I've always thought my life would be perfect, but if you told me 6 weeks ago everything would turn out the way it did, I would have told you that you were crazy and that you don't know me. Everything would have changed if I knew the whole story behind it, but for some reason I always knew that I would meet that special person that I can truly say I love her. If only I knew...
6 Weeks ago.
I woke up that morning with the feeling I am getting sick with the flu. I looked outside my college dorm bedroom and see a grey sheet over the sky with a wisp of cold in the air. The winter is soon setting in Seattle. My roommate Arthur is still sleeping. I can see he had a rough night of studying as all of his books were packed on his bed side table. He always called it light bed time reading. I smiled as I think of his weird ways. He is your typical jock with the exception of always having his nose in a book if he is not on the field playing rugby, football or swimming. I got out of my single bed and moved my navy blue covers to the side of the bed.
Its kind off chilly in the room and I can feel the cold run over my slightly brown tanned skin. My muscled tensed up and I blew a "brrr" out of the reaction. I pulled my slightly skew boxers over my hips and walked to the shared bathroom. As I stood and have my morning pee, I looked in the side mirror and admired my progress of working out for 2 hours every day.
Melissa always liked rubbing her hands on my chest and muscled arms. I walked to the side cabinet and pulled out the medicine box I kept in handy. I drank a few flu pills and some vitamin supplements. I walked back in the room and hovered over the idea of waking Arthur, but as he really seemed tired I left him and decided to get dressed and go meet Melissa at the college cafeteria.
Melissa, how deeply I was in love with her. It felt like she had some magical spell over me that made me infatuated with her. She was one of the prettiest girls I have I ever met. She came with a friend last year to my 21st birthday bash that my friends surprised me with and we hit it off immediately. We started dating a week after that and it's been going great ever since. She has been feeling under the weather for the past week, but I think it's the stress of the finals creeping up on her.
I got dressed and quietly closed the dorm door so Arthur can sleep till he feels like waking up. I walked past the cold narrow hallways and greeted a few other guys I knew. As I walked out the front of the building I walked smacked into a skinny dark haired guy I've never seen before.
"Ouch! So sorry man! You OK?" I quickly asked as I was rubbing my head and looking at the green shirt he was wearing.
It caught my eye as I realized it was a shirt I seen in South Africa when I went on holiday with my parents last year.
"I'm so sorry man!" he quickly apologized as he grabbed a box of clothes he was carrying that fell on the floor as we collided.
"I didn't see you and I thought the doors pulled instead of pushed to get open. I'm looking for the front office. I'm new here." He said as he looked at me and I realized he had the greenest emerald eyes I've ever seen.
"Yeah sure, don't worry about it. It's just down the hall to your left. You can't miss it." I said as I pushed the door open for him so he can walk in with the brown box of clothes.
"Thanks!" he replied and gave me a wide smile as he passed. I went thru the door and walked down the stairs to my car, which is parked a few yards away from my usual spot I liked to, sit and listen music to.
As I got in my car to get my student ID card I saw Melissa getting out of a red BMW that stopped in front of the building opposite from the main building. She quickly grabbed her bag and half run up the stairs to the girls dormitory. I looked as the BMW sped off and thought that it was weird as her mother didn't drive a BMW and I didn't know anyone that drove one. I took my phone from my pocket and scrolled down to her name. I stood there for about 2 minutes thinking of phoning her when my phone rang and I realized it was her.
I answered it quickly. She sounded different but still, I could tell there was something in her voice that gave me chills as I knew something was wrong.
"Listen Thomas, I need to speak with you. There is something I can't hide from you anymore. Can you meet me in the college park in 10 minutes please?" She asked as I was standing there with a feeling in my gut that just got worse and worse.
I replied "sure thing" and she hung up. The park was a mere 5 minutes' walk from where my car was standing and I quickly locked it again. As I walked to the park the gloomy air and feeling of a near deserted campus made the feeling just worse. I knew something was up with her. I just hope it's not what I think it is. I got to the park and sit down by our favorite bench under the big acorn tree.
