My One More Chance

1998. It was a bright sunny day of July 20th in the village called Rosewood. The village is like any typical village; it has a school nearby, a small gothic chapel where the families in the neighborhood go to every Sunday, and a park full of sweaty and rowdy kids roaming around playing tag, taking turns with the swing, and it’s also where a bunch of high school teens meet up. Rosewood is a village often described as a “small world” for the families who lived in the houses 20 years ago are the same families who still live in the Rosewood houses today.

Not until Mrs. Piper decided to sell her house after her husband died to move on the other side of the country because she thinks the house fills with so much memories. Indeed it is for the walls on the staircase are full of picture frames of the couple. In the living room, the shelves beside the sofa were not just filled with books but also mini picture frames of Mrs. Piper and her husband. The couple is clearly a memory hoarder and uses pictures to keep the memories. Mrs. Piper is an old lady who have slowly gained white hair and she has gained wrinkles too from old age and also due to the stress after her husband died of a heart failure and the neighborhood in Rosewood are naturally caring hence they encouraged Mrs. Piper to take a break and explore the world.

“Are you all set, Mrs. Piper?” Liam says as she helps Mrs. Piper carry her luggage inside the taxi cab that’s waiting in front of their house. Liam Davis is one of Mrs. Piper’s closest neighbors, he lives 2 houses away from her house. He is known to be one of the most helpful and friendly kid in the neighborhood but often misinterpreted as a playboy. Well, not a surprise because he’s got the looks.

Liam is a rising junior in Rosewood High School. Though he is known as the “playboy,” it’s probably because of those blue eyes that makes you see the beauty of the ocean and its depth, it feels like you’re ready to be lost and be drowned in his eyes, his pointed nose that adds a great appeal to his handsome face, his hazel brown messy hair that everyone falls for, and of course, that sly smirk he does when he’s shy and not to mention, he’s 5’6 with a tanned toned body and with a trait that’s naturally caring, who doesn’t think of him as a playboy?

“Well, I think I am if it’s material-wise, boy. But… I don’t think I am emotionally ready.” Mrs. Piper says with a reluctant tone. “This house has so much memories, I’ve lived here ever since we got married. This was our first house, we had all our first times here. This is where our marriage was tested a lot of times and conquered it together. Leaving this house is like leaving my husband, my life, everything…” Liam has not yet felt that kind of heartbreak but hearing Mrs. Piper saying those words feels like he already has. His heart aches for the death of her husband too.

“Guess what? Mr. Piper would not want to see you spending the rest of your life in sorrow. I am sure he’s in a happy place now where sufferings don’t exist and he’d wish the same thing for you too; to be in a happy place. Explore the world, Mrs. Piper and let time heal you. I wish you the best and take care, Mrs. Piper.” Liam says to cheer her up a bit.

Then off Mrs. Piper goes and that day too changed Liam’s life forever.

***

A week after Mrs. Piper left, a new family bought and took over Mrs. Piper’s house. Liam was supposed to go to his friend’s house to play video games until he noticed a family of five enters the house.

It was not really the entire family that caught his attention, but the tallest girl among the kids who went inside. He assumed that she was also a rising junior too. He felt excited when he saw the girl but he did not like her…. yet. He wanted to introduce himself but he suddenly heard a text notification from his phone.

“Dude, where the hell are you? Do you even still plan to come over? The boys are already here.” He looked at the time which was already almost 5pm and he left the house 30 minutes past four. He was shocked and did not know he’s been staring at the house for THAT long. He then hurriedly ran to his friend’s house.

***

It was August 10, 1998 when classes started again. This was Liam’s first day of junior year.

“Aaahh, junior year! This year’s gonna be a blast!” Liam says as he fixes his hazel brown hair in front of the mirror. After he fixes his hair, he then gets his black and brown Herschel bag, that has lots of compartments but does barely put anything in it, from his blue and grey colored bed.

It was already 7:50am when he went downstairs and his classes start at 8am. He went to the kitchen to pick up some bread for his breakfast then kissed his mom on the forehead, hugged his dad, and bid goodbye to his parents.

“Good luck on your first day of junior year, sweetie! Be home early, alright?” Liam’s mom says and Liam responded a short “yes mom!” then left with his bike.

His school is just near the house since the school is just in the village too. He arrived exactly at 7:57am and saw a lot of students walking towards the school.

