The Rescue: Chapter Two

This is my first draft, so please excuse grammatical errors or plot holes.

Nathan

I didn’t know a lot of Florence Garcia, but one thing I did know was: she was an enigma. It only took those few minutes I spent with her to ignite curiosity. There was so much more I wanted to know about her: what she liked, what she disliked, her fears, her favorites, why she didn’t trust easily, and why someone as exquisite like her would end up with a guy like Asher Samuels.

My mind was going crazy from all the thinking I’ve done since the night I met her. It’s been four days, and I already wanted to see her again. What the hell was wrong with me?

       I swore myself that I would not never let a woman hurt me again, meaning I’d never fall in love again. Never again. My heart wouldn’t be able to take it again. As of today, I’m still picking up the pieces Brooke broke. Nathan, stop it. This is ridiculous. You can’t be crushing so soon. You just met the girl and you barely know her.

Getting off my bed, I made my way to the living room where my roommates, Jaxon and Paul were eating breakfast and watching television.

“Morning,” I managed to say before a big yawn exploded.

“What’s wrong with you?” asked Jaxon.

“Why would there be something wrong with me?”

“You look like s**t, Nate. C’mon, I know you better than you think.”

I hissed, not believing that was true. I doubt he’d know me as well as he think he did. Jaxon and I haven’t been friends for very long; 23 months to be exact. On the other hand, I’ve known Paul since high school.

“It’s girl trouble, isn’t it?” Paul butted in.

“For the billionth time, I’m not interested in dating girls - and that doesn’t mean I’m gay. It just means after what happened with Brooke I don’t want to put myself out there when it comes to woman. I want to be single.” I explained, my tone coming out stronger than intended.

“Nate, you sure you’re not a girl?” Jaxon and Paul chuckled. “You sure as hell are acting like a girl on her period.”

“F--- you, both.” My middle finger.

That didn’t stop them from giggling like little kids, it worsened their giggles. Not wanting to start anything, I walked away, ignoring them. Breakfast was more important than listening to them. Neither of them cared they were acted like a******s since they continued watching whatever they were watching on tv. I, on the other hand, began to prepare the ingredients and tools needed to make healthy whole wheat oatmeal pancakes.

With a cup of strong coffee, I ate my soft, thick, moist pancakes. Not only were they healthy but they were really, really good.

My bag was packed for the gym. It was a habit of mine to at least go four times a week.

“Bye.” The guys called out. I didn’t reply. Sometimes they pissed me off because of their level of maturity. They could very mature some days and other days very immature.

Back at the gym, as I was making my way into the gym, a acquaintance, Kaleb, was entering too.

“Hey! Nate! How are you?”

“Alright. How about you?” I politely stated, holding the door for him and the upcoming customers. Most of the time I would try to avoid Kaleb simply because he has a talking problem and my time would be wasted on listening to him.

“Listen, Kaleb, I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m on a tight schedule. I need to complete my workout.”

“I understand!” He stated, before going our separate ways. He headed downstairs where the pool was located. There was three floors. The middle floor - where I was at- had the treadmills, bikes, etc and the third floor had the all the lifting equipment.

My workout routine was as followed: stretch for ten minutes, warm-up on bike for twenty, treadmill for forty minutes, and lastly, do a little bit of lifting. Usually during workout, I listen to music.

An hour later, I was sweaty, stinky and mentally and physically drained. As I was beginning to leave the gym, someone I haven’t seen in over a year and a half reappeared.  Brooke Gaines. She was laughing and holding hands with Wesley Ian. Their laughter vanished when they noticed me gawking.

“I’ll leave the two of you alone, “ Wesley spoke, shyly. He made a left to the elevator to head to the pool.

“It’s so good to see you, Nate. How’ve you been?” She asked, not having in mind of all the pain she’s caused me. How can she act like everything’s fine between us? Clearly we’re not fine!

In my most polite tone I have, I voiced,“Don’t act like you care about my feelings. You didn’t care a year and a half ago, you don’t care now.”

“Please, Nate, it’s been almost two years since it happened. Can’t we just move on and try acting civilized, like two mature adults?”

Half the time, exes won’t get along (very rare). For me, I’ll never be friends with the woman who broke my heart. Call me immature or whatever, but I just can’t. When I see her or hear about her, a flashback from the worst-day-that-was-supposed-to-be-the-best-day-of-our-lives comes back to me.

“I’m not saying this in a rude manner, but I don’t see myself being friends with you. I’m sorry.” It was the truth. “I forgive you - I genuinely mean it- but I'll never forget about that day and what you said.”

Being resentful wasn't going to take me anywhere. Life went on with our without her. It was time I focused on my life without her.

“For your information, Nathan, Wesley and I are not a thing. I'm incapable of doing that to you.”

That was the last words I heard from her as I was leaving.

