Told by Steven Wakefield.
Love doesn't usually come easy for me, so when it does, I hold onto it tight and try not to let it slip away. The first time I fell in love was with Mindy Parson in my junior year in high school. I guess you could say she was my first real girlfriend. Sometimes we'd hang out at my place and she'd force me to watch sappy chick flicks like She's All That and You've Got Mail, and then she'd get teary and say Aw Steven wasn't that romantic? Occasionally, we'd go the Sweet Valley Skating Rink where we'd pretend to be pro skaters and attempt triple axels but really just falling hard on our butts. We'd cruise around in my Mustang driving to unknown places we've never heard before but we were never brave enough to get within 20 miles out of Sweet Valley. We did lots of things together, Mindy and me. But our absolute favorite was Friday nights strolling down Sunshine Boulevard down to the beach watching the pretty sunset as we walked. We'd go to Fran's Seafood and eat all-you-can-eat crab legs and order colorful fruit cocktails and she'd say God Steven, I am so sick of seafood, let's go to another place next week. But we never got tired of those damn crab legs and we never skipped going to Fran's except for that time I got the flu. Mindy had honey colored hair and honey colored eyes, and her face was so warm to look at. She had a smile that could light up a room and a laugh that tinkled, she was beautiful and I told her so all the time. She told me her favorite color was brown because brown is the color of dirt, and dirt makes the flowers grow. She was amazing, and I still think that to this very day. But Mindy's life wasn't so happy-go-lucky has she made it seem like. Her sister was ten, her mother was a seamstress, and her father was an alcoholic. A lot of times during the night, she'd climb up the tree next to my window with a tear-streaked face and bruises on her arms and legs. I remember holding her and patting her back because I didn't know what else to do. She'd cry silently for a while and I'd fall asleep holding her in my arms. The next morning she'd be gone. I'd see her at school smiling with no trace of what happened the last night except for the bruises she tried to hide with concealer. Mindy and I both hated drama, so we kept our relationship simple, which is why we rarely ever fought. I was so comfortable around her, and she had taken a huge roll in my life by then which is why that one night affected me so deeply. It was windy that night. She called me on her cell phone telling me to meet her by the oak tree next to the park by my house. She was crying. Of course I got worried, so I ran to the park as fast as my legs could carry me. She looked so sad sitting there on the big root of the tree. When she saw me, she looked up and I can still remember the tears brimming around her eyes and the pain that strained in her voice as she said,"Steven, my dad went insane today, more so than ever before." Her voice broke and her shoulders heaved as she sobbed," We're leaving. Tonight. I don't know where to, but my mom made up her mind that we've got to get away." I stared at her, it took a while to sink through. I searched her face trying to find any hints that she was joking but with her tears glistening in the moonlight, I knew that that was the last time I'd see her. "No, Mindy you can't, you can stay at my place or something but you can't leave Sweet Valley." She shook her head sadly her lips quivering with sorrow and her eyes overflowing with pain. I tried again,"Mindy you have to stay. You have to stay because.because I love you." That made her cry even harder and she said angrily to me,"DON'T SAY THAT, STEVEN. You're not supposed to love me. You can't. You don't. Look, I've gotta go." She looked at me for a long time, while I stood there paralyzed with shock. She whispered goodbye in my ear but the howling of the wind carried her voice away. Mindy left that night on the next rain to who-knows-where. Far from her father, far from Sweet Valley, and far from me. Just like that.
Love doesn't usually come easy for me, so when it does, I hold onto it tight and try not to let it slip away. The first time I fell in love was with Mindy Parson in my junior year in high school. I guess you could say she was my first real girlfriend. Sometimes we'd hang out at my place and she'd force me to watch sappy chick flicks like She's All That and You've Got Mail, and then she'd get teary and say Aw Steven wasn't that romantic? Occasionally, we'd go the Sweet Valley Skating Rink where we'd pretend to be pro skaters and attempt triple axels but really just falling hard on our butts. We'd cruise around in my Mustang driving to unknown places we've never heard before but we were never brave enough to get within 20 miles out of Sweet Valley. We did lots of things together, Mindy and me. But our absolute favorite was Friday nights strolling down Sunshine Boulevard down to the beach watching the pretty sunset as we walked. We'd go to Fran's Seafood and eat all-you-can-eat crab legs and order colorful fruit cocktails and she'd say God Steven, I am so sick of seafood, let's go to another place next week. But we never got tired of those damn crab legs and we never skipped going to Fran's except for that time I got the flu. Mindy had honey colored hair and honey colored eyes, and her face was so warm to look at. She had a smile that could light up a room and a laugh that tinkled, she was beautiful and I told her so all the time. She told me her favorite color was brown because brown is the color of dirt, and dirt makes the flowers grow. She was amazing, and I still think that to this very day. But Mindy's life wasn't so happy-go-lucky has she made it seem like. Her sister was ten, her mother was a seamstress, and her father was an alcoholic. A lot of times during the night, she'd climb up the tree next to my window with a tear-streaked face and bruises on her arms and legs. I remember holding her and patting her back because I didn't know what else to do. She'd cry silently for a while and I'd fall asleep holding her in my arms. The next morning she'd be gone. I'd see her at school smiling with no trace of what happened the last night except for the bruises she tried to hide with concealer. Mindy and I both hated drama, so we kept our relationship simple, which is why we rarely ever fought. I was so comfortable around her, and she had taken a huge roll in my life by then which is why that one night affected me so deeply. It was windy that night. She called me on her cell phone telling me to meet her by the oak tree next to the park by my house. She was crying. Of course I got worried, so I ran to the park as fast as my legs could carry me. She looked so sad sitting there on the big root of the tree. When she saw me, she looked up and I can still remember the tears brimming around her eyes and the pain that strained in her voice as she said,"Steven, my dad went insane today, more so than ever before." Her voice broke and her shoulders heaved as she sobbed," We're leaving. Tonight. I don't know where to, but my mom made up her mind that we've got to get away." I stared at her, it took a while to sink through. I searched her face trying to find any hints that she was joking but with her tears glistening in the moonlight, I knew that that was the last time I'd see her. "No, Mindy you can't, you can stay at my place or something but you can't leave Sweet Valley." She shook her head sadly her lips quivering with sorrow and her eyes overflowing with pain. I tried again,"Mindy you have to stay. You have to stay because.because I love you." That made her cry even harder and she said angrily to me,"DON'T SAY THAT, STEVEN. You're not supposed to love me. You can't. You don't. Look, I've gotta go." She looked at me for a long time, while I stood there paralyzed with shock. She whispered goodbye in my ear but the howling of the wind carried her voice away. Mindy left that night on the next rain to who-knows-where. Far from her father, far from Sweet Valley, and far from me. Just like that.