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Leaning against the fogged up window, Wynonna Edmund felt the coolness on her forehead and sighed from the wonders of the day.

 The bus tolled on for about an hour longer than Wynonna had expected, knowing that Jack Calvert would be still waiting for her; no matter what he had to do. Jack was Wynonna’s long-term boyfriend, the two of them dating since her junior year in high school. They had been friends since childhood, and Jack had a crush on Wynonna since his freshman year. It took a while before asking her out, but Wynonna thought it was worth it. She remembered when he had taken her to where they first met; at the ocean by the large boulder. 

It was their favorite place just to talk about live and how it was going for them, Jack having to deal with a lot of issues in his family most of the time. While they were talking one day, Wynonna noticed that Jack had a seashell in his strong, yet small hands. The seashell had a small piece of paper rolled up with a red ribbon tied to it, the words on the paper asking her on a date. With butterflies in her smile, Wynonna accepted. Since then, people had thought Jack and her had been a perfect couple for each other, even though they didn’t know about one of Jack’s disgusting habits; smoking.

 

 

            The sound of the bus driver’s voice made Wynonna jump, going about five inches off her seat as his hearty laugh instantly calmed her nerves down. “Thanks Joe,” Wynonna said sarcastically, her fingers clutching the bar of the bus seat in the front of her.  Joe turned around in his seat, having a small smile upon his shaved face as she hurried on off the bus. But before Wynonna’s foot got off the last step, Joe stopped her with the honking of the whiny horn on the city bus. “Have a good day, Ms. Ann…Tell Jack I said hello,” Joe said, saying a nickname that everyone called Wynonna since they were often too lazy to call her by her real name. The corners of her pink lushed lips formed into a brightening smile, her electric blue eyes staring at Joe’s earthy brown ones. “I will, Joe. I will.” Joe bowed with his Twins baseball cap, Wynonna springing off of the first step into what seemed like an infinite hole; yet it was just a tiny puddle. “Oh crud…” Wynonna mumbled under her breath, the rain drops pouring down on her head like pebbled rocks.

 

It had been raining for only a few hours, yet it felt like an eternity. Chicago was going to get rained on for two more days, knowing that anybody that wanted to sit by the waters couldn’t unless they wore a sun colored poncho that stuck out like a sore thumb.  It made Wynonna’s heart well up with some sorrow when she couldn’t sit on the bed felt sand, being like another home to her when she wasn’t really to go to her down filled apartment that had a fist sized hole in the wall from the previous owner that was a drunkard. Poking her head out of her navy blue hoodie, Wynonna saw a man about five foot nine crept up from the corner of the brick wall that was by the beach, his ravishing red hair being the only thing that kept the world from growing dark. He grinned at the sight of Wynonna, strutting up to her lazily with his white designed hoodie over his head.

“You didn’t have to wait for me, you know….” Wynonna smiled warmly, wrapping her arms around Jack’s toned waist. She could feel the strength in his arms around her waist, the protection he promised still in oath. “I know.” was Jack’s simple answer, his clean scent making Wynonna leg’s turn into silly putty. His nose brushed up against the dip of her neck, Wynonna closing her eyes shut so the moment would never pass. Taking in a deep breath to remember the scent, Wynonna titled her head over and pressed her lips gently against his. It was just a peck, so it didn’t last long. But the sparks immediately flew into the sky with both of their names written upon the invisible stars.  Breaking off the kiss, Jack seized her hand lightly and went towards the beach with the waves crashing onto the face of the sand violently.  Wynonna blinked the rainwater out of her eyes, wiping them away with the free hand that she had in her jean pocket.

They wandered over the wooden posts, not wanting to take in the danger of climbing upon the giant boulders that slept by the raging waters.  The smell of the outdoors smelt cleansed until a flicker went off, the overpowering smell of nicotine filling the air. “Jack…” Wynonna sighed in her head, pressing her lips hard as the amber glow of the cigarette brightened up at the tip. She had never said anything about her dislike for smoking to Jack, only mentioning it once a while back ago when they had first started dating. When she mentioned it that day, Jack said, “You’re not my doctor, Ann,” making Wynonna embarrassed she said a word about it.

