What is the most famous love-story you've ever heard of? What is one of the saddest ends you've ever thought about?
It had been one day since she said the words „I do".
She was now a married woman. She, Kirsten Nich…Cooper was married.
Everything worked the way it was planned. Her family was there, her dad had kissed her cheek at the end of the altar, giving her away forever, Jimmy had looked, well, the best he could in the expensive suit he had most certainly picked with Caleb, her mother sat proudly in the first row- nobody fell, everyone cried. The perfect fairytale wedding if you don't count that the bride was in love with another man who simply watched the ceremony and left after he shook hands with her newly found husband and kissed her cheek- like he was nobody, not a relative, not even a special friend. Just a nobody who couldn't resist the urge to watch the wedding of two kids of the two most powerful families in California.
It was ridiculous. And it hurt so bad.
Kirsten was snapped out of her thoughts when her "husband"- god would she ever get used to calling him her "husband"?- passed her, kissed her head and waved good-bye. He was gone. Probably had a lot of work to do with her dad in his precious, precious company.
She still couldn't quite believe that this was supposed to be here life, that she had turned out to be just like her mother. She married a rich man she doesn't love, who put work before his wife and family, she loved a man she shouldn't love, she thought about drinking herself to sleep before she even had her wedding-night.
"Oh mum" she whispered softly to herself, her voice breaking before the last letter had left her mouth. Kirsten wiped the tear off her cheek, wondering what her mother would've told her if she knew what was bothering Kirsten before she married James Cooper.
She would've told me to follow my heart and my heart screams Sandford Cohen louder than I thought it could.
Of course she knew it would and of course she knew what her mother would have told her if she had known but she couldn't bring herself to make the "first" move. She wanted him to realise that she was "the one" for him, that he couldn't stand to watch her marrying, kissing another man. She wanted him to fall apart without her. She wanted him to die without having her in his life. She wanted him to see that he could never be happy without her.
She just wanted him to love her the way she loved him.
Kirsten Cooper knew it was ridiculous but she felt like Rose DeWitt Bukater, being on the sinking Titanic. She always told herself it was probably because she had felt like her mother after she got married and her name was "Rose", but she knew it was actually because she felt lost after the preacher called them "a married couple in front of god's eyes".
Rose and Jack, a beautiful couple. Two people who were meant to be together.
And yes she had been feeling like Rose the beautiful, young and unhappy girl who was supposed to marry the rich guy her parents loved.
Oh there were some parallels indeed.
Jack of course, her lover, was nothing like Sandy. He was a poor thief who died for his love.
Sandy on the other side wasn't the richest man she'd ever met, was most certainly not a criminal and he was a liar not a hero. Because if he loved her the way he always told her when they were together, he couldn't have survived watching her marrying Jimmy.
Rose Dewitt Bukater and Jack Dawson had met coincidently. They thought they had found the love of their life together not knowing that their life together would be shorter than the fashion-week in Paris.
Kirsten Nichol and Sandford Cohen had met on campus, coincidently as well. They had thought they had found their other half as well and now they were apart just like Jack and Rose were torn apart.
The single worst part of the story in Kirsten's eyes was that Rose and Jack hadn't the chance of a life together because Jack died for her and Kirsten and Sandy were still alive, not together but alive. What was worse?
Kirsten however smiled when another thought, actually a memory, entered her clouded mind.
The first time they made love.
Of course they hadn't had a coach but since they lived in the 20th century, it was similar.
A car.
Not the most romantic place for something like that to happen but at least it could be compared to the famous Titanic-story.
She felt his full lips gently touching her neck and shoulder. She giggled softly when he slipped the strap of her dress from her shoulder to give him better access to her warm skin.
When he pressed her closer, her doubts disappeared- oh yes he wanted her just like she wanted him.
Her hands ran quickly through his thick black hair, loving how it felt between her slim fingers. Sandy's hand slipped under the hem of her skirt and she let him know how much she enjoyed the way he was touching her.
In fact, she was in heaven and she had forgotten everything else around them.
She gasped when something dug into her hip that was most certainly not an appreciated body part of Sandy- the seatbelt.
Chuckling quietly, Sandy moved it away and waited until she had a comfortable position before he pressed back on top of her angelic body.
They hadn't planned to make love that night, especially not after Sandy had told her about his fiancée and his child, but when they looked at each other, only the stars watching them, they felt like two magnets who wanted to be connected, no matter what.
Now when they lay in the backseat of Kirsten's mail truck, nothing but their warm skin between them, the world stood still and it only started spinning again, when Kirsten and Sandy fell asleep naked in each others arms, the way they were meant to be.
The smile on Kirsten's face was gone.
It was weird that she immediately felt connected to Kate Winslet's emotional character Rose seen as they had a lot in common but lived in two complete different time periods and had different lives. Their lovers were two of the most different people you could think of (in a certain way) and Sandy was still alive – he was dead for her, not in her life and part of her world anymore, but he was still breathing.
