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Romance Coming of Age

“Hi Gabby”


“Hey”


“Wanna come with me to the movies?”


"Sure. What movie?”


“Titanic?”


“Ooo I like titanic”


“See you there 3:45 then?”


“k"







“That was nice.”


“Yea. It was fun.”


“Why do we text sm when we live two blocks away from each other?


“Bc my parents would think inappropriate things w/ u being a boy and me being a girl.”


“Bruh. Who cares what your parents think?”


“Bro- you’re not the one who lives with my mom.”


“What could she possibly do-”


“YOu don’t wanna know.”


“*sigh* C'mon why can't I come over”


“Cuz u can't. Smh my head”


“bruh”


“Wut?”


“Stop saying that”


“Y”


“Bc it’s annoying.”


“Just say smh”


“Smh my head is cooler tho”


“LMAO No it’s just stupid.”


“Wtvr. Anyways it’s 12 ima sleep”


“Ok goodnight Gabby”


“Goodnight.”


“Sleep tight don’t let the bed bugs bite. 😂”



...



“Gabby I’m bored. Movie at my house?”


“Sure but what movie?”


“A quiet place”


“The horror movie?”


“Yea”


“I might have to cover my ears if it gets scary”



“Dw dw just hold my hand. 💗💗💗”



“ I’d put my hand in the toilet b4 that would happen.”


“R u near a bathroom? 😂”


“Bruh. I’m walking to ur house rn.”




“I felt it.”

“Felt what?”


“U holding my hand.”


“ 🫢”


“LMAO u pulled it back as soon as you realized”


“No”


“It was during a scary part too”


“No”


“If you say so. 😍”


“Goodbye”


“Goodbye Gabby”


 “I GOT INTO MIT”


“Oh. Cool.”


“Ur not happy for me?”


“I am”

“Then why you texting so... Dull”


“Bc Im sad”


“U said u were happy for me 😕”


“I am. But I’m sad for myself.”


“Oh. Why?”


“We won’t live two blocks away from each other anymore.”


“Oh.”


“I won’t get to watch movies at your house like we have since 9th grade 😞”


“...I thought u dont like me”


“Wdym”


“In 10th grade when I asked you to hold my hand u rejected me.”


“Yea you jokingly said it and I replied with a joke. Sometimes I can’t tell if you’re being serious or if you’re just saying things to get a reaction out of me.


“Oh. Well I’ve liked u for a long time.”


“WHAT?" 


“Yea.”


“O well Tbh I didn’t like u in 9th grade or for most of 10th grade. 


“What changed?”


“When I was at your house watching a Quiet Place. And the scary part came and I instinctively held your hand. I guess I realized I didn’t just like you as a friend. I felt safe with you– I felt loved. But U were dating the hot Alisha Adams in 10th grade which meant we could only be friends.”


“Yea. I was dating her to make u jealous.”


“I was jealous.“


“Oh”


"I was scared to tell you that I liked u"


“Scared?”


“Yea after all that's supposed to be your job being the man. And we had such a great thing going on. I thought that if I told u how I felt u would think I was weird. And then things would be different.


“Lol what? All that time I thought u only wanted to be friends. But we felt the same way… about each other.”


“Yea :(

Can I come over?”


“Sure. My parents aren’t home”





“Things aren’t gonna be different now are they Gabby?”


“Why would they be?”


“Because you’re my girlfriend now.”


“Yea. And you’re my boyfriend.”


“Soo, what do you wanna do?”


“I just wanna lie here on your beat-up couch with my head in your lap and your hands in my hair. To enjoy this and not think about MIT or college.”



“I would like that. I would like that a lot.”



“I miss u”


“I miss u too Ted”


"U haven’t hooked up with a new hot guy at Georgia Tech?”


“U haven’t been going out with a new pretty girl at MIT?


“No.”


“Good. Don’t”


“Dw I won’t. Can’t wait to see you over winter break Gabby.”



“Look outside your front lawn”

“Ted, what are you doing out there in the snow?

“Merry Christmas! 🤗”

Merry Christmas to you too… are those flowers for me?”

“No they’re for my grandpa.”

“Oh”

“I was being sarcastic Gabby”

“So they are for me?”

“ Yes now come outside so we can make use of this snow.”





“Stand up I wanna see what your man snow angel looks like. Oh. It looks a bit plump around the edges.”

“Yea, I guess it is a bit fat. Luckily it has a beautiful snow angel girlfriend.”

