Randy was in the team locker room after practice.
He and his teammates spent a
grueling four hours at basketball practice, the coach liked to keep
his team in shape even
in the off season. Randy was one of the last ones to leave the
locker room. He wanted to
talk to Chris about the other day.
"Hey Chris, wait up. I want to talk to you," Randy called.
"Okay, shoot," said Chris. He had remote idea what this
conversation was about.
"The other day what did you say to Matt to make him leave?" asked
Randy.
"I only answered his question. No, Dani does not have
feelings for him, other
than friendship," Chris answered simply.
"You what! Why did you do that? " exclaimed Randy. "You know
that´s not
true?"
"Once Matt is out of the way Dani will be all mine."
"What are you going to do when she finds out that you lied to
Matt?" asked
Randy.
"She won't. Matt won't tell her, he's too upset to mention
anything to her."
"How do you know that I won't tell her?" asked Randy.
He could not believe
Chris was willing to stoop so low. It made him very angry.
He had to stick up for his
friends.
"You won't because she won't believe you," said Chris simply.
Randy looked at Chris and shook his head. "I´m not going
to let you get away
with this," said Randy as he moved closer to Chris.
"What are you going to do about?" Chris asked. He was prepared
to stand off.
Randy grabbed Chris by the shirt and was about to slam him against
the lockers
when he suddenly pulled back. "You´re right," he replied as backed
up and threw his
hands up. His restraint was clearly visible in his voice and
actions as he moved away. "I
can´t do anything about it. Giving you the beat down that you
deserve is not going to
solve anything. You´re not worth geting kicked off the team and
hurting a friend. But at
least I know what it means to be one."
Then he stormed out of the locker room after punching Chris's
locker on the way
out in attempt to vent off some of his anger.
"That´s what I thought," he said as Randy left. "The punk
couldn´t beat down my
little brother," he murmmered as he reopend his locker. He ran his
hand over the dent
Randy put in his locker. It was a good size dent. Chris just shook
his head and got his
gym bag out. When he took his bag out, a picture of Dani fell
out. He picked it up and
looked at the smiling face.
Chris sat down on the bench with the picture and thought about
what Randy said,
he was right. Dani would find out eventually and everything would be
all over even their
friendship. He wondered if losing her friendship and the respect
of his friends and the
other students was worth a few weeks happiness. He decided he
needed to tell her the
truth. If she and Matt did not get together and it was not his
fault, then he maybe he
would have a chance. If they did get together, at least he would
have her friendship.
Chris finally realized that Dani needed to decide for herself.
"Hello," answered Dani into the phone.
"Hi, Dani," said Chris.
"Oh hi. How was practice?" asked Danielle.
"It was fine. There's something I want to talk to
you about," said Chris. He was
nervous, he did not know how to tell her what happened.
"What is it?" asked Dani.
"Dani, I like you very much and because I do I...," faltered
Chris.
"What?" asked Dani.
"I lied to Matt about how you felt about him," Chris blurted
out. There was
silence on the other end of the line.
"How do I feel, Chris?"
"Dani everyone knows you are in love with him, except Matt,"
said Chris. " I
thought I could eliminate the competition to make you feel the same
about me."
"You know that I would have found out sooner or later?" Dani
asked.
"I know that's why I decided to tell you myself instead of you
hearing about it
later from someone else," Chris replied. He was surely going
to lose Dani now. "Dani, I
would understand if you didn't want to be friends with me anymore."
"Chris...what you did was wrong, but I have to admit it is kind
of flattering. So I
guess we can still be friends, besides, I was going to tell you anyway
that we should just
be friends."
"I'm glad we're at least friends. We will have our memories,"
said Chris with a
little hint of sadness. " I was wondering if we could say good-bye
in style. Could you
meet me at the park in ten minutes?"
"Well-I-Chris--"
"Just say you'll be there," Chris pleaded.
"I'll be there," said Dani. She wondered what Chris had
planned.
"Bye."
"Bye," said Danielle. Then she hung up her phone, grabbed
her purse, and left for
the park.
When she arrived at the park, Danielle saw that Chris was already
there waiting
for her.
"This is for you, the first flower of the month of June.
It represents the your rare
beauty and these flowers were also in bloom when I saw you for the
first time."
"Chris, why are you doing this to me?" asked Dani as a tear trickled
down her
cheek. Breaking up is always hard to do. Why couldn't he just
break up with her and
leave it at that? A nice clean break. Why did he had to make
her remember what they
had?
"I'm doing this so you´ll always remember me," Chris replied.
Then he placed the
flower in Dani's hair. " I'm going to remember this moment. I'm
going to remember how
you are looking at me now, how you feel close to me, and the scent
of your perfume."
