee, the tangy taste burning her tongue in the process. However, she couldn't help herself, every little thing made her think of him. But the way that she was handling it today, made their breakup feel like it happened last week. He had dropped her so quickly like last season's boots-not that she really knew about fashion anymore-that she hadn't even prospered their break up until much much later and-
And then it hit her. She knew exactly what she wanted to write about. This was going to be her next idea for her book, the love her and Derrick shared. But, she decided, it would be different. It wouldn't be like all the other generic love stories that some how got published and targeted hopeless romantics. No, this story would be authentic. It would be her story.
.&.
"Come on now, just try it." He pleaded, as he shoved a mysterious looking pastry, wrapped in an even more disturbing paper towards her delicate fingers.
"I can't." She mumbled, shoving the thing away from her bruised lips. If she were to die today, it wasn't going to be from something that looked like it came from a sewer.
"You can't always have gourmet meals, Block. College is just around the corner and soon, you'll be living off of these babies."
"Are you saying I'm going to be unsuccessful?"
"I'm saying, you can't always play it safe. You have to experience new things, which include this horrific attempt at a pastry."
"Only if you try it first," she remarked.
Derrick grinned and began tearing apart the obstruction. "To us," he said, as he held the gruesome sweet in the air as if it was the finest wine in Westchester.
"To us," she repeated as they clinked their pieces together.
"Soon, it will be just us against the world."
.&.
The lack of "and" is a simple concept, she wrote. Although small, the three-lettered word holds so much meaning. It connects two things that could be complete opposites, but together, they make something new. That's how I felt about him. That's how I feel about him. We were complete opposites, him and I, but together we were something that no one else could fathom.
He was everything to me; he still is. He understood me the way no one else did. Words cannot describe how amazing our bond was, how amazing he was.
Just us against the world, he would always say. Just Massie and Derrick.
.&.
"Tomorrow is the day," Massie smiled as she leaned against Derrick's chiseled chest. He smelled of sandalwood and mint toothpaste, a smell that she had grown so accustomed to.
Derrick raised his hand and placed it on to hers, interlocking them. "I guess it is."
August 10th marked the day him and Massie were finally going off into their own world, where they had said they would experience new adventures, together.
"Can you believe it?" She asked, as she began rubbing her thumb against his knuckles. "It feels like just yesterday you were throwing soccer balls to my head."
Derrick gave her a slight nudge, "I was trying to get your attention and can we not discuss how lame of an attempt it was?"
"You had my attention, Derrick."
"You were undressing Josh Hotz with your eyes."
"And what he delight he was," Massie giggled, as she received another playful nudge from her companion. "You know, we'll be 44.6 miles away from each other."
They had found out five months ago that they were both going to different colleges. Massie was going to Stanford and Derrick had found his true calling at Berkeley, but none of them had realized how much harder it was going to be. Massie silently blamed movies and books for giving her false hope.
Derrick lips turned into a frown as he let go of the warmth that had been building between their hands. "44.6 is just a number, you know."
"I guess."
Derrick lightly kissed her head and wrapped his arms tighter around her delicate figure. "Just us against the world, remember?"
.&.
He had told me that one-day we would find each other, even if we were miles apart, and I believed him. But then somewhere between moving, constantly missed phone calls, and just drifting apart, the lack of "and" was inevitable.
I should have realized it sooner, seeing how cliché it all sounded. He was making a name for himself in the world through art and I saw myself in literature, but none of us saw each other. It had all made sense now, the forty-four point six miles was only among one of them.
.&.
"Maybe he's busy," Alicia acknowledged, trying to comfort her long time friend.
Massie ferociously threw her phone as she heard Derrick's voicemail for the seventh time. "It's four o'clock, right? Maybe there's a slight time difference, there has to be. He wouldn't do this. He promised. Four o'clock, that's what we had promised each other. That's what we had committed to."
"It's the first week into the school year Mass, maybe it's just tough on him."
"Yeah, maybe."
.&.
Days went by and he still hadn't called. I was stressed and hurt and all the feelings of despair. The distance between us was growing. The things that I had feared the most were showing. The lack of "and" had officially made its mark.
