A PERFECT NIGHT

A.J. looked out the window. He could see a girl at the bridge, she seemed sad, but not possibly as sad as he was. He’d met the girl of his dreams three months earlier. Her name was Nicole, and he’d fallen helplessly in love with her. He’d found out a lot of things about her, amongst those was that his 19-year-old love was a model, even though she hated it.

She’d been his girlfriend for two months, then just said it was over, no explanation, no nothing. Then she’d practically disappeared from the face of the earth.

A.J. got up and walked out, heading for the bridge. Normally he wouldn’t leave his room at the hotel but he didn’t really care too much. All he knew was that he needed someone to talk to, someone to care about, someone to love in Nicole’s place.

She looked at the necklace, a heart in gold. Her ex boyfriend had given it to her. Since she’d broken up with him she’d been avoiding him, she’d never thought that it would be so hard. All of that had happened a billion times before. The guy loved her, she didn’t love him, she broke up, always the same story.

She looked at her reflection in the water from the bridge. She liked it better this way, a little unclear, a little uncertain if it was pretty or not. People were always so fast to tell her that she was pretty. She on the other hand could find a billion faults about herself that no one else ever seemed to see.

She’d recently met a new guy. She thought he was okay, but he too had told her she was pretty almost at once. Most girls would probably love that, but she couldn’t stand it. She’d forgiven him for it though; he didn’t know how much she hated it.

She opened her hand and looked at the necklace. She wondered why she’d even bother to keep it that long. All those other stuff her exes had given her had been gone just days after them, but she till had the necklace almost a month after she’d left him. She sighed and placed it on a nail on the bridge so she could look at it but didn’t have to hold it.

She regretted dumping him, but just a little bit. He’d been okay, okay for one of her boyfriends that was. He’d been so strange, always different from the rest. She’d like that; people had been looking at him more than they did at her. She’d realized what kind of boyfriend did that, the famous one. She was lucky; the guy who she’d met was famous.

The closer he got to her he hoped she’d be his age, nice and single. If she were a teenybopper she’d start screaming and wouldn’t shut up until he’d left.

A.J. walked beside the trees that was growing so close together that he couldn’t see the girl or the bridge until he got to the end of the path.

As he walked closer he noticed that she had the same dirty blond hair as Nicole.

“Hey” he said and looked at her.

“Hey” she replied and looked at him.

“Nicole?” A.J. couldn’t even describe how confused and happy he was right now.

“Yeah” she looked at the water again. “I tried to get a hold of you but…”

“It’s no use” she sighed. “You know it’s over as well as I do.”

“We can start all over again” he said and sat down next to her at the bridge.

She shook her head and looked at the water. She knew there was no turning back now, she didn’t like doing this but she couldn’t get back together with him.

It was quiet for a long time, until A.J. said anything.

“Can I tell you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“Once there was a very special girl. I actually loved her.” He shook his head. “And I thought she loved me too. In my line of work it’s hard to find someone to trust, and I did trust her. I guess I shouldn’t have though.” The moonlight made the necklace that was hanging on the nail make itself noticed. “I gave her a necklace once, she said she loved it and always would keep it close. I also gave her my heart and she took them both, she promised she’d keep them and treat them well.” A.J. looked at her again. “But she didn’t keep her promise. She didn’t care much for the necklace, and even less about my heart. She broke my heart, and threw away the pieces. The necklace, she was thinking getting rid of it many times, cause it remembered her of me, and all that I would have given her. She never did though, not yet anyway.”

“Am I supposed to feel something now?” she said coldly.

“I hoped you would.” He looked at the necklace. “What are you going to do with the necklace?”

“Take it.” She took it from the nail and held it in her open hand. “It won’t do me any good.”

“It’s yours. I want you to keep it.”

“I don’t want it.”

He didn’t answer her. He knew he couldn’t take it back, it would hurt too much.

“Fine.” She got up and looked at it one last time.

A.J. watched her as she threw it into the water.

Nicole sat down again. “Are you going to tell me more about the story that I already know?”

“The girl lived on something she hated, she did things she knew was wrong, she told people things that she really didn’t mean. But what was even worse was that she never seemed to care, but at the end of the day she used to cry. She’d cry for hours, until there was no more tears to cry, she hated herself and her actions” he looked at her. “She never told anyone that she did, she didn’t want the show that she had feelings like everybody else. Maybe she was scared that she’d get hurt, just like the people she’d hurt. She couldn’t even keep count of how many times she’d decided to try and find that one that she could love, but she knew the number was the same as how many guys she’d dumped and left broken hearted.”

She looked at him, a bit irritated.

“She was easy to fall in love with you see, cause she was so sweet, so pretty and so nice, until she’d dump you. She’d never tell you why, cause she didn’t know herself. Sometimes I wonder if she even cared for those poor bastards, and I always wonder if she cared for me.” A.J. got up and looked at her. “But do you know what the worst part was?”

“No” she looked at him.

“She left without saying goodbye.” With that he walked away and left her alone at the bridge. He didn’t go far though, just behind the trees so she couldn’t see him. He stood there for a while, fighting the tears. When he heard a low sobbing he couldn’t hold his tears back either. He leaned against the tree and looked up at the sky. Not a single cloud, he could have sworn that you’d be able to see every single star possible for the human eye. It was a perfect night for anyone who wasn’t broken hearted.