The bell rang at 8am and the noise in the hallway was getting louder and the crowd was getting bigger as students try to find their first class of the day. Liam managed to find his class quickly and there he saw the girl from Mrs. Piper’s house a month ago. This time, he was able to see her blonde wavy hair, her pale white glass skin, her black nerd glasses that emphasized her pointed noise, and her naturally light pink thin lips clearly. She was reading a book so he did not see the color of her eyes.

He stared at him for too long that the girl noticed him and there he saw those brown eyes, as brown as the hot chocolate milk that he drinks in a cold winter night. Liam doesn’t understand what he feels when his eyes met hers all he knows is that butterflies were forming in his stomach.

“Uhm... is there something wrong?” The girl asks in confusion as she removes her glasses. Liam then got back to his senses and realized he has been standing in front of her for too long. He

turned red and felt embarrassed for his unconscious actions.

“Oh, I’m sorry if I disturbed you that way, I just noticed you seemed very familiar to me and I was trying to observe you, my apologies. But uhm, you’re the girl with the family who moved to Mrs. Piper’s house, right?” Liam’s alibi to lessen the embarrassment.

“Oh, no worries! I’m glad you explained because I thought you were a creep. Haha.” She giggled and he unexpectedly felt as if her laugh was music to his ears. “Anyways, yep. I’m from New York City actually and we moved in here in Pennsylvania because my dad’s work was assigned here so yep, the whole family had to move. I’m Elizabeth by the way, Elizabeth Johnson. Call me Liz for short and you are?”

Elizabeth… her name is just as beautiful as her. Liam thought. He was surprised by what he just said in his mind and wondered why he had thought of that. Maybe I’m just stunned by her beauty. He says again in his mind to justify his first statement.

“What a wonderful name…” He slightly blushed. “I’m Liam. Liam Davis. I live two houses away from your house by the way.” He says with a sly smirk trying to not act awkward. They both smiled at each other until the teacher came…

“It’s nice meeting you, Liz. Shall I see you at lunch? Then I’ll tour you around the village after class.” It was normal for him to be that welcoming but he was confused why he suddenly felt nervous. He felt like he was asking her out.

“That’s so sweet of you, thank you! I’ll meet you at lunch.” Liz says with a sweet smile.

The two of them were supposed to be just normal 17-year-olds in junior year preparing for college but that moment changed both of their lives forever.

***

Months have passed and Liam finally decided to confess his feelings for Elizabeth. At first, Elizabeth was speechless and tried to take it all in but eventually ended up reciprocating Liam’s feelings too.

The couple were relationship goals. They go to arcades, local libraries, coffee shops for their dates. They even have their small lemonade business at the park. Both of them excelled in school too. Elizabeth and Liam indeed bring out the best in each other.

Junior year should be a tough school year but when they’re with each other, it’s as if they own all the time in the world. They both dream to get into top-tier universities. Liam wanted to get into Duke University whereas Liz wanted to go to New York University. They both know what school they’re applying to and they vowed to support each other and make long distance relationship work.

Liam already introduced Elizabeth to his family formally and same goes with Elizabeth. Both families supported the young couple and were rooting for them. They were each other’s great love and were so sure of their relationship already as if they can see what the future holds for them…

***

It was summer before freshmen year in college when Liz noticed their relationship grew cold already. Liam and his family took a vacation before he leaves for college and Liz noticed he barely texts her already. She understands that he’s having a family time but she could not understand how she had an instinct that something in their relationship was wrong.

Liz is not the clingy type of girlfriend so she decided not to bug him. She tries to convince herself that maybe he’s just having too much fun with his family. She texted, “How are you? I hope you’re having fun. I love you <3” then that was it.

He never replied at all.

***

It was 5 days before Liz and Liam leave for college (because they both planned to leave together) and Liam’s family finally returned home and Liz welcomed them in excitement to see Liam again and spend the last 5 days together.

“Welcome home, Mr. and Mrs. Davis!! How was the trip? Did you have fun? I hope you enjoyed your short vacation with Liam!” She greets them happily as she sees them getting out of their baby blue Honda Civic. She was also moving her head and stretching her neck to find any signs of Liam and Liam’s parents seemed to notice Liz’s gestures. “Didn’t he tell you?” Mrs. Davis said and Liz looked at her perplexed. “He changed his plans the last minute this morning, he told us to drop him in the airport. He did not explain why but it seemed like he was eager to leave already. I thought you knew, I’m so sorry for the sudden news, dear. We thought you both would leave together too.”

Crushed. That’s what her soul felt.