I pulled my hair out of my face and listened to the sound of the wind blowing thru the trees. I looked up to the clouds again. It made me just want to go back and climb in my bed. I pulled around quickly as Melissa turned out from around the tree and called my name. I knew she was crying as her face was red and her eyes were puffy.
"What's wrong babe?" I asked as I took my hands and placed them on her, but she just pulled them off again.
"Thomas... I have something to tell you. I just don't know how and I feel really awful about this, but I can't keep going on like this." She half stammered as she tried to keep herself from crying again.
"What's wrong Melissa?" I asked with a little fear in my voice as I knew what she was going to say...
"I want to break up Thomas, I fell in love with someone else. I feel really bad about this, but I can't help it. I wished it didn't happen." She said with tears in her eyes.
That was the last time I spoke to her. After she told me that last sentence I just turned around half running and walking away from the park. She was yelling at me to come back, but I couldn't. I couldn't see her. I was so angry with her, myself and the world. I was heartbroken and furious. Why? That's all I wanted to know. Why? I don't know how long I walked with everything that happened still stuck in my mind. At one point I realized that my face was cold and that I actually cried. As I wiped my face with my shirt , I looked up and realized I walked to the woods where the college was bordered against. I just fell down to the ground and pushed my head against a tree. I knew things won't ever be the same again.
Why did it hurt so much?
I was clenching a small branch in my hand and realized that the sides were cutting into my skin.
I got back after dark that night. I walked into the dorm to find Arthur sitting on his bed with a psychology book. He looked up at me with a weird expression on his face.
"Listen man... What happened, happened. You can't change any of this.
Melissa called. She was looking for you. She told me everything." He said as he put the book down and walked towards me.
I just turned around and walked to the bathroom. Closing the door behind me and opening the water to the shower. I pulled my shoes off and removed my pants. As I was just standing under the warm water of the shower I felt like everything just washed away. I couldn't help but feel sorry for myself. At that point I wished none of this had happened and that I never met her. I don't know how long I stood in the shower and thought about all the great nights and special moment I've had with her. Eventually the water was getting really cold and I got out and put my black Puma jockey on I loved wearing. I opened the door and went straight to bed. Arthur was nowhere to be found in the dorm and I guessed he left me for some privacy. I fell asleep quickly...
The following week passed so quickly I thought that time has moved three times the speed. Every day felt the same. I haven't seen Melissa that entire week and I couldn't be happier about it. I awoke the Monday morning with the usual grey sky outside. It was raining the previous day and I spend most of the time just working out. I am really starting to get nicely ripped. My v-line is especially visible as if it was carved out if marble.
I got up and dressed and decided on going for a walk around campus today as it's the second part exams for all psychology majors. No work for me I thought as I walked out the front doors of the dorm. I was wearing my black hoody and whitish blue jeans.
As I got to the park of the college I realized that the guy I walked into the other day was sitting on a bench with a tablet and was probably listening to music as he had his head phones on. The really weird thing about it was that he was wearing no warm clothing. He was just sitting there with a black jean, but with a normal white t-shirt and flops. I walked towards him with the intention of offering him a jacket as he might not have one. There are a few students here that aren't that well off as most of the campus.
He looked up at me as a reached to where he was sitting. As he looked up to me, I again saw the green of his eyes and stared for a split second too long. He pulled of his headphones and said hi.
"Hey man! Listen... aren't you cold? Do you need a jacket or something? You can borrow one of mine." I said as I looked him up and down with a concerned look on my face.
He just looked at his own bare arms and started laughing.
"It's OK dude. I'm from South Africa and its much warmer there then here. I am used to about 30 degrees Celsius weather and its only cool here. Not really cold." He said as he fold up his legs and put the tablet down next to him.
"You're from South Africa?!" I eagerly asked him as I loved the place when we went on vacation.
"Yes, I lived in Johannesburg , but my parents moved to US about 3 years ago. My parents live in New York currently."
We talked some more and exchanged names. His name was Ryan and about the same age as me. He has a smaller build body then me and about the same length. He speaks English and a local South African language called Afrikaans, which is similar to Dutch and Holland.