Spring, 1990

My car crashed. The brakes had stopped working. I got out of my car as I spotted a strangely familiar couple. One was on his knees, other standing in disbelief, staring at the gold band and shaking his head 'yes' rapidly . I knit my eyebrows in confusion as I approached, deciding "Why not wish the happy couple good merits?".

I kinda wish that I'd died in that crash, and never approached that couple.

Nah.

I straightened my glasses as I approached the man shoulder length blond, well kept hair, sporting a blue dress shirt.

"Congratulations, I over hear-"

"Mon dieu...Alfred?"

"Francis. Oh. Hi, I'm just going to go back a-"

"Non, come on, I'll take you cake shopping, that why we originally came here! And then he popped the question! Can you believe it?" He smiled softer and sweeter than I had very seen him smile as he tugged me into the store.

"Who?" I didn't have the opportunity to make acquaintances with Francis's new fiancé.

"Arthur! You remember him, right? He just hurried back to our house to prepare for me something...hopefully not food" he laughed weakly.

My face fell. He noticed.

"Hey Alfred, you never did tell me why it was that you stopped coming over, I haven't seen you since...wow!, August...'73?, you've grown up so much!".

I stared at him in disbelief.

So Arthur hadn't told him. I mean, he probably hadn't remembered, s' not like it was an important event in Arthur's life. A Pity fuck? A sex to calm the sads? Whatever you call it.

"I don't really think that I can tell you now"

He raised an eyebrow "Come now, you can tell me, Cher, what's the reason, why can't you tell me now? You know I do like a good story".

"The reason is your fiancé!...I'm sorry. I don't believe that you would enjoy this particular story." He stared at me, picked a cake, payed, and ushered me over to a table in the shop by a window.

"Tell me Alfred...it must be important to you if it's the reason that an uncle hasn't seen his nephew in over 20 years."

I stared at him in disbelief until realizing that he was waiting for me to speak.

So I started from the beginning.

"When I was 15, in the middle of July, I fell in love with Arthur. At the end the month he approached me and asked if we could talk."

Francis stared at me and I went on.

"He use to come and complain to me about you and I would listen and smile and pretend that my heart wasn't breaking when I saw how much he loved you." I smiled sadly

"Francis...he took me virginity".

He stared at me in disbelief

"And it was...nothing" I finished.

I smiled weakly and tried to chuckle, but it came out as a sob. I found his arms around me before I knew what was going on.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"How could I have? Why would I have?"

"I don't know... I love you...I'm sorry...I was suppose to be there for you, but all I did was chain smoke, sulk, and make daisy chains" I smiled at that

"It's okay, I know"

He knit his eye brows and stared at me.

"What happened to you?"

I knew he meant what happened after I left, but he also knew that that was a conversation for another time.

"Well I almost died...so I'm in town until AAA comes, haha my cars breaks went out and I went of cliff into the fields" I said nonchalantly. His eyes widened

"Don't worry, I'm fine, been through much worse...believe me."

His eyes questioned and I shook my head.

He dropped it.

We sat there for a few more seconds before leaving and Francis insisting that I make amends with Arthur.