.  She was afraid that if she said anything, then being with Jack would diminish in a split second. Licking her lips from them being capped, Wynonna leaned against the wooden post with the rain hitting down upon her head, ignoring it as she finally sat in thought about how Jack’s smoking days were going to end. She had been planning on how to approach it for about three weeks, but so far, nothing came up. The thoughts flowed through her mind and eventually into the air, Wynonna feeling the heavy burden upon he eyelids with a shade of blackness covering her ocean blue eyes.

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A sudden wave of warmth went over Wynonna’s capped lips, instantly waking her up with a growing smile painted upon her mouth.

“Jack…” Wynonna managed to say between their kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Where am I, Jack?”  Jack’s eyes wandered around, trailing back to Wynonna.

“At my place.”  Wynonna broke off the kiss for a little bit and peered around.

“Oh…. oh shoot!” Wynonna stared bug eyed at the clock on the kitchen wall, blaring the numbers eleven fifty nine at her face. “I have to be in work at nine tomorrow!” Jack plopped next to Wynonna on the seven-year-old leather couch, rubbing her shoulders to ease her stress before she could get a chance to run back home.

“Why don’t stay here for the night? Olive Garden is not that far from here. It’s about two blocks from here…don’t beat yourself over it. Everything’ll be fine. I promise.” 

Wynonna bent her head over to stare into Jack’s smoky gray eyes, remembering how breath taking they could be. “Thank you, Jack. I don’t know how I’m going to pay you back.” Wynonna said with sincerity, seeing Jack rolling his eyes at what she had just said. “You don’t have to do a thing, Ann. You don’t.” Jack gave her a serious, yet soft look, un-embracing Wynonna as he got up from the couch to go to his bedroom. “The guest bedroom is open if you want to sleep in there.” Jack pointed to the door across from the bathroom, the door having a tiny nick above the brass door.

 

 

“Ok, thanks, Jack,” Wynonna coughed out, taking a gander around the huge apartment his parents bought for him as a present for his twenty second birthday. He was looking for apartments since he wanted to move out of his friend’s complex room, which Wynonna was glad that he did. She didn’t like where he was living, being the awful parts of Chicago.  The picture of a bad thunderstorm caught Wynonna’s eye, which the weather than caught her attention. The picture look identical to how the weather was acting, a wave of sadness flowing over her heart. “I hope the weather clears up…” Wynonna whispered to herself, clutching the navy blue pillow that sat stonily upon the top of the couch as a thought about how she was going to have Jack quit his smoking was going to go into effect.

 

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The next two days in Chicago seemed to rush right past like a New York second, the rain still crying out into the streets and beaches of Chicago. Even thought the weather seemed to be dark, Wynonna was the opposite. It was the last shift for the whole day, her boss letting her go early because of the girl that had skipped Saturday night. Mark made Samantha work Wynonna’s night shift for the next two days, and the thought of leaving early lifted Wynonna’s mood even almost more than the idea that she had for her plan with Jack.

“Ann, are you sure this is going to work? I mean, what if he gets mad at you for thinking that you’ve been smoking cigarettes ?,” Janet questioned, raising an eyebrow with deep concern as she saw Wynonna slipping her arms through the arm holes of her letter jacket from where she graduated from. 

“I don’t know, Janet. I guess I’ll take whatever he gives me from there…,” Wynonna shouted over the clanking noises from the kitchen, checking to see if the Marlboro cigarettes that she had in her pocket where still in her right jacket pocket. Janet pursed her thin lips together; her black hair messed around in her sky blue eyes. She extended her hand out to touch Wynonna’s shoulder and turned her around to take a glance at her. “Call me if it doesn’t work, okay?” Wynonna nodded with re-assurance. “I promise, Janet.”  Janet let go of her friend’s rounded shoulder, hearing the boss calling out her name. “Well, I have to get back to work!” Janet said quickly, slamming her locket with such a force, that it made Wynonna almost jump out of her skin. “Ok, bye.” Wynonna whispered softly, imitating what Janet had done to her locket door as she prayed that he calculating plan would work.