*****

Back at the apartment, Jaxon was eating when I walked in. The first he said before I even managed to get settled was, “I'm sorry about this morning. We were acting so immature. We need to respect your privacy.”

Taking a seat next to him, I responded, “No, I was being an a*s. I don't know what was wrong with me. You guys were right. I met a girl last night.”

“If you want to talk about it, talk about it, if you don't, don't.”

I sighed. “I was on my usually late night run when all of a sudden I noticed a girl running for her life. Her boyfriend was after her. Her name’s Florence Garcia. When I offered to take her to the station, she denied thinking I was a murderer. I barely know, but somehow I feel intrigued. She seemed fragile and I noticed how she must have been through something very painful because she is afraid to trust, she looked sad.”

“As your roommate and friend, let me advise you to be careful. Be careful with your heart. Don’t just give it any person; make sure to give it to someone who will correspond you, who will take care of it and not break it.”

He’s crazy for thinking I’m developing feelings for this woman. I met yesterday, and it’s most likely I’ll never see her again. All I claimed was I felt an attraction. Nothing more, nothing less. My life as a police officer was busy and complicated enough.

*****

Unexpected visitors showed up at my apartment in the evening: my lovely family. All of five of them. Mother, father, Carlee, and Lucy.

“To what I do owe this visit?”

“Dude,” Carlee rolled her eyes, “can’t your family come to visit for no reason whatsoever?”

“They at least should call to make I didn’t make any plans.” I pointed out. “If you didn’t know, I do have a life.”

Lucy butted in.“Not right now because you’re not working.”

All because of my concussion from that psycho criminal. We had arrived to his whereabouts and something must made him aware of our appearance (we tried not to make ourselves noticeable) because as I was searching the house, he came out of nowhere and attacked me. My head hit the wall and within hours I had symptoms of a concussion. That happened almost two weeks ago and I haven’t been cleared by the doctor. Until it happens, I can’t return to work.

“How are you feeling, Nate?” Mom hugged me and kissed me on the cheeks.

“Same old same old, I guess.”

“Have you been cleared yet?” Dad asked.

“Nope.”

We took a seat in the living room. I offered them drinks and snacks. I hadn’t seen them in a week or  so I recapped my life for them, minus yesterday. Brooke was mentioned in the recap. Lucy didn’t waste an opportunity to call her b----.

My mother being against swearing, scowled, “Lucy! That’s no way a woman should speak!”

“I’m sorry, but she is one for what she did to my brother.”

“Okay, let’s not talk about her anymore. She’s my past, not my future.” Part of moving on was not to dwell on the past. It would bring no good. Another chapter of my life ended and a new one would start.

October 31st, 2015, I decided was the day to propose to my longtime girlfriend. The proposal had been planned for months in advance. On February 14th, 2015, I knew she was the one and it was her I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. It took 8 months to plan and figure out when would be the right month to propose. Knowing Halloween was one of her favorite holidays, that day ended up being the winner. To make it memorable, I asked one of my closest girl friends - who happened to be close friends with Brooke- to host a Halloween party, where costumes were required. The good friend she was she made it happen. The hardest part of the planning was finding the perfect ring. She wasn’t much of a jewelry person, so this ring had to blow her mind and make her want to wear every single day. With the help of her brother and father, we found the perfect ring: a halo diamond with 18kt white gold and it had a center cushion stone. After finding the ring, all I knew was to write my speech, which took a while, not because I didn’t know what to say about her but because it was hard writing down how you felt about someone. The days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Before I know it was the day that was going to change our lives. My costume was Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Her costume involving the Roaring 20s. When it came to propose, I wasn’t feeling anxious; I was more excited. Like most proposals, I blabbered on about how much I loved her and our past. I asked the question. She was surprised to see the least. Shattering my heart, she answered, “Nathan, I’m sorry, but I can’t marry you.” She ran away, leaving me still in one knee with my jaw dropped and wide open.

“Earth to Nate.” Lucy snapped, bringing my back to the present.

“Did you hear what I said, honey?”

“No, sorry mom. Can you please repeat it?”

“Don’t say anything to him. He’s not ready.” Dad lectured mom.

“Just tell me, and I’ll decide.”

“Your mother wants to set you up with her friend’s daughter.”

“Fine.” I said, determined to possibly opening myself to love. I had said I wasn’t looking for relationships right now, but what the heck. One date wouldn’t kill me.

“Really?” Mom asked, surprised. I nodded.

“Who’s the friend?”

“She’s a longtime friend of mine. We met during the middle of college at UIUC. She has two adoptive kids: a daughter and a son. Her and her husband couldn’t have children, and one day after a tragedy occurred and these two pair of fraternal twins were orphans. It’s so sad what happened.” She said no more, wanting it to be surprise for our maybe date. She’d have to ask her friend whether her daughter would agree to go out with me.

This was the beginning of a new chapter. A chapter I was very excited for.