Another Chance at Love

“Bethany, I am so excited. I am ready to knock bungee jumping off my bucket list.”

“Karen, I can’t say the same. I’m nervous. I’m not the dare devil type like you.”

“Girl, I live for it. The adrenaline rush you get from being able to fly free in the air is so amazing.”

“I guess. I just hope I have fun and don’t chicken out. By the way, did I tell you that Tom’s friend Mike is coming? I think you two would be perfect for each other.”

“Bethany, stop trying to always fix me up with your boyfriend’s friends. I told you I am good. Believe it or not, I like being 28 and single.”

It’s early Saturday morning, and Bethany and I are chatting on our way to Rockford. A group of us are meeting up to go bungee jumping. I am so amped. I have on some blue jean shorts and a pink T-shirt with big, bold, black letters on the front that read “Bad Girl”. Bethany has on the exact same shirt (except hers is baby blue) and a pair of blue jean shorts as well. We wanted to have a little fun and show everyone that we were ready to conquer this feat, together, like twins.

When we arrive at the designated location, I see about 10-15 people standing around. Tom, Bethany’s boyfriend, is already here. We get out the car and walk over to join the crew.

“Hey bae.” Bethany said to Tom.

“Hey baby, what took ya’ll so long?”

“You know me and Karen had to get our outfits right! You know, we gotta look good! You like?”

Bethany did a 360^○ model turn, and Tom smiled.

He uttered, “Nice!” and then looked at me. “Hey Karen. What’s up?”

“Hey Tom. Nothing much. Thanks for inviting me! I am so ready for this!”

“Cool! Glad you could make it! Hey, since you’re here, I want you to meet somebody.” He turned around and shouted, “Hey Mike, come here.”

I look to my right and see this tall guy turn and start to walk in our direction. His hair is dark black, and from a distance, he appears to be in shape. I see he has muscular arms, and I can tell his stomach is ripped through the fitted blue T-shirt he has on. He also has on some khaki shorts, which allows me to see his toned legs and calves.

Once he’s in front of us, Tom says, “Mike, this is Karen. Karen, this is Mike.”

“Well hey there ‘Bad Girl’, nice to meet you.”

I smile as we shake hands. Mike has a semi deep voice, and he is very handsome. He is very easy on the eyes and looks as what us girls sometimes like to say, “SCRUMPTIOUS”.

I must have been deep in thought, admiring his looks, because next thing I know, I hear Mike say, “Cat got your tongue?”

“Oh sorry. I was thinking about the jump.” I lied. “I’m a little nervous about it.” I could see Bethany, in my peripheral vision, looking at me like ‘yea right’. I quickly change the subject. “Mike, you look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?”

“No. I think I would have remembered someone as cute as you.”

I smiled, and from then on as far as I was concerned, it was ‘ON’.

For the rest of the morning, we all had a blast. Bungee jumping was so much fun. During my jump, I felt like I was free, and every problem in my life had immediately disappeared. I didn’t have a care in the world. Even when the cord broke my fall, and I continued swinging back and forth like a pendulum, I felt awesome. After the trainers pulled me back up to the bridge, Mike was right there waiting to congratulate me. Once the cord and harness were taken off, he walked up to me and gave me a high five and one of the sweetest hugs I’ve had in a long time. Oh gosh, the man even smelled good.

Afterwards, we all decided to grab lunch at Giordano’s eatery back in downtown Chicago. Giordano’s sold the best Chicago style deep dish pizza around. When we got there, Mike sat down in the chair next to me.

“So, Karen, you from around here?” He asked.

“Yes, born and raised. I’ve lived in Chicago all my life.”

“Cool! I moved here when I was 10 with my parents. Then during my junior year in high school, my parents got a divorce, and I ended up moving back with my Mom to her hometown, Savannah, GA. I then eventually moved back here, to Chicago, about a year ago.”

“Oh okay. Sorry to hear about your parents. When you were here, what high school did you go to?”

“I went to Taft.”

“Wow, me too. What years were you there?”

“2006-2008.”

“Wow! I was there then too. Small world. I don’t recall seeing you though. I don’t even remember anyone named Mike. I do remember though this one guy named Michael……hmmm, Michael Taylor. I used to think he was so cute! He was tall like you and had dark hair like yours and.....”

Suddenly, I stopped mid-sentence. I looked at Mike. He had a big grin on his face. Wait a minute, I thought. It can’t be.

He then leaned in towards me and whispered, “Yea, it’s me! I’m back!”

For a few seconds, I sat there in complete shock. When I was in high school, my friends set me up, one Saturday night, on a blind date. The date was with Michael. We had decided to meet up at this fancy restaurant, and when I got there, he surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of red roses. We sat there and together, enjoyed gourmet hamburgers and fries. I enjoyed talking and laughing with him, and I felt like I had finally met someone whom I had something in common with. We left the restaurant, and he called to make sure I made it home alright. After that, we didn’t talk anymore the rest of the weekend. At school on Monday, I searched the halls looking for him but couldn’t find him anywhere. A few days went by, and I hadn’t heard anything. When I asked the school registrar about him, she said he was no longer a student there. He had unenrolled. My heart was crushed. At that point, I just told myself that it was best to just forget about him.

