Chapter 2: Nowhere

I awoke in my bed the morning after and took a deep breath in before slowly letting it go. The sun was light behind the curtains of my window and you could hear the birds chirping away at each other in an almost perpetual symphony. I lived for mornings like this: to awake to the sounds of nature, away from the sounds of anything man-made. The world was silent in its own way. I looked over at the clock: 9:04am. I got ready for the new day and then walked out the door with half a bagel in my mouth. One of my two best friends, Matt, waited for me by the nature trail known as Tryon Creek, located near Portland, Oregon which was where we lived. I met Matt on this trail a week after moving here from the big apple. Tryon Creek was a lush forest thriving with life all over: woodpeckers, beavers, bats, beautiful birds and other creatures of the earth. At the time I trailed off the path as I usually do because as beautiful as it was, I wanted to see the parts that weren't touched by man. Parts like that were serene, quiet, bliss. I turned to sit on a log after wandering about to breathe in the fresh air.

Psst.

I turned around quickly, analyzing every space between every tree in my view, trying to make somebody out but to no avail. Thinking that I was going bat-s**t crazy, I shook the idea from my mind and continued looking outward at the trees. Nearby, an owl perched on one of the branches. It hooted every few minutes so I decided to pull out my camera to take a shot. I slowly rose from the log and bent down on one knee, proposing to the idea of this shot. And just as I was about to take it…

Thump. Crack.
The owl flew away. I turned around as soon as the sound occurred and this guy stood there, brushing the remnants of bark off his jeans. He was 5'11 with a, might I say, epic beard and looked like your typical hipster, much like myself. Red and black-checkered flannel, dark blue jeans cuffed just above his mid-brown hiking boots. He looked up at me with these dark brown eyes and smiled.

"Hey, sorry about startling your owl friend. I'm Matt!"

I stared at him with disappointment.

"Hey, Matt. I'm leaving."

"Leaving? That's… an unusual name -- hey, wait up, Leaving!"

And that's how Matt and I became best friends.

He wore a big smile as I approached him.

"Good afternoon, Blackwater!"

Matt almost always called me by my last name.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Oh, you know, amazing! The sun is out, the birds are chirping, the air smells like Spring and Scarlett broke up with me!"

He continued to smile but I knew that he was distraught. It was the cheeriness in his voice that had me bewildered.

"Matt, you do realize that your world as we know it is coming to an end, right?"

"And the best remedy for a broken heart is to smile and see the positive!"

"Right. So you and I are going to head to Nowhere and you're going to spill your heart out."

Matt looked confused.

"No? You and I are going to walk this fantastic nature trail, enriched with all of this beauty and enjoy the day!"

About 15 minutes into walking the trail, he immediately turned to Nowhere which was the name we chose for the spot we first met at. I quickly followed and watched as he climbed the branches to the tree from where he psst'd me before and, I, on the dry log.

"So what happened, buddy?"

"I'll tell you what happened. I woke up to one of her text messages --"

"Oh God, she did it over texting?"

"Yes. Shall I continue?"

"You shall." I chuckled.

"Anyway, so she texted me, "We need to talk" and immediately I knew what was gonna happen. So I call her and she doesn't answer the phone. I get nervous but act all happy and s**t and tell her, "Hey love, I missed you!" And then… then it happened.""

Matt sighed. I couldn't help but feel terrible for the guy. He does the best that he could in all that he did and got the boot in the end.

"What did she say?"

He pulled out his phone and sifted through a few texts of mine before getting to hers.

"She said, "I'm not happy with you anymore. I know this comes as a surprise and, believe me, you're wonderful but -" oh, the heart-wrenching, awful 'but' " - I met someone else.""

"Holy s**t!" I couldn't help but blurt out.

"Yeah…" 

"What happened next?"

"There's nothing more to talk about. I just responded, 'Ok'.

We were silent for a while. The owl wasn't there today. Instead, a dozen or so woodpeckers scattered the scenery before us. The cool wind announced itself through the trees before touching skin. And then Matt spoke in a calmer voice.

"I loved her, Noah. God d****t, I love her and it breaks my chest. I gave everything I could and isn't that what love is about? Isn't it about free-falling into someone's heart and giving all of you? When we would argue before bed I'd make sure that she didn't sleep upset. If she seemed sad after a long day at school I'd take her out and show her how happy I was to have her.
"Matt, you loved her. You gave her everything. You went out of your way to make her happy. Did she ever do the same with you? Before you answer, think hard about it."

He did just that. A minute later, he frowned.

"You think I was the only one in love?"

"No, you weren't."

"She never loved me back."