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Wynonna practically leaped out of the city bus, her foot almost catching on the bottom step. “Good luck, Ms. Ann!” Joe said with his meaty thumbs up, Wynonna doing the exact same thing. “Thank Joe! I’m going to need it!” Wynonna yelled while she was running towards the brick wall, the sheet of rain swimming at the corner of her eyes. She couldn’t really see where Jack was ‘hiding’, the heavy rain making it impossible to see a thing. Jack, where are you when I need you? Wynonna thought in a rush, whipping out the Marlboro box that was protected inside her pocket. She dodged a few of the incoming raindrops that wanted to attack her, falling into the alley way with the neon green tapestry shielding their every move.

“ANN!!”  The voice made Wynonna snap her head into the direction it was coming from, the red blur sticking out of the thick sheet of rain. “JACK, I’M IN THE ALLY WAY!” Wynonna screamed, cupping her hands with the cigarette box in the pinch of her fingers. She quickly sneaked away the box into her jacket pocket when Jack arrived, a unlit cigarette in the crook of his mouth. “What up?” Jack asked in a split second, leaning against the brick wall to take a deep breath. Wynonna merely shrugged. “Not much really. I just got here.”  Jack towered over her, having a small smile upon his face. He took the cigarette out to peck Wynonna on the face, a broad smile appearing upon her lips. She pecked him back, the smell of the Axe cologne lingering on his skin with the after smell of the smoke lifting from his clothing.

 

 

Wynonna didn’t say anything as Jack lit up, cradling the Marlboro box in the corner of her hand. You can do it, Ann! You can do it…. The sentence was repeated in her head like a favorite song on the radio, slowly taking out the cancer box to show it out in the open. With the butterflies all over every inch of her skin, Wynonna held it out in the palm of her hand and took a cautious breathe.

 

“Jack, do you want these?” Wynonna nervously asked, trying to mask it with a casual tone.  A puff of white smoke blanketed a part of the air, Jack staring at the Marlboros with a hint of curiosity. “You smoke, Ann?” Jack questioned with an indigent tone, the expression on his face saying ‘are you crazy?’ Wynonna wanted to say no since she really didn’t smoke, but she shook her head. “Yeah, I do. But I don’t want them anymore…” Wynonna’s eyes fell to the floor, gulping at what Jack’s reaction was going to be. She loved him with all her heart, and didn’t want to lose him because of what she just did. But Wynonna was scared for him, seeing the doctor’s note upon the counter top about the damage to his lungs.

 “Are you sure you don’t want them, Ann?” Wynonna lifted her head up, rubbing her eyes from the tears that were welling up inside them.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Jack titled his head, finishing off what appeared to be his last cigarette since he instantly spit the one he had in his mouth out. He opened the new one up, lifting up the Marlboro cigarette into the crook of his mouth before stopping himself with a serious look written upon his face.

“If you’re going to go cold turkey, then I am too,” Jack grinned, tossing away the Marlboro box into the garbage can across from.

“I’ve wanted to quit for a while, Ann. I didn’t know how to do it, though. I thought I quit, but then they came to me.” Jack paused in the middle of the sentence, already shocking Wynonna with what he had just said to her.

 “I…I…Thanks, Ann…Thanks for saving me. ,” Jack said as he embraced Wynonna into a promising hug, the tears falling down their faces at the weather cleared up, the sun shining down on Jack and Wynonna’s shoulders. The sun had finally shown its face, the darkness of the rain disappearing for the rest of the day, and for the rest of their lives.  

Author's Note

For my Creative Writing class, I had to use three out of whatever we had to work with. I used symbolism, theme, and crud...I forgot the third thing. The rain is symbolizing Jack and his smoking habit. The sun means that Wynonna's gotten him to stop for good, which makes it a sunny day. Theme is the ocean and the brick wall (if that makes sense).
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Can you help me out with the title? I can't think of one.... and I'm sorry about the first paragraph being bold and how it seems to look weird. Writerscafe is acting weird with this story (which turned out ok...to me,anyways)

Reviews

[NCPanthersgurl]

Title wise I'm not really sure what to tell you I can barely figure out my own. >.< haha.

I think you're on the right track with this story, and I'm intrigued by where you're heading, but I really feel you're not developing your characters as well as they have the potential to be developed. That, and your descriptions of things are quick, and thrown in awkward places such as "Wynonna noticed that Jack had a seashell in his strong, yet small hands" I didn't have time to formulate any image of the character and I had his hands.

Other than that I think you're doing fine, and I've enjoyed the one or two poems I've read of yours.