I wasn't sure if I believed him wholeheartedly at first, but upon seeing the other guys' reactions, I knew I wouldn't seem so gullible if I thought it to be the truth. So, I trusted Ryan. Now I had the task of redeeming myself. I decided to do what I did best: I made a video tape. Tate had always been a sort of beta tester with our episodes for the BLS, so all we had to do was tell her that my apology tape was yet another episode. And she'd watch it. Simple as that. The wait was killing me, back in our kitchen. Paul was my messenger, and I had nearly chewn off my fingernails by the time he returned. Then came more waiting. The suspense was just too much after two or so minutes, so naturally I decided to play off all the nerves with a game of whiffleball. What happens next is something that I think--that I know--has been permanently etched into my memory. Just as I was about to really pitch it to Sheehan, to really let him have it, I heard sneakers scraping against gravel in the distance. And out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tate standing there for one second before she flat out started sprinting towards me. I didn't know what to do; it was like time stopped, just for us. (CHEESE!) And then she hugged me. And to my surprise, I didn't hold back or freeze up. I finally hugged her back, but this time, I was the one to pull away to get a better look at her. She had her hair down, and it tumbled down her shoulders in soft waves. I noticed she had my navy blue fleece on... in the middle of summer. Fighting back a laugh, I simply asked her, "So... we're good?" In my mind, my conscience was shouting, "HOLD HER HAND! JUST DO IT ALREADY!" and in an 'Aw, shucks' sort of way, I did. I held both of hers in both of mine, and to my relief, she didn't slap me upside the head or stamp my foot in protest. Nope. Instead, she kissed me on the cheek. Shucks. So, we were together from then on. But it wasn't always 'smooth sailing' for us. There was this guy named Jonathan. Ryan's cousin. From afar, thank god. And I'm not going to beat around the bush for this. He kissed Tate under the streetlight. The worst part about it was that I watched it from Tate's doorstep. Oh, how I wanted to annihilate that jerk. But I couldn't let Tate see me standing there on her front porch. No. So, I made a run for it. It almost killed me inside, the sinking, stinking feeling of... I don't even know what it was. I wanted to talk to Tate, but I also wanted to punch Jonathan's lights out. I didn't sleep that night. The next morning found me on the steps with Tate. At first, we were argu--okay, well, I was arguing--but then Tate gave a sort of monologue, and said she loved me. So naturally, I told her I loved her back. I still wanted to deck Jonathan though. I never got the chance to, though. He and his sister Roxy left that same weekend while Mina stayed behind at Ryan's a little while longer because she and Carlson were really hitting it off. Glad to say that after the Jonathan incident, things were back to normal. That is, UNTIL MR. AND MRS. SUMMER DECIDED TO MOVE TO GEORGIA!! How dare they take Tate away from me? The day she told me was one of the most depressing days of my life. She told me about Atlanta, about her high-strung parents, basically about everything. And then it dawned on me... Tate and I were breaking up. It was the worst feeling imaginable. Even more so was the way I felt on the day of her flight. As I watched her walk through the metal detector and practically out of my life, I could only do one thing... I smiled, and waved goodbye. |
| Love, Brendan |