Break Ups and Matches

A Story by Aehr

Hope you like it! :)

"You really don't need to explain anything," I said, hastily wiping the tears falling rom my eyes with my hand.

I clutched my handbag tighter, pursed my lips, and stomped down the stairs. I myself thought that the sound was like that of an approaching tornado. But my anger knew no bounds, and I just wanted to get out of there.

"But Jess...," he said, trying to find the words to explain to me what was happening back there.

"What're you going to say now, Aaron? That you're sorry for making out with another girl in your bedroom? Apology not accepted. It's over!," I said, finally turning around to face him.

He stood there speechless, still hopelessly looking for words. not that I would have believed him even if he would have found any. I turned around completely this time, squeezed my eyes shut, a few tears escaping my eyes, and spoke that difficult sentence I was dreading since weeks.

"You ruined everything, Aaron"

And I left him in his white beach shorts and that grey tee of his, which I absolutely loved on him. But not anymore. I couldn't believe that I had finally finished it off. Aaron and I were done. It was over.

Three weeks before that incident, Kylie, a nerdy girl from my English class had told me that she had seen Aaron making out with Vanessa James. But of course I didn't believe her. I didn't strangle her or even shout at her, but I just took the news in calmly and thanked her for letting me know. And three weeks after; there he was! In his bedroom kissing Vanessa James, that too after cancelling a meeting with me, saying that he had to go see his Grandma. It was a lame excuse, but I fell for it. As expected, Aaron didn't come after me. He just stood there. And I walked down home all by myself, crying all the way. I couldn't help it. Halfway home, I stopped at my eldest cousin Della's bookstore, hoping that she'll be there. Mom and my real sister Zora were out of town, and I needed someone to talk to.

I walked into the bookstore and went straight to the cash counter. She was there all right. Seeing me there in front of her, crying my eyes out, she didn't say anything but her expression suddenly changed, and she wrapped me in an enormous hug. I could tell that she could tell what had happened, just by looking at me.

"Do you have a book on breakups or anything?," I asked, grabbing a chair, trying to swallow back the rest of my tears.

"It'll fade, Jess," she assured me, patting my back.

"He was with Vanessa James. She's such a..." I could hardly get the words out of my mouth.

She did nothing. She just kept assuring me with her soft pats on my back. It was lunchtime, and there weren't that many people in the store. No one paid attention to me, anyway. I was more than grateful for that.

That moment, I heard something fall. It was like a huge box falling to the floor. And that was only because that was what it actually was. Behind Della's cash counter was the store room, where the deliveries and extra book racks were kept. I knew the whole bookstore by heart. I used to spend each day of my summers there because of my absolute passion for books. Della and I both turned our heads back. Della herself stood up, and cautiously opened the door to check what was happening. Quite reluctantly, I followed.

"Mark, is it all okay?" she said, a considerate tone in her voice.

"It's alright" he shouted back. I couldn't see him, as he was behind the box, picking up the books that had fallen on the floor. I caught a glimpse of his hands though. Almost robotically, he picked all the books up in seconds and put them back in the box. Then he stood up, dusted his jeans, and smiled apologetically at Della.

He was quite good looking. Almost 6'1, the Taylor Lautner tan on his skin, brown wavy hair with a good volume, and strong, muscular arms. He was wearing a checked, blue buttoned shirt, and jeans, a darker shade of blue. Way better looking than Aaron, I thought, taking all my frustration off. I stood there, deep in thought, not even sure about what I was thinking.

"Have you...," Mark was saying, but then he looked at me, a puzzled expression on his face. "Who're you?"

"Jessica," I replied after a sniffle.

"My sister" Della added.

"Hey where is the Meggy Cabot pile?" he asked turning his attention back to Della, still confused.

"Meg Cabot," I corrected him, almost automatically before Della could even open her mouth.

"Check the racks," she replied, and closed the door.

"Who was he?" I asked, curiously.

"Mark. The son of one of Richie's friends. He needed a job for the summer, so I volunteered," she explained.

Richard was Della's husband. They looked absolutely amazing together, and I loved the love between them.

"Forget Aaron, Jess," she said stroking my hair. "He's not worth your tears"

I nodded. "Thank God I found out early. It won't be hard to get over him after what he's done"

"Right. You're sensible enough not to sit and mourn aver it all day. At least, that was what I did after my first breakup," she said laughing over the memory.

I chuckled. "He's a jerk, and he doesn't deserve me," I concluded.

We heard another box fall in the store room. Della sighed, and her shoulders dropped. I couldn't help but laugh. wasting my tears for a jerk like Aaron was stupid. I was already half over him. He was avoiding me since the past week anyway. The connection between us was dying off anyway.

Suddenly, I saw a creepy smile play on Della's lips. Something had gotten into her. Some idea or something, I could tell.

"Jessica? You think you can do me a favour?," she asked, her smile turning into a grin. "You know the books better than anyone else around here. And Mark's an amateur. Why don't you go... help him?"

That was when it all started making sense. My own cousin was trying to set me up with someone, just an hour after my breakup.

"No Dell," I hastily argued. "Don't you think it's too early? It's just been an hour!"

"So what? If he didn't care about your feelings, and you found him making out with that other girl, then what's wrong in helping out a guy in the bookstore?" I could see she was hiding laughter. But she was right. I could just... help, right?

"He is cute, isn't he?," she hinted.

"Yes, he is," I admitted.

So, two minutes later, Della opened the door, and presented me to Mark, this time, not crying.

"Umm, Mark?," she called out to him.

He popped his head up from the side of one of the drawers, and looked up, questioning Della by raising his eyebrows.

"Jessica here would like to help you with the books. I'm sure you could do with some help right?"

Mark stood there, lost in his thoughts for a few seconds.

"I'll be honest: I need a hand," he chuckled.

"Perfect," she whispered, and closed the door.

For a moment, we just stood there staring at each other's faces. He was the ne who started the conversation.

"Oh, I'm... I'm Mark... Norris," he said, dusting his jeans with one hand, and reaching out with the other.

"Jessica Xavers," I said, shaking his hand. I was smiling for the rest of the world, but deep inside, I was grinning.

© 2013 Aehr

Author's Note

I don't know, I just wanted to write something like this. It's just a oneshot.
:P

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Reviews

Danielle

It leaves me longing for more, very nice!

Posted 11 Years Ago

Hehe:) super cute! Loved it! Thought I'd point out a few typos-
1) In the first stanza, I think you said 'rom' instead of 'from'.
2) Um..it's a rule in English that while we're writing out a direct sentence said by a person, the syntax should be as follows:
{open quotation}(Here comes your sentence)[Add any ONE punctuation mark]{close quotation}
I think you have used more than one punctuation marks in "...it's over!,"; "Umm... Mark?,";"...Can you do me a favour?," and maybe some more sentences.
You have forgotten to use a punctuation in "You ruined everything, Aaron"
:)
3) there are some places in the story where the sentence doesn't begin with a capital letter. You could try proof reading that bit out.

Hope that helps, forgive my critical side for today :P
AK