So, imagine my surprise to find out that I’m sitting next to him right now at Giordano’s after all these years. I got up out of my seat and left the table to go to the restroom. Old feelings about Mike were starting to come back, and the last thing I wanted was to cause a scene in front of Bethany and her boyfriend and their friends.

While in the bathroom, I paced back and forth, trying to get my thoughts together when suddenly I heard a faint knock at the door. The bathroom is one of those one-at-a-time types, so I must say something to let the person on the other side of the door know that I am in here. I yell “It’s taken.”

The voice on the other side says, “Hey Karen, it’s me, Mike, can I come in?”

I slowly open the door, and he walks in. I lock the door behind him.

“Mike, wait.” I start. “Did you know who I was this whole entire time?”

“Karen, I didn’t know you were the one Tom was trying to hook me up with until I turned around and saw you this morning. I recognized you right away, but I didn’t want to say anything until after we finished bungee jumping. The crazy part is is that after all these years, my old feelings for you immediately came back.”

“So, Tom and Bethany don’t know that we already know each other?”

“Nope. Today, bungee jumping was supposed to have been our blind date, along with friends of course. That way in case we didn’t like each other, we could go our separate ways with no hard feelings.”

Before I could say another word, he walked up to me and kissed me. I didn't yank back either. He then said, “Sorry but I’ve been waiting to do that for years.” It felt so good to have a man touch me and to actually show he cares.

I step back. “Wait, Mike. When we were younger, you hurt the hell out of me. I really liked you but then you just up and left. Why did you leave so suddenly back then? Did I do something wrong?”

He said, “No, it wasn’t you. I went through a rough time after our date that night. The next day, my Mom came home and asked my Dad for a divorce. They got into this huge fight, and when it was all said and done, I ended up leaving town with my Mom. She never looked back, and I never came back to Chicago after that until about a year ago. When I left, I figured it was best to just leave you alone since we had only had one date. Just know, though, that I never stopped thinking about you and what we could’ve had.”

“So, what now?” I asked him. “After all this time, can something like this even work?”

He smiled and looked at me, “If you’re willing to try it, I am. In some strange way, maybe now is the time for us to be together.”

I smiled and hugged him again. We talked a few minutes longer and agreed that we wouldn’t let Tom nor Bethany know that we already knew each other. Instead we would wait and tell them later. We then kissed each other again and left the bathroom separately to go back to our table and rejoin the others.

After another hour or so, we all finished eating and left the eatery. I rode back with Bethany to her house. During the ride, she asked, “Well, what do you think?”

“Huh, think about what?”

“About Mike?”

“Oh, he’s cool. We’ll see how things go.”

“Did ya’ll exchange numbers?”

“Yes, he asked me out on a date this Friday.”

“Awwww! I am so happy for you!” Bethany smiled.

Once we made it back to her house, Bethany’s phone started ringing. At first, she ignored it because she was helping me gather my things to leave, but then it rang a second and a third time. She stopped to answer it. It was Tom. As I continued packing my bag, Bethany screamed and then looked at me with the most frantic eyes ever. She shouted, “We’re on our way”, and quickly hung up the phone.

With tears flowing, she grabbed her car keys and told me to come on. We rushed out the door, jumped back in her car, and headed back down to Giordano’s. Bethany didn’t say a word. She just kept crying. I had no clue what was going on. When we got back to Giordano’s, there were police all around. Tom was standing near the door of the restaurant talking to one of the officers. On the ground to the right of him, a few feet away, was a black bag covering up what looked to be a body. We parked, jumped out, and ran up to Tom. Bethany immediately put her arms around him while I asked, “Tom, what happened?”

“Karen, there was a drive by shooting. This car came up out of nowhere after everybody left. Mike and I were still here. He ran back inside to go to the restroom while I sat in my car waiting on him to take him home. Well, as he was walking back out, gunshots fired.”

“Where’s Mike?” I yelled before he could finish.

“Karen, Mike is dead.” He pointed to the bag on the ground.

It was right then and there, I fainted. The officer standing next to us caught me before I hit the ground. The medics rushed over and helped me regain consciousness. When I came to, I could hear Bethany asking “Karen are you alright? Karen, are you alright?”

I said, “Yes, I’m fine. I just didn’t expect to hear that. We were just altogether.”

She hugged me, and Tom continued talking with the police.

I just stood there. My thoughts were running all over the place. How could this happen, and why Mike of all people? Just when I thought we were going to rekindle the long-lost love that we had for one another, things changed…..maybe we weren't meant to be together after all?