One Year of My LIfe (Part 1)

The story of one of the best years of my life.

 

So… umm… I’m not quite sure where to start.  I know, how rude of me.  Let me introduce myself; my name is Kathy. People call me Kat for short.  (All names in the story are changed for some purpose, not sure what.)  I am writing a story about the past year of my life.  It may be a bit difficult to follow, because I’m a little ADD in a sense.  Bare with me!  

 

I had just turned 18 in July, and was working at a music store in a small mall, located in a city with the population of 18,800.  The city was in the mid-west.  I had just graduated from high school and had no idea what to do with my life.  Still living at home with my parents and had no license.

 

Since it was a small mall there were relatively no customers, a slight exaggeration.  Closing was always the best.  I’d blare my music as loud as I could and walk down the hall until I couldn’t hear it anymore. 

 

There was a store across the hall that sold arts and crafts plus food and soda.  My sister and I would go over there everyday, because we were friends with the owners.  Plus, they let us have a tab that usually ran for two weeks at a time. 

 

One day I saw this man walk into their store.  I knew he worked in the mall just not where.  He was very handsome, from behind.  So I became fascinated.  What is he like?  Is he nice, funny, and or intelligent?  How old is he? What’s his name?  Does he look as good from the front as he does from the behind? 

 

So I pointed him out to Lynette one day.  She knew him, because he had gone in there a few times before.  She told me his name and which city he lived in.  The city happened to be 45 minutes away from the one I lived in.   Lynette told him that he had a secret admirer.  Apparently his face turned all red and he too was fascinated.  It got to the point where Lynette made me go talk to him.  Which I’m eternally grateful for. 

 

I nervously walked into his store.  He was the manager.  At the time he was on the phone, but told the person he had to go when I walked in.  The smart man, Chad, knew who I was.  Later he told me it was because of the way I poked my head in?  We started talking about anything and everything.  One of the first things he mentioned was that he was moving to another state on the east coast.  My heart dropped.  You could say it was love at first sight. 

 

I visited him often at work and would occasionally bring him food.  We would talk for hours.  One day I was in there talking to him when my mom came to pick me up.  I introduced them and mentioned to her that I had to close the next day.  She told me I needed to find a ride home.  I was so embarrassed, because I hadn’t yet told him that I couldn’t legally drive. 

 

The next day I went to talk to Chad, and he asked me if I had a ride home yet.  I said yes, but he wasn’t completely reliable.  He said if I needed a ride he’d give me one.  So after I closed I went up to his gate and asked if the offer was still on the table.  He said no jokingly and then said of course.  It was the best ride of my life.  He just rambled on mainly about music. It was probably because he was nervous.  When we got to my place I asked him if he wanted to see something.  He said sure so I took him down by my dock.  We talked for hours.  If he sat down I sat down.  It was one of the best days of my life.  We began to hang out more often after that.  Chad and I would go out to eat, walk around the park.  Sometimes play on the playground.  We went to the movie theatres often.  The three months before he was supposed to leave was the best time of my life.  I didn’t want it to be over and neither did he. 

 

So I moved to the east coast with him.  Initially it was just supposed to be him and his buddy Derek.  Chad asked him if it was ok if his girlfriend moved in and Derek said yeah is it ok if mine does too.  We found it funny.  I wondered what she was like and if we’d get along.  Actually the main thing I was curious about was if she was the same size as me.  So we could share clothes. 

 

We took three days to drive down there.  One was so we could spend the night at my aunts.  The other one was so we could watch a football game in the hotel.  Chad and I arrived at what we would be calling home for the next year on October 30^th, 2007. 

 

To be continued…