“I agree. It is very lucky to have a snow angel girlfriend.”

“Let's make their snow angel children.”

“Is this your way of telling me you want kids?”

“Uh, maybe?”







“Gabby can you pick Claire and Carrie up from daycare? I’m running late”

“Ur always running late. I have a job too yk?”

“I know I know I’m sorry.”

“U work too much.”

“I know I know.”

“Can u pick up some up some eggs when you come back home?”

“Alr”


“Carrie wants eggs for breakfast. Where did u put them?”

“Shoot I forgot the eggs. Sorry”

“It’s fine I’ll just give her cereal. Do you know what day it is today?”

“Yes it’s Friday.”

“Ted, it’s out 6th anniversary.”

“OMG can’t believe I forgot. I’ve been so buzy lately. The new CEO at work is driving me nuts.”

“ 💔”

‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry. We can have date night on Saturday”





“Ted this is not okay.” “You’ve barely been home lately. There’s no reason for you to be working 70 hours a week! It’s ridiculous!


“I’m just - I’m just trying to provide for the household.”


“We have enough money. I work full time too you know. You aren’t the only one working. I feel like you care more about your job than you care about me.”


“Honey that’s ridiculous. I love you.”


“I’m sure you love your manager too.”


“What’s that supposed to mean?”


“It means you’ve barely been home, you’ve been exhausted every time you get home and you haven’t been taking care of the kids! You’re not acting the way a father should!”


“Okay okay I’ll do better; I’ll work less.”


“Good. Now come to bed with me.”


“In a minute I gotta take this call.”


“See! This is exactly what I mean. I can’t even have a full conversation with you anymore. It’s like you don’t even care.”


“Yessir. Okay, I’ll be there extra early tomorrow. Goodnight to you too.”


“TED.”


“C’mon Gabby it was my boss. I couldn’t just leave it.”


“You know what, just sleep on the couch tonight. I’m going to sleep.”


“Gabby wait.”


“Goodnight.”






“Ted im feeling really sick today.”


“What do you want me to do about it?”


“You know what idek why I texted you.”


“Are things ok between us?”


“No things aren’t ok. I’m sick and you don’t even seem to give a damn. What happened to the boy that walked two blocks in the snow to give me flowers and make snow angels with me?”


“Gabby I’m really stressed and I have a long day ahead of me. We can talk about this when I get home.”


“Ted Im tired. Really tired. And I just wanna go to sleep for a very long time.”



“Hi sir this is your child’s daycare, your wife hasn’t been to pick up the children.”

“Just call her. I’m currently in a meeting, I’ll call you back later.”



….


“Gabby I’m home. We can talk now.”



“Gabby?”



“Claire?”



“Carrie?”

Where is everybody?”




“Why is it so quiet?”



“What the hell? 12 missed calls from daycare.”


...


 “Hello?”


“Sir your wife didnt come to pick up your children today. It’s 11:00 at night, is everything okay?”


“I'm not sure... I can’t seem to find my wife at the moment. Can I call you back in a bit?”


“Yes, that is fine.”


What’s this note here?”


“Dear Ted,

It’s been fun but I’ve gone to be free. I’ll always love you.

-Gabby”



“Hi, this is Gabby, I’m sorry I missed your call and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible…please leave a message after the tone.”


“Hi Gabby, I just – i wanted to hear your voice. And – and I know you can’t hear me but, I wanted to tell you I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything. And if I could go back, I would have done everything differently. I would have listened to you more and cared for you more and I would have been there. Always been there…and I… I would give anything… everything… to have one more moment, one more second with you…to tell you that I love you. That I’m sorry. One more moment to hug you one last time. To hold you in my arms and touch your face and kiss you on the lips. And I– I will always love you. And I’m so, so sorry… for everything.







February 25, 2023 04:29

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2 comments

Wally Schmidt
21:25 Feb 28, 2023

Your story is really well written and I think one that a lot of people can relate to..realizing how much something means to you and what you could have done better -or at least different-if you had been more focused in on the other person. Think your story really highlighted a relationship when things go sour really quickly after a steady drip of warnings. Nicely done.

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Mary Ann Ford
22:33 Feb 26, 2023

I'm gonna be honest. I don't text a lot so I only caught the just of the story. I guess what you portrayed in the story happens quite a bit and it's sad. People need to understand that marriage is a permanent commitment. Again the swearing tipped my rocker but I understand a lot of people grow up with that and it can be hard to get away from.

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