"Go, go, go!" Connor shouted as the two of them scampered up the stairs to the roof,a random bottle of something in their hands. Connor urged Abby through the door then promptly shut and locked the only entrance to Connor's house.
Connor turned to Abby with a large dopey grin masking his face. He set the bottles down carefully and Abby copied his movement.
"No," She firmly stated, backing away. Connor ignored her and charged, scooping her up and half tackled her to the ground. He made sure it didn't hurt her even a little bit. He rolled and they twisted so that Abby was laying on top of Connor, looking at the night sky. Connor's arms secured her there as they were wrapped tightly around her waist.
Connor rolled Abby's shirt up just slightly and saw the newly printed tattoo on her hip. He rolled up his own shirt and saw an identical copy of the heart with CT and AM in it that rested on Abby's hip.
"What'd we get?" Abby asked. Connor peered at the bottled they had stolen.
"Looks like rum and I have no idea what that is." He replied with a laugh, taking Abby's hands in his, arms still wrapped around her.
"Eh, I wish your parents had just beer." Abby told him.
"Ha, they know we like it. Now Abby dearest, are you trying to get me drunk?"
"Very very." Abby answered with a smile.
"You know you don't have to pump me full of beer for anything. You know that."
"I know you squirm when I kiss you." Abby twisted in his arms to face him. Connor let his arms drop to the ground of the roof. "It looks kind of like this." Abby kissed him quickly.
"That wasn't hardly long enough for us to really see." Abby kissed him again, this time longer. So long, in fact, Connor began to turn purple. And he did indeed squirm. His arms flailed around resting first on her shoulders, then her lower back, then the middle of her back, then the top of his head, then the ground, then in his pockets, then her lower back again.
Abby broke off the kiss and twisted back around to their original position.
"I'm gonna marry you someday." Connor blurted out. Abby glanced up to look at him. "What? I am." He shrugged, staring into her blue eyes.
"Shouldn't I have a say in that?"
"Nope."
()()()()()()()
Abby stormed out, leaving Connor shocked in the middle of their flat. The 22 year old college student stayed put for at least an hour before getting the sense to call his girlfriend of six years and beg for her to come back. A dazzling blue diamond ring rested in his pocket, ready to jump out and surprise Abby with a marriage proposal as it had been for a month.
The next morning Abby awoke at her friend's house with two hundred voice mails waiting for her.
"Abby, I'm so sorry."
"Abby, please come back."
"Abby, please."
"Abby, I love you! I do! I swear! Please come back."
"I promise it won't ever happen again."
"Abby, please."
"I have a very serious question to ask you, I don't want to do it over the phone. "
"Abby, please pick up."
"I love you."
"Abby, please."
"Abby, I want to marry you. Why would I risk our future together for something so...stupid?"
"Abby, I love you." Every single message was less than fifteen seconds long, except the last one that ran for about ten minutes, Abby had refused to listen to the last one as she really didn't want to hear Connor begging for ten minutes straight. Each one Connor sounded more drunk than the last. It was a very silly reason for her leaving, she couldn't even remember what the argument was that sent her packing.
Abby sighed and decided that Connor was right, she needed to go home. She thanked her friend for a place to crash overnight and left.
The traffic was ridiculous. After almost an hour of waiting in the same spot, Abby turned on the radio for news on what was happing to make such a bad traffic jam.
"A young man, Caucasian 20 to 25 and still unidentified, was killed late last night in a car wreck on the M25 after being heavily intoxicated. He was driving a 1999 metallic grey Volkswagen Jetta..." Abby switched off the broadcast as the car described matched Connor's. So did the 'young man' that was killed.
Almost three hours later Abby arrived at the flat to find Connor's car missing. Abby raced inside and saw bottles all around, most of them broken as Connor had accidently dropped them. Abby went and sat on the couch.
She pulled her phone out and played the last recording, tears welling up.
"One message, revived at three twenty seven AM," A robotic voice introduced.
"Abby," Connor slurred over the phone with the sound of the front door slamming in the background. No wonder the door had been unlocked. "I love you, and I think your at Jess' house. If not then Jess'll be very mad at me." The sound of a car door opening ,then closing. "I want you to know that I'm coming to ask you to marry me in person." A car's engine turning over. "I was probably going to ask tonight, but you got mad. So, that wasn't going to happen." A car horn honking loudly in the distance. "See you in a bit." Abby heard Connor set the phone down, but he had forgotten to end the call.
She heard nothing but driving for a few minutes the she heard Connor cuss loudly as another car horn sounded.
"Don't fall asleep, don't fall asleep," Connor repeated, but was soon interrupted by his own snoring. Another horn, another cuss, a scream, and a crash.
"Message ends." The voice told her. Tears streamed down her face as she set the phone down on the coffee table and stood again, hugging herself.
()()()()()()()()()()
Connor Andrew Temple
October 22 1983
June 15 2005
'to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure'
Abby chuckled slightly at the end of his gravestone. Trust Connor to have a JK Rolling quote on his final resting place. Her hand went to the small gold ring on the leather cord Connor always had around his neck. It was now Abby's as Connor's will gave practically everything he owned to her. A small blue diamond ring accompanied the gold one now, though. It had been a full seven years since the accident and Abby placed flowers on his grave.
Abby shuttered as she felt an arm snake its way across her waist. She stepped away from her husband's grasp and shook her head.
"I'm sorry." Lee told her, earnestly.
"It's okay, just an emotional day." The young man nodded at her statement.
"You really loved him didn't you?"
"Yes,"
"You don't love me nearly as much, do you?"
"No where close." Lee nodded. He lost his own girlfriend, Louise, to a similar fate. He knew it was unrealistic to believe that he could love anyone more than her.
"I know,"
Abby rolled up her shirt and saw the old tattoo still there, CT and AM.
