Monsters Under The Bed: January 2012

I really hope you guys like this. :)

She sat quietly on the bench, hands folded in a neat clasp on her lap while her bright yellow headphones sang out tunes into her ears. Mac Miller blasted his lyrics in her ears while people passed her by on a cold winter’s day, most with their hoods up and hands in their pockets, not wanting to make a scene, only wanting to get where they were going. The girl, however, was in no kind of hurry. She waited, and watched as the cold slowly touched her face and gave her rosy cheeks and a bright red nose. The cold winter sun sparkled off the perfect white snow behind her and across the street, but she was more interested in the dirty black slush being kicked up by the people’s feet who were walking by.

She had a reason to be there, but she wasn’t really concerned by it in her moments of waiting. After all, she was just waiting. What else was there to do while waiting other than watch all the people rush by to things she could only imagine doing. She was pretty much alone in the world, only made happy by a few things in her life; her sketchbook, which lay underneath her folded hands; her music, which kept her livelihood going throughout the day; her guitar; and her one and only friend who just so happened to be the one she was waiting for on that park bench in the middle of winter. She gazed continuously at the sidewalk and the snow being pushed around by the boots of the pedestrians as they shuffled on by her, never really glancing twice at the girl in the black jacket, ripped jeans, combat boots and bright yellow headphones. She didn’t mind. Her existence was usually one that was overlooked by the majority of the population. It used to bother her, but then she found she liked being alone. It gave her time to sketch, and to ponder life without the daily interruptions of friends or distractions that normal people had to deal with.

She tapped her foot along to the beat and hummed the hook of the song playing in her ears. The cold was starting to get to her, but she just shivered and kept her place on her park bench. She was holding to a promise, one she had made a long time ago. She’d wait until every inch of her was frostbitten if that’s what it took. She promised to wait, and waiting is what she did. When he left, she had made a promise, and that promise had been to wait for him on that bench when he said he was coming home, just so he could find her. Her memories from that day slowly trickled back.

“I know I’m leaving, but I want you to know you’ll always be my best friend.” He said as he took her hands.

She quickly wiped the tear that was slowly trickling down her face and looked into the warm summer sun. “I can’t imagine life without you. What am I going to do?” She whispered.

“Wait. That’s what you can do for me. When I come home, wait for me on that bench we always used to sit on after school. I’ll come home, and I’ll see you there.”

She nodded. She hoped in her heart that her best friend, turned Marine, would actually come back for her. She knew his chances were slim, but her hope was strong enough to keep him alive.

She came back to her reality. It had been a year and a half since that day when he’d left. She remembered how he’d enlisted right out of high school. He’d told her that he wanted to do his duty for his country; he wanted to give back what his country had given him. He wanted to be just like his grandfather, a war hero. She had never protested, but rather encouraged. After all, he had always been a strong person ever since they were little. She’d known him her entire life and he had been her best friend for just as long. Indeed, life had been hard for her, but she’d carried on. She had gone to school and had gotten good grades, and pretended to make friends for her parent’s sake. But she never forgot him.

Then she’d gotten the letter. It had told her that her best friend, her Marine, was coming home. He told her the day, and told her not to forget what she’d promised him. And she never had. She didn’t know when that day he would come; she didn’t know how he was getting there. She didn’t know if he would be different, or if he would be the same. All the worries she had were bubbling to the surface, so she took a deep breath of the crisp wintery air and let it cool her body down. She tried to get lost in Mac’s words. She bobbed her head and closed her eyes, letting herself go for a little bit.

Then, even over the music pounding on the headphones, she heard a sound. It was the sound of heavy boots crunching the snow. But instead of coming from in front of her, it was coming from behind her. She slowly pulled down her headphones, not bothering to pause the music. She didn’t turn though, knowing he must have a reason for coming up behind her. She felt his arms curl around her shoulders over the back of the bench and she knew, just by his smell, that he was the same person he used to be. She closed her eyes again, letting herself get lost in the moment. She felt his cheek rest on top of hers, and she lifted her arms to grasp his. They stayed like that for several minutes, both of them just living in the moment, not wanting to miss a thing.

He finally loosened his arms from around her shoulders and came to sit next to her on the bench. He looked nearly the same; except his hair was buzzed close to his head and he had acquired a scar on his chin where there hadn’t been one before. No one said a word; the entire world felt like it had stopped the moment he sat down. No one moved, no one breathed. Just the cold winter breeze tousled her hair and she unconsciously shivered, not realizing just how cold she was and how long she’d been waiting to see him. His hazel eyes swept over her in worry, and he finally broke the silence.

“Let’s go inside somewhere. You look like you’re about to freeze.”

She couldn’t speak, so she nodded in agreement.

They stood up and walked into the high school across the street. It was open, to their surprise. He motioned to an empty classroom, and they promptly sat down. She didn’t know what to say, but he looked as if he was struggling to find the right words to say to her.

“What’s wrong?” She asked. “ You look…. Confused.”

He shook his head. “I’m getting up the courage to do this.”

She raised one eyebrow at him, and then, in one swift movement, he stood up from his desk and kissed her on the lips. She’d never been kissed before, thanks to her extremely secluded nature. But to come from him, her best friend, there was something totally different than what she’d ever imagined her first kiss to be like. There was fire, and passion, and something else she couldn’t explain. Before she could really do anything, he pulled away and sat back down.

“What was that?” She asked, bewildered.

“I’m sorry. Did you not like it?” He said apologetically.

“No no! I did! I was just…. Surprised.”

“You wanna know something?” He asked.

She nodded, and motioned for him to continue.

“I’ve been with the Marines now for a year and a half. All of the older men talk about their wives and children back home. The younger guys like me talk about their girlfriends and sweethearts back home. I had you to talk about. You didn’t start out that way, being my sweetheart or girlfriend. I told them how you were my best friend from birth, and how we were completely inseparable. They asked if you were my girlfriend, or if I’d ever thought about it. I would laugh and say no, she’s my friend.

“But steadily as time went by I came to think of you as more than just my best friend. You are more. I needed their help to realize you mean the world to me and that I can’t find anyone better for me than you.

“So, I asked them what to do. They told me to come back and get you as soon as I could, lest I lose you to someone else. So that’s what I’m going to do.”

She sat there, motionless, speechless, and almost thoughtless. “What are you saying then?”

“That you need to be mine. I’m not going to lose you to someone else who doesn’t know you, who doesn’t deserve you, like I do.”

She nodded, not really knowing what else to say. She was filled with emotions, most of which scared her, and some of which pleasantly surprised her. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about being anything other than his best friend, but the feelings that filled her from head to toe were telling her to try it out.

She nodded to him again, and said, “I think, to seal the deal, you should kiss me again.” She blushed, surprised by her own boldness.

He took her advice and kissed her again, then took her hands in his own. “Are you mine?”

She nodded a third time.

And they walked out of the school hand in hand.

Monsters Under The Bed

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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

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