A Glimpse to Regret

The scent of love can linger in someone's mind for what seems to be a lifetime.

It was not until I came to campus of IUK, or Indiana University of Kokomo, that I had realized stories like Serendipity are merely pixie dust captured from the wind. It was towards the end of summer right before the fall semester would begin. I was a returning 2^nd year Literature major, so how was I weathered enough to be so optimistic about such an overwhelming feeling you may ask? Well, it’s not really relevant to my story here so I will venture back on track.

            The night was cozy with humidity, and the stars had beaten the city pollution for the sky. I was sitting on the front steps of my apartment smoking a cigarette thinking about anything that was and could have been. They say smoking shortens your life span, but if you ask me the years it takes from me it gives back more meaningful moments to my short life.

            Then out of the blue, at 2 in the morning, Barry calls me and begs me to meet him at the bar a couple blocks down. Barry is my roommate whom I share this already small apartment with, but he mostly stayed at his girlfriend’s place on most nights. So I said why the hell not. I could use a brisk walk to clear my head anyway.

            When I walked through the doors, I had realized Barry was already here. This might sound normal for the person who is the inviter to be the first to arrive, but Barry was a Jack of a different suit. Therefore, consistently, without fail, was always late. I was pleased to see he had already gotten the first round. Nothing was better than free suds.

“So what’s the matter Barry?”

            He looked up at me and took a quick gulp of his stout. “What? Can’t a guy buy his friend a beer?”

“Nothing wrong with that. I was referring to you un-Barry like behavior tonight. Plus, where is Kate anyway?”

“It’s over man. Love is never how they describe it, you know? Everything starts great, and you finally can get comfortable. Then like that life will take a big dump on you.”

“At least you felt love long enough to become heartbroken from it. A loss of love can only leave with despair, or even worse regret.” I commented feeling the mixture of suds and smoke beginning to conjure up repressed memories.

“What do you know about love, Casey? You look like you wouldn’t know love if it punched you in the face.”

I was a bit amazed at my friend’s comment, so to say the least I just let it out. “Love has been crueler to me than it has ever been to the likes of you Barry Boy. At least you got a taste of it, the purest love I have ever encountered was the scent of it. The haunting aroma of belief of someone better than yourself. It was the second semester of freshman writing, and there was this stunning red head who sat on the other side of the computers from me. Since that first day I had always been amazed by her subtle features. She had this collection of scarlet silk, which she always kept tied up in one way or another. Usually I would be disappointed by this, but this only magnified her shy personality. It was not until we were paired up for a peer review that I recovered more. At a closer glance I realized she had an arctic ocean tucked in the center of her eyes. She wore these big open frames so she could see properly, but I like to think they were to protect my sight from their radiance. She was shy at first, but once we got to work on our projects and she suddenly became so outspoken. I love a girl who is passionate about their art. We would only talk for minutes at a time, but I felt like it could go for hours. I could give up a few more hours for just a few more moment with this girl.”

I could tell a sudden change in Barry’s facial expression. I had him hooked, and even better, not thinking about Kate. Then he leaned in eagerly, “so what happened?”

I took a long hit from my cigarette, and sighed. “I waited too long dear friend. I waited all the way to the last day of classes to decide to ask her out. The day was so pristine for the chance too. We all turned in our final papers, and were free to go right then. I was packing my bag up, and glancing over at her. The sun splashing off of her crimson cloak. Then she started out the door, and I quickly followed. When I caught up to her, I yelled, ‘hey Jessica!” When she turned around with this look of confused happiness. My own fears got the best of me in the end I am afraid, and that moment has haunted me forever.”

Since I had been looking into my glass throughout the majority of my second act, I had not realized Barry wasn’t paying attention anymore.

I shoved him, and yelled, “Are you even paying attention? Here I am pouring and…”

He interrupted me, and said, “Shut up.”

“What?”

“I said shut up, or you might not get your second chance. You said she had red hair with big glasses right?”

“Yeah, but what does that have…” Then I turned around to see what he had been gawking at all this time. My ruby fantasy had returned to me.

Reviews

[AshlynnStyx]

I love your detail and just your writing in general. Its clean and fluid. Refreshing really.