Hearing those words cut her heart into very thin pieces. She felt like her heart’s never going to be whole again. It was a bright sunny day in Rosewood but to her, it was the darkest storm she could ever imagine.

There was really something wrong indeed.

Tears immediately formed in her eyes but she tried to stop it, “Oh.. i-i-is that so? It’s okay, Mrs. Davis. I’ll just call him tonight. Uhm..” her voice cracked that’s why she stopped a bit. “I have to go now, thank you.” And tears finally fell as she runs back home.

Why? She whispered to herself and cried so bad while hugging her knees in the corner of her room.

She’s all choked up and can’t find the words to express the pain. All she knew was that she lost her great love.

***

2007. It was 7pm in a high-rise, floor-to-ceiling window condominium with a view of New York’s bright city lights. Liz goes to the balcony with her red wine to see the view. She has always found solitude in a view of a busy city. Perhaps this is her way to shrug off the fact that after 7 years, she’s still passionately in love with Liam, her great love.

Liam is actually the reason why Liz pursued poetry instead of medicine. She felt very lost in college and poetry was her way to cope with the break up.

Liz up to this day is still very grateful for him for he was the reason of who she is today. Because of him, she’s now a successful poet. He opened doors for her without Liam knowing and because of him, she wants no other name to fall off her lips, she wants no other man to be the subject of her poetry, and she never wants to love again.

She never loved any man the way she loved Liam and it stays that way.

***

Oct. 17, 2007. It was a lovely morning when Liam arrived in the village of Rosewood. His parents welcomed him in full energy.

“Oh look at our businessman! We missed you, sweetheart!!” Mrs. Davis greets his son and hugs him so tightly. It’s been 7 years since he last visited Rosewood. His parents only visited him in North Carolina for his graduation in Duke University but he was never able to visit Rosewood village in the last 7 years.

Liam spent almost the whole day catching up with his parents. He finally felt at home again feeling relaxed after working so hard for his business. After he graduated, he worked for a year then resigned to start his own business. He started his own lemonade business for Elizabeth, he never forgot the plans they had when they were still in High School, especially their business plans. He still wants to pursue all of them secretly hoping they’ll meet each other again.

It was 4:30pm when Liam decided to go outside for fresh air. He was walking around the village and some things changed a bit; the park was no longer filled with kids, the church was not maintained anymore, and the whole village seemed to be really quiet.

As he was walking, he noticed there was a car parked in front of the Johnson house. Then he saw a lady going out of the car with poise. He does not know her because of her brunette wavy ponytail hair but he felt as if he knew her by heart. His heart beat goes fast and he felt the butterflies in his stomach again after 7 years.

The lady noticed a man was staring at her. “Uhm... hi? Is there something wrong?” She asks in confusion as she removes those black shades of hers.

Some things never change… she still has those chocolate milk eyes, she still wears eye wears that emphasizes her pointed nose, and she still has that pale white glass skin. Her lips is no longer as thin as she was when he first met her but it’s still naturally pink and looks soft.

“Elizabeth…” That’s was the only word he stuttered because he froze.

The name that’s as beautiful as her, he thought.

***

When Liz saw him, tears formed in her eyes. It all came back. The feelings, the memories, everything.

“Liam?” Her voice cracked. He never changed at all, he’s still the most handsome in her eyes but she noticed he has gotten more formal.

They both could not fathom the situation they’re in, all they knew was that they were melting in each other’s eyes.

***

The day they first met each other after all these years was both heavy for the both of them. It was pure silence until Liam blurted out two words that made Liz’s tears fall.

“I’m sorry.”

Liz whispered “Why?” and cried so hard.

Liam explained how immaturity filled his thoughts and made him think that their relationship won’t work. They both cried and hugged like there’s no tomorrow.

***

Few days have passed and both of them were spending the lost time they had. They were platonically dating in the arcades, libraries, and coffee shops just like the old times. They shared their laughter together and their smiles were priceless. They bonded like nothing happened between the two of them as if their hearts were not scarred in the last 7 years.

As they were drinking their lemonade at the park, they were again lost in each other’s eyes and melted in each other’s smiles.

Liam initiated to lean on Liz and the couple slowly closed their eyes as their face draw towards each other. The world stopped as they feel each other’s tender and soft lips. They felt the stars shone upon them and butterflies were no longer in their stomach but already around them.

It was a long passionate kiss and they felt the spark they have been longing for the past 7 years. Indeed, they are each other’s great love… and now each other’s true love.

That day did not change their lives forever, it’s the kiss that did.