She didn't sleep well that night. Kirsten was supposed to be happy – nobody forced her to marry Jimmy. She could've waited for Sandy, she could have given him more time, she could have told Jimmy that she was in love and that she was definitely not in love with him.
Why didn't she do any of these things if Sandy was the man she loved?
Maybe Sandy had thought along these same lines and had asked himself why she was ready to marry another man if she loved him so much?
Another set of tears prickled down her gorgeous face when she felt the bed dip- Jimmy had obviously gotten home. She hoped he would believe that she was already asleep.
Yesterday she had told him she was tired and wanted to be in the right mood to "make love" to him for the first time after years. He had believed her, well, she believed he had to accept her answer.
When Kirsten was a young girl, still a Nichol, and thought about her wedding-night, she dreamed about a beautiful night that was only filled with love. The reality couldn't have looked any more different. Another dream had turned into cold air instead of finally coming true.
She closed her eyes when he draped an arm over her waist and pulled her closer to him.
When she was sure he was tight asleep, she lifted her hand and touched her heart, feeling her throat so incredibly tight. She knew from now on, she couldn't cry anymore and would have to live with that pain in her heart for the rest of her life.
After two minutes of not being able to breathe, she swallowed and let a few tears, that she couldn't stop, slip from her eyelids. She needed to talk to Sandy if he didn't want to talk to her.
-
The phone rang two times before she hung up. No she couldn't just call him. What if Rebecca or worse his daughter answered the phone? What if he would hang up before she could finish saying her name.
"I'll go get your magazine, honey. I'll be back soon." she told Jimmy, knowing he couldn't resist her offer.
If he didn't work with her father he was busy reading one of those stupid economic-magazines. His life was enviable.
She closed the door behind her and took a deep breath. She had to do this, she had to find out what was going on in his head.
She probably just had to scream at him for ripping her heart out of her body.
-
Three knocks. She prayed that Rebecca didn't have a day off and that Sandy was at home.
But if she was the least bit lucky everything would be like it was supposed to: Tuesday. Rebecca was at work, Lili was at school and Sandy would be at home waiting for his first class to start. They would have at least an hour to talk.
Kirsten was disappointed when nobody answered. Maybe he was out because he had already forgotten about her, had gone on with his life.
She turned around, sighing but before she could put one feet in front of the other to leave the little house, the door swung open and she turned around.
To be met by a little brunette who looked at her with big blue eyes.
Oh god.
"Hi" the little girl said and Kirsten felt like she had to faint.
"Uhm…h…hey" she answered feeling incredibly stupid and guilty for surprising his little, innocent daughter at home. What was she supposed to say?
"Are you the pretty girl from the paper? The girl who married Mr.Looper?" Lili interrupted her thoughts and actually made her smile.
"Yeah I am I guess. Is..um…is you daddy home by any chance?" Kirsten asked knowing that it wasn't fair to talk to his child like this after everything that happened.
Lili shook her head and pointed her small finger inside the apartment "Daddy's out. My Nana's looking after me. She thinks daddy's kaput".
"Kaput?" she couldn't help but ask.
"Yepppp. Means he is sad" she told the older woman and looked a little sad herself.
"Oh, did he, um, did he say why he's sad?" Kirsten asked because…well she didn't know why. Maybe she needed to hear that Sandy Cohen could not just go on with his Kirsten-less life.
Lili shook her pretty head again.
"The Nana says that daddy lost his Juliet. Do you know Juliet, because I only know Romeo's Juliet" she told Kirsten and her hand went immediately to her heart, feeling that all familiar pain again.
Was it possible, could it be possible, that Sandy had thought about them, too? That he had found his own familiar story to their lives? That he felt like Romeo who thought he lost his love and… killed himself?
"No, sorry, I have to go. Thanks sweetie" she said when she realised where Sandy had gone.
She turned away from the little girl and ran as fast as she could to the spot where she knew Sandy as, oh god, hopefully not doing what she thought he was.
She didn't bother to get her car, it was close enough.
-
The first thing Kirsten saw was a mass of black hair facing her.
Her gaze dropped from the back of his head, down to his broad shoulders and scanned his familiar body before approaching his figure.
She was shaking when she saw he was.
"Kirsten stay away" he said quietly but loud enough for her to hear, loud enough to surprise her.
"Sandy…what, what on earth are you doing?" she asked and asked herself how she had gotten in this kind of situation.
An hour earlier she wanted to scream at him for leaving her, for letting her marry someone she didn't love, not even like.
Now she stood a few metres behind him, trying not to scream at him for standing so close to the end of the cliff.
"Remember when we were here for the very first time?" he asked, not answering her questions and not waiting for her to answer. Of course she remembered.
"Remember how we stood here under the stars and had our first kiss?" he asked, again not waiting for her continue.
"I felt like a child, maybe I was and am a child. It was like my first kiss even if it was supposed to feel so wrong. It felt more…right than everything else I had ever done before".
