Hold my hand

Sherry grasped onto his hand a sweaty and uncomfortable hold easy to let go off and right now in this moment she couldn’t let him go.

They first met in what she would consider the typical boy meets girl way. She was out with her friends and he had caught her eye and she had caught his. He was exactly her type tall, thick dark hair that fell naturally messy, dark eyes under thick dark eyelashes, not overly fit but a naturally broad and muscular build. She was surprised he didn’t already have a girl hanging off his muscular arm. She took one last sip of her vodka and raspberry and made her way over to initiate conversation.

She would never forget their first date. He had booked them a dinner date at the finest Italian restaurant in their small town. He was only four years older than her but an old soul who behaved like a gentleman. The conversation was light but sweet as they were both quiet and reserved types. But they felt comfortable in each other’s company like two elderly seniors enjoying their daily morning coffee routine. At the end of the date before he dropped her off he leaned over and gave her a kiss goodbye. Their first kiss she was pleasantly surprised at his confidence in that moment and she felt warm and delighted. She left the car feeling giddy with the promise of new love.

She was infatuated with him and any chance she got she would bring him up in conversation with her family and friends. She would spend most weekends with him and her days off. Not overly obsessive she made sure she didn’t tip into the “crazy” scale of new girlfriend she didn’t want to ruin the first chance she had of real love. So she gave him space when he needed it and made sure to keep her mind on her work and put some passion into her hobbies.

As it turned out she was nearing the end of her lease. Her relationship was going strong so the natural next step was for them to move in together and so they did. Initially, she moved into his share house but they had plans to find their own place. She even imagined there might be room for a pet cat.

Everything was progressing naturally, easy and as a relationship should. However, tragedy has a way of sneaking up on a person. It had been the eve of their move and the promise of their potential future hung in the air. She remembered collapsing to her knees with the weight of the news and immediately went to the hospital to be with him. She gasped when she saw his bruised body, her chest felt tight her whole body hurt for him. She wanted to curl up beside him and close her eyes and shut out the world but the bed was too small so she pulled a chair as close as she could and picked up his hand, first touching lightly to her tear-soaked cheek and then brushing it across her lips finally resting their entwined hands onto her lap.

Jeremy sensed her presence and his heart raced in fear. Why was she holding his hand? Could she please just let him go.

When Jeremy saw Sherry, he knew she was exactly his type. She had slender, long tan legs that were complimented by a mini basic black dress, long brown hair and bright green eyes that shimmered almost in the lighting of the club. He was too shy to approach her but was delighted when he saw her make her way over. By the end of the night they exchanged numbers and he was already excited for what could be.

He would never forget their first date. He really wanted to impress her so he went all out and booked the most exclusive Italian restaurant in their town. He picked her up and noticed she had not dressed up. He just found it surprising considering he had mentioned the name of the restaurant and she had decided to wear leisure wear. The night continued to surprise him. When they arrived there was a line which they were expected to wait in prior to entering the restaurant. To his surprise she charged ahead to the front of the line to have words with the waiter letting people in. He couldn’t hear what she said but he saw her annoyed facial expression. She fell back into the line with him and then proceeded to loudly complain about the need to wait in such a line when they were already going to be spending a lot of money. He felt hot and cast his eyes down. He was a quiet person and didn’t like drawing attention to himself. But for the longest hour and a half of the evening throughout the meal she continued to draw attention to them. From standing up to lifting her shirt to expose a “Live, laugh, love” tattoo on her torso, to stamping over to the waiter to complain her dish was too salty and then proceeding to get drunk from drinking too much red wine and singing loudly to what she told Jeremy was her favourite song and her ringtone when her phone started ringing. At the end of the night, he was relieved to drop her off before getting out of the car she turned to him.

“Well, are you going to kiss me?”

He went red and she grabbed both sides of his face and planted a wet kiss onto his lips with an exaggerated “mwah” and leapt out of the car.

“Ta ta darls.” She thrilled.

After the date he did the right thing and called her and said it was not going to work out. She was quiet throughout the call acknowledging she had heard him at the end of the call. But Jeremy soon came to see she was obsessed with him in the overly obsessive way that he would consider “crazy.”

He had politely had made it known he was not interested but she continued to send multiple text messages, she would attempt to call him he would block her number but she had a concerning ability to find a way to contact him. He sometimes had a sense someone was outside his bedroom window but he couldn’t let himself entertain that thought. When he finally found a way to stop the calls and messages, she showed up at his door with all her possessions packed into one suitcase.

Her story was she had nowhere else to go and she would have to live on the streets and would only stay one night. But Jeremy and his housemates could not get her to move out. The only option they had was to break the lease forcing her to find her own place. To avoid her he had already started staying at his parents and going home late in the evening making his patterns so that he had the least possible interaction with her as possible. He was counting down the days until he could move.

It was the eve of their move out day and he saw her leaving the garage where he kept his car. He found it strange that she was home and strange that she was near his car but her and the word strange always went together so he didn’t think to much more on it. He was to excited for the final move an opportunity for them to finally part ways and a chance for her to finally just let go.

Tears welled in her eyes she loved him and she could never imagine a life without him. To her delight she saw his eyes flutter open.

“You need to let go of his hand and come with us,” instructed a burly police officer it was the second time he had spoken and he made a move towards her.

Heart sinking, body tensed in reluctance she sighed heavily and after all this time she finally let go.