"I promise you I won´t forget this moment," said Dani softly.
She would not,
even though she was in love with Matt, Chris would always have a special
place in her
heart.
"I know you won't," said Chris as he touched her face gently.
He leaned forward
and kissed Dani softly.
"Good-bye, Dani." Then Chris left Dani standing in the
park.
* * *
"Come on you won't fall. Just push to the right then
to the left, then you'll be
skating." said the fourteen year old girl to her friend.
"I don't know about this," the friend warned.
"Do you trust me?"
"Yes," answered the friend uncertain. Then he began
to glide like his friend told
him and began to skate. " I can do it!"
"See I told you. You can do anything," the fourteen
year old girl replied with a
smile. " Come let's skate around. Hold my hand so you won't
fall."
The fourteen year old boy was about to take his friend's hand
when all the sudden
the scene changed. He was older now and he was at a party.
" Matt, aren't you going to
introduce me to your friend?" asked Danielle.
"Sure," answered Matt confused," Dani, this is Chris Askew.
Chris, this is
Danielle Benson."
"Nice to meet you," said Dani politely.
"Nice to meet you ," Chris replied looking over Dani's features.
" Would you like
to dance?"
"I'd love to," Dani answered as she took his hand.
"Then let's go. By the way, Matt, this is the best end
of the year party I´ve been
to."
"Thanks, Chris" Matt said as he watched Chris lead Dani away.
At first he
thought her meeting Chris was a good idea, now he was not so sure.
One of the guests accidentally bumped into Matt and the scene
changed again. He
was on top of his car at the air field. He was looking into
Dani's eyes. He leaned forward
to kiss her, he could not help himself. He closed his eyes
and savored the kiss.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw Dani leaving
in anger and he was covered
with milk. They had just been fighting and Matt did understand
why.
After the cafeteria doors shut behind her, the scene changed
again, he was in the
park and it was night. It was a full moon outside and Dani
was leaving the after prom
party. She was wearing an ankle length dress that had a split on
the side. Her hair was in
a French roll with a mass of curls. She had a black silk shawl
wrapped around her to
keep warm in the midnight breeze. She looked beautiful.
There was a soft breeze
whispering that made Dani look like mystic apparition. It
was an amazing sight to
partake of. Matt wanted to call out to her, but something
told him not to.
Another breeze blew and Matt found himself in a pew of a church.
He was sitting
with a few friends. He was at a wedding. " If anyone believes
these two should not be
wed, may he speak now or forever hold his peace," said the reverend.
Matt looked to the
front, to see the happy couple, and saw it was Dani and Chris.
He had to stop the
completion of the ceremony. He opened his mouth to say something,
but nothing came
out. Then he tried to get up, he had get to Dani and stop
her, but he couldn't move.
When no one said anything, the reverend completed the ceremony and
Chris kissed his
new bride.
When the ceremony was over, he was suddenly
able to move so he got up hoping
he could still fix everything. Matt met Danielle in the isle,
so he could try to tell her how
he felt or change her mind. When Danielle saw him, she said,"
This is the man who is
responsible for my being here today. Thank you, Matt.
If you hadn't introduced me to
Chris, I might have fallen in love with you."
"Nooo!" screamed Matt. " You have to listen to me. I
love you..."
"Wake up, Matt. I already have someone. You introduced
us," said Dani coldly.
"Wake up... Wake up..."
Danielle's voice faded into an echo as the church started to
shake. Someone in the
distance was calling him." Wake up, Matt! Wake up!"
Then Matt woke up with a start. His younger sister was
shaking him. " I'm up,
I'm up!"
"Good because you promised to take me to taekwando class," Crystal
chirped as
she jumped up and down on the bed.
"Leave me alone," said Matt irritated.
"You have to take me Mom said so and if you don't I tell Dani
you have dreams
about her and that you like her," Crystal threatened.
"What? Where did you hear that?"
"I heard you talking about her on the phone and you were calling
for her in your
sleep," answered Crystal quite proud of herself.
"Come here or I'll.."
"Matt is in love. Matt is in love," sang Crystal as Matt
chased her around the
room.
"Gotcha," said Matt when he caught his sister. " I don't want
to you go blabbing to
Dani, capisce?"
"Capisce," Crystal sighed. " I like Dani she's nice and she is
pretty too. She will
be a better girlfriend than Allison, she's mean."
"Well maybe some day I'll test your theory. Come on I have
to get you to class."
"Can we go for ice cream too?" asked Crystal hopefully.
"Sure, why not? It's not like I have a date tonight or
anything," said Matt. He was
glad that nightmare was not real, but it had it´s good parts.
Maybe one day his dream
would come true.