"I believe she did. She loved you in her own way. That's the thing about love: It's never the same in any person you meet. That's why we believe in soulmates, to mask the inevitable truth that same love can't be returned. We fool ourselves into believing it can be requited. She wasn't content with you and that isn't your fault, man. You did your part. People just love differently. Some love one soul and some love many."

Matt smiled at me and said, "Blackwater, you're a walking Hallmark card."

And then we both laughed.

"I suppose."

"Let's change the subject," he said before climbing down the tree. "What's new with you?"

"I saw a girl last night --

"YOU HOOKED UP WITH SOMEONE?!"

"Touché, and no. God, is sex the first thing you think about?"

"Only if it involves you meeting a girl since you never get any."

"Shut up, dick." I smirked. "May I continue?"

"You may."

"Anyway, it was different. She was different. I didn't introduce myself and she never looked at me but her presence suffocated me and I didn't mind it."

"Holy s**t…"

"I know."

"Does she at least attend campus or work nearby?"

"I don't know. I've never seen her before in my life. She reminded me of a free- spirit."

And then Matt put his hand on my shoulder before sitting next to me.

"What happened next?"

"A drunken Alice." Matt smirked at the idea.

"Did she burp a lot while talking to you?"

"Yes!" And we both laughed loudly before I continued on.

"So I say hi back and when I turned around, the girl was gone."

"You can't just let someone like that get away, man. Go out there and find her!"

"How do you expect me to find her in a city of 500,000 people?"

"I don't know… Craigslist?" I shook my head.

"Who the hell uses Craigslist to find someone they like?"

"Hm, people who don't get any?"

I punched Matt in the arm and he fell over laughing. I liked that he never took thing like that serious.

"Well then, I guess we'll have to let fate sort this one out,” he said.

"I suppose. Anyway, let's walk this trail a bit before heading out.

"Sounds good to me!"

So we walked about two miles in before deciding to turn back. It was still pretty early out and the weather was vibrant so we called up Alice and went into the city to meet her for lunch. On the drive there, I decided to play Tom Rosenthal - "Take Care, watching as life flashed past us in the car. You could see green pastures and a blue sky. And I imagined a world where the mysterious girl was out there, twirling about and laughing that smile I swooned for. Before I knew it we were in the city and then we found Alice. She had her headphones on and her red Doc Martens and wore a black vintage-like skirt with a white shirt that said "Pizza or GTFO." Matt called her name from half a block away and I guess her music was low because her head jetted up and she smiled widely at us with excitement before quickly walking up. And by quickly I mean as quick as she could with her short legs.

"Hey, Matt! And hi, lover boy!"

Matt gave a smirk and Alice stuck her tongue out at me. I rolled my eyes at her and smirked back.

"Cheer up, Noah! So, what did you two do today? Do tell, do tell."

"Well," Matt said, "we went to Nowhere and I vented to Blackwater here about my fantastic night yesterday!"

"Oh?" Alice said.

"What Matt here means to say is that he spoke his heart out about Scarlett leaving him."

"Holy s**t!" Alice exclaimed.

"I know," Matt said, regrettably. He quickly flashed a smile and said, "I'm starving! What's on the menu today, girls?"

"Hm, we could order --"

"PIZZA!" Alice said in an enthusiastic roar, cutting me off.

"Pizza, the perfect meal for a breakup," I said, turning my head to Matt.

"Let's just hope free-spirit likes pizza too," he said.

Touché.

Reviews

[613]

The writing in this piece is spectacular. My only negative thought: Some of the dialogue comes across as TOO poetic for this. It doesn't come off as natural. Maybe reread it to see what I mean.

I am really impressed by this story! I look forward to reading future chapters.

- Brittney

[Gio S.P.]

I couldn't help but laugh loudly at how true your comment was about the dialogue being too poetic. As I wrote it, I thought, "S**t, this wouldn't sound good in a movie." LOL in any case, I will take your suggestion into deep consideration and make alterations to have them sound more natural. Thank you for this and I look forward to giving you all nothing less of a beautiful read! This Sunday, Chapter 3 will be released and I believe you'll fall in love with it. Have an amazing day!

[Tom McRoberts]

Hey, Gio.

I've read your prologue and the first two chapters of your book. Overall I think they're pretty good, and you can work them into something really special. Your descriptive prose is great. I really like how you flirt with both Romantic (genre) and modern--'epic'. If you can find some way of further blending the two you've got a style well-worth exploring more in the future.
Your dialogue needs a little work. At the moment it feels very 'functional'. Of course, it is, but the reader should never realise this, it should seem natural. It was less noticeable with Alice in Chapter 1, but quite evident in this chapter. Perhaps this could be remedied by creating detailed character portraits to refer to when you write, or simply by recording how you communicate with your friends.
I look forward to future instalments and edits, you're a good writer, Gio.