I was stupid and immature to think that our relationship could work, that 44.6 miles was just a number and being in different location wouldn't affect us going against the world, like he had promised.
And as predicted, our story is short and ends all too soon in bitter sweetness.
.&.
Derrick coughed as Massie brought her chapped lips towards his, slightly noticing his odd behavior.
It had been one month since they had last seen each other, 736.3 hours according to Derrick's calculations, but math was never his strongest suit.
"It's amazing Derrick and everyone's so nice. It's just… so amazing, you know? Talking to people with the same interests as you. It's like I'm talking to a mirror, but in a good way, if that makes sense-"
"Block."
"The professors are great too. They understand the creativity a person can hold and they support you, no matter how obscure their ideas might be and-"
"Block."
"Yes?" Massie grinned with her cheeks flushed, realizing how annoying she was probably being considering she hadn't even let Derrick say one word about his experience. "Sorry."
And then the bomb hit.
"I-I've been seeing someone else."
Massie stopped and turned towards him, not understanding the words that had just came out of his mouth. It had only been one month after all, he couldn't have possibly... Right? "What?" She murmured softly, quickly snatching her hands away from his grasp and moving towards the opposite side of him.
"It was during orientation and Cam and I had already-"
"And that's why you didn't call me back."
"Block."
"Excuse me."
.&.
And that was that, mixed with slammed doors, coffee stained clothes (she never liked coffee any way), and burned valuables. No apologies or explanations and all the promises we had made to stay together were vanished.
Massie stopped and breathed as she thought of the perfect sentence to end her work.
But the truth is… I still love him.
She beamed as she re-read the last sentence in her nearly finished copy. It was the truth. She did still love him. She never stopped. Nearly four years had passed and a day hadn't gone by without thinking of him-even if it was just the small details.
He had lied to her, yes, but she couldn't hold the grudge for much longer so she forgave him for it. They both wanted different things; their relationship was already on its way towards destruction.
That's how life is, she thought to herself.
Nevertheless, he was still her first real love. Their love was pure, filled with a fire and a spark that made them seem so perfect for each other. But maybe they weren't destined for each other, Massie finally decided, and wherever he was now, she was happy for him.
.&.
After one year later, Massie finds herself carrying her newly published book, "Just Us Against the World." She smiles, as she ecstatically rolls her hands over the hard cover. It felt so surreal, but she felt accomplished. She had written something that truly meant something to her and she had hoped others would realize it too. Not only was it the story of her and Derrick's relationship, it demonstrated how hurt she was during the process, but she forgave him. She forgave him for all his misdoings and careless mistakes. Even though she was so hurt in the beginning when he had just dropped her, she stilled loved him, because he was such an influential person in her life and nothing would change that. This was fate telling her that although he made such an impact to her life, she didn't need him.
She ironically laughed to herself, as she made her way into Book People, where her signing was held. It felt like just yesterday, she was struggling to think of a topic to write about and here she was, getting positive reviews from big names such as The New York Times and The Washington Post. It was such an honor to her and she noted to herself to thank everyone on her team (including her nasty editor), that she didn't even recognize a particular plaid shirt in the audience.
"Ms. Block, if you would please sit over there where the book signing will begin," a woman dressed in all black informed her.
"Yes, thank you." Massie replied with a polite smile, as she slowly walked over to her addressed seating. She grinned at the huge line that was arising and waved to her welcomed guests as they screamed and hollered. Once she finally got to her seat, she grabbed a marker that was sitting at the table and a book, titled with the very words that she had realized how much she loved, from the large stack. "And who shall I make this out too?" She said, her eyes fluttering upwards towards a man with sandy blonde hair and dark mocha orbs, picture-esque as always.
"Just us against the world, huh? Make it out to Derrick please."
So maybe fate was telling her something else.
…
I liked the idea of this story, but I feel like I ruined it, it all seems so rushed. I don't know maybe I'll add to it later.
Please review any way and let me know what you think?
Also, I'd like this to take this time to highly recommend that you all go watch Boyhood, it's already a favorite of mine and nostalgia hit me hard in that movie.
Always,
Sami