Kirsten stepped quickly forward when Sandy took a step towards the end of the cliff.
"Sandy" she gasped but he wouldn't listen. He looked like he was in his own world.
"That night, you became my Juliet. I fell in love with you but secretly I knew that we wouldn't get a happy end. Not if I thought about he circumstances" he said bitterly and Kirsten didn't try to stop the river of tears flowing down her porcelain cheeks.
"Don't do this" she whispered and it caused Sandy to turn around, staring at her with so much sadness that it broke her heart all over again.
"Do what? Kill myself? I am already dead" he said and stepped backwards, turning back to watch the rising sun.
Kirsten didn't say anything else, afraid that he would take those final two small steps and do something she couldn't watch, couldn't survive.
Instead she took some steps until she stood directly behind him. Sandy hadn't noticed her presence or if he did, he didn't move or say anything.
She slipped her arms around her middle and felt his stomach rise in surprise before it dropped back to it's normal place.
"You are not dead. You can't be dead. Think about the good things in life, think about Lili" she whispered in his ear and felt his chest vibrate with sobs.
"How could you do this to me?" he whimpered and released a painful breath that he had been holding in for one day now.
Kirsten dropped her head so her forehead rested on his shoulder. She didn't have an answer.
"Sandy, I… We… You know that I love you, we just…"
"Don't say it"
She tightened her grip around him because she was afraid he would leave her and because she was afraid he would do something really stupid.
"That's the end, right?" he whispered after he calmed his breathing a little bit.
"There is not future for us together".
"Sandy don't think like that…"
"What am I supposed to think?"
Kirsten felt desperate. What was she supposed to do? She knew he was right, but this couldn't be a solution.
She needed to give him something to cling on to.
"Close your eyes and trust me. Do you trust me?" she whispered so quietly that she thought she had just imagined saying it. Their Titanic wasn't ready to sink.
Sandy smiled so lightly at her words that nobody but him knew it was on his lips.
He closed his eyes and leaned back into her.
Kirsten took both his hands in hers and stretched them out to either side of them, just like Jack did to Rose.
They both felt the soft wind on their faces, their hair flying around their faces.
"I never saw us like Romeo and Juliet you know" Kirsten whispered in his ear before kissing it gently.
Sandy turned his head slightly, having missed the warmth and comfort she offered him.
"No?" he asked slowly starting to forget the world around them and which great pain his heart had been feeling.
"No. It was more like Rose and Jack, you know the Titanic. Because you know what kind of positive person I am" she said jokingly and got her desired reaction: Sandy chuckled lightly. How she had missed him. God, how crazy had they been to think that they could live a life without each other?
They slowly dropped their hands, wrapping them around Sandy's body.
The shivering had stopped.
"Shall we… I don't know, go somewhere else, talk or…not talk?" Sandy asked her as the world once again stood still for them. They weren't Rose and Jack or Romeo and Juliet, they were Sandy and Kirsten.
Kirsten didn't answer and turned his head with the help of one of her now-freed hand to kiss his lips gently.
Sandy turned around in her arms and four blue eyes met. Their two halves had refound the other.
She smiled at him and he smiled back.
Some stories were meant to end in a certain way. There were happy ends and there were dramas.
Sandy threw his hands in the air and screamed "I am the king of the world" as loud as his lungs would carry the message. Kirsten giggled, remembering how much she had loved that certain Titanic-scene when she was a little girl.
She stopped however abruptly when she had to watch Sandy losing balance because of his great gesture.
Kirsten Nichol watched in pure shock how the love of her life stumbled backwards and fell unstopped from the cliff they had had their first kiss at. His scream would forever echo through her head.
Gasping for breath she stepped right to the end of the cliff, looking down and seeing her beloved's dead body.
Maybe Jack and Sandy had more in common than she had thought and maybe she had more in common with Juliet than she had realised.
She knew she'd always see herself as Kirsten Cohen just like Rose always called herself "Dawson" after her love's death. She knew there wasn't a life without Sandy, not even if she tried as heard as she could and followed her dreams- he was her dream, her world, her life.
There were so many parallels between those three couples, she was aware of that, but their story wasn't a second Romeo and Juliet- drama or the second episode of the Jack and Rose-tragedy. This was a story of an undying, unconditional love that would last longer than a life. This was a story about Sandy and Kirsten Cohen.
She wasn't Juliet and Sandy wasn't Jack.
Kirsten's eyes were empty, her body didn't show any sign of emotion.
She whispered "I love you" and waited until the wind had carried her words away before she closed her eyes and let herself fall.
Do you still think the same?
-
Okay guys! This turned out to be really dramatic but I really wanted to end this story that way- Kirsten and sandy, a life apart? Ha I don't know if to laugh or cry. I know it's depressing but if you like it anyway or at least think it's okay or have good reasons to think it's the worst thing you've ever read, leave a review for me, please.
Thank you xxx
Jen