One Final Time
Across town, Les sat quietly and
dejectedly in the food court of the local mall. Before him sat a
Burger King meal which he stared at without eating it, playing with
his french fries, nibbling here and there. He could not accurately
describe how he felt, just this sense of emptiness within him.
Looking up, he stared about him at the young families sitting nearby,
toddlers in booster seats and other children crying and running about
the restaurant tables. He sighed and turned back to his meal,
feeling alone. He heard footsteps approaching.
“Trip, is that you?”
He looked up and saw Jess, his friend
from summer camp, standing above him. He smiled up at her, relieved
at the pleasant distraction. She was quite beautiful and stunning.
“Yeah, Jess,” he stood up in front
of her. She was holding a tray with pizza and a soda on it. “You
want to sit down?”
“Yes, please,” she said and they
sat down across from each other.
“So how are you?” Les asked,
looking her over lustily.
“I'm all right,” she began, sipping
her coke. “Just looking for home-coming dresses, you know.”
“Oh,” was all he could manage and
begin eating his burger.
“What about you?” She asked at
last, picking up her slice of pizza and looking over at him.
He didn't know what to say, hesitated
on being honest yet of all the friends he had in this world, that he
gained in his short life, she was one of the few that he could be
completely open.
“Um,” he began brokenly. “Not so
good, actually.”
“Yeah?” she responded, eyebrows
raised.
“Parents' so happily just told me
they are separating,” he breathed out at last, never knowing how
relieved he felt to finally speak his thoughts.
“Wow, sorry to hear that,” Jess
said sympathetically. “My parents divorced when I was like three,
then my mom got remarried to my step-dad when I was eight. So, I was
just a kid when it all went down.”
“Yeah,” he began. “I guess
they've been trying to work it out for years, maybe since I was born,
but just think its best if they take this step, or something like
that they said.”
Jess looked him over and he could feel
her piercing blue eyes surveying him deeply. She could see the
heaviness coming off of him and felt sympathy.
“So, what are you doing today?” she
asked.
“Not sure,” he said. “Just
trying to stay out of everyone's hair at home, I guess.”
“All right,” she smiled slowly.
“Want to make a day of it?”
“You mean, you want to hang out with
me?”
“Yeah,” she laughed. “Homecoming
dresses can wait, that's boring anyway after awhile. Let's go
downtown.”
He nodded up at her and they both
turned towards their meals and quietly finished.
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