Everyone’s ears rang when they heard his name. He sat across Olivia, his girlfriend, and all he could do was curve his lips, smirk and continue eating his Subway sandwich. His best friend, Yasin, was right next to him and they looked at each other, turned, and their eyes strained with concern as they looked straight at Olivia. The two guys knew what happened, especially what happened between the couple’s relationship. She was caught flirting with another guy.
Every couple has fought temptation at one point. Surprisingly, he fought it, but all hope failed when he saw it happened twice to him. She was the first girl to have ever lasted this long with him. Her name is Olivia. She put up with his bullshit and her love for him hasn’t died…yet. This is my point of view of my current relationship, from the beginning to now and hopefully continuing to the future.
My name is Aiden. I won’t deny one fact, I am not a heartbreaker. This is my oath to you. I have no intentions on hurting you, but only say the truth. Ever heard the phrase, the truth hurts? Reality is a daunting and hurtful world. Without the truth, there would be no fantasy. With imagination, it is our escape from our fears and conflicts. I don’t like to see others cry or “be brave” because no one is trustworthy enough or you’re not comfortable to speak with others. I enjoy having meaningful conversations. The kind that make you want to reach a hand or shoulder. I like that. To sit and talk and help. I’m a caring person. I won’t deny, I am stubborn and hardheaded. I’m the youngest in my family and it’s hard to change one’s habit. Everyone calls me a flirt and a jerk. How does a flirt dress? I’m being a jerk for being me? In all honesty, I enjoy wearing Nikes and Jordans. I wear skinny jeans with any kind of sweater or button downs. I care about how I look because we live in a fucked up society. Everyone says, don’t judge a book by its cover, yet appearances are everything and so are first impressions. I see life as it is. I don’t know if there is a higher authority than me.
Then, all that changed when it was October 2009.
It was during the beginning of my junior year. Laying on my king sized bed, I was covered in my dark red velvet blanket. My room looked as if a tornado came. Piles of clothes were everywhere and I was extremely lazy to sort it out. It’s 11 o’ clock in the morning and my phone is buzzing. Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz.
“Ughhh, it’s so early in the morning. Who is calling me?” Scratching my head, I reached for my phone and saw that it was a number I didn’t know. Sitting up straight on my bed, I clicked.
“Hello, whose this?” With my morning voice, I strained myself to be awake.
“You’re still at home?! Come here! We need a fourth person!” yelled Lillian.
Slumping in my bed, I mumbled, “Yea, yea. Okay.”
Shutting off my phone, I took my red covers and pulled it over my messy hair. Whose number was that? Why wasn’t Lillian using her phone? Who was she with? I reached for my phone and looked at the number. It was someone I didn’t know.
The phone rang again.
“Aiden, are you coming or not? I’m with Olivia right now and we’re just chilling waiting for Charlotte. Today is Nikita’s birthday, but she’s sick, so now it’s just us three and we need to make it four people.”
I looked at the clock again in my cellphone and it was 11:10.
“Alright, I’m getting up right now. I’ll be there at like 12:30. Is that fine?”
“Yea, Olivia has to leave early, so come!” She practically yells and wants me there.
I walk to my bathroom and my house is a mess. Toys are everywhere and you can practically see it everywhere. There are dolls on the floor, toy cars with broken wheels, paper airplanes, baby socks, food wrappers on the floor. If you look at my dining table, there’s boxes of cereal, a glass with orange soda in it, plates with takeout orders, and two big laptops. My couch is filled with blankets and within the blanket, it has clothes. Kicking a toy car, I rush to the bathroom.
After I take my shower, I go to my room and opened my closet. A bunch of clothes just fell on me, greaaatttt. It wasn’t that cold, so I wore my light fall jacket and I’m off to go.
Taking the J train, I sit and look at the number.
“Olivia, Olivia, who is she?” I muttered to myself as I looked on my phone’s screen to see if I knew this person. I found a seat and I walk quickly to it. Some lady beat me to it. Last night was horrible. I played basketball with the guys and stayed out with Lillian, Charlotte, David, and Mark until 6:30 PM. We all went to McDonalds, but I didn’t eat because I dislike McDonalds. I ended up coming home to an empty house. My sister was out with my niece and my mom was probably out gambling in Atlantic City. By 3 in the morning, I go to my cousin’s house upstairs and ended up eating with them. I am so tired and I’m off to go meet up with Lillian, Charlotte, and Olivia.
As I arrived to my destination, it was some Japanese festival. All I see if short people walking around with cameras. I call back Ms. Olivia’s number, and she picked up.
“Hello, where are you guys?”
“Hi Aiden, we’re at the concert. Just walk straight and then you’re going to pass a weird balloon that has a man shaking his hands. Turn left when you see him and you’ll see us sitting by the right.” It was a cute high pitched voice that somehow made my head wants to know this girl.
Walking straight to the gates, there was food. It smelled of so many spices. Teriyaki sauce, noodles, dumplings, sushi, and even sweet bakery goods made my tummy growl. Rows of tables were set. Little “stores” were side by side and people were cooking. Little kids were busy playing with airplanes while the parents were busy cooking for their customers. There was a stand with a bright neon red banner. A man in a chef outfit shuffling his spatula in a huge pan. The fire was set on high and you could see the steam and hear the hissing sound as he cooked. No one was near his stand. It smelled delicious, whatever he was cooking. My tummy was hungry and I fastened my footsteps, looking to see if anyone would notice the good food he was cooking.
I walked towards the concert with two black plastic bags of food, one on each hand. I looked for Lillian and Charlotte. Lillian was dancing in her seat, doing some weird wave move in the air and her hair was spinning. Charlotte always had her hair up half way and I walked towards them.
“You finally camee!” screamed Lillian. She smiled and her all her teeth showed. Gosh, she is so cute. She wore a yellow sundress that complemented her skin. Her luscious wavy brown hair cascaded down to her belly and her smile reminded me of a little Chinese porcelain doll. I gave her a hug and she smelled like roses. I got a bit woozy for a second and she let go.
“Dummy, why did you take so long to come here? It’s not 12:30. It’s 1:15 PM.” Charlotte eyed me and saw my bags. “Oh my god, Aiden got so much food! Hmmm,” she turned around and winked at a girl sitting right in between them two. I sat down next to Charlotte. The white seat was cold and there were many people sitting, eating and watching the concert. I looked towards Lillian and she was whispering to the girl. The girl was light skinned. She was tiny, like extremely tiny and her hair was hiding in her brown hoodie. They both giggled as I scarfed down the noodles in my mouth. Charlotte was focused on the concert. The girl looked my way and her eyes looked up and down as if she was judging me. Lillian was looking at me, but she was in her world. She was daydreaming. The girl turned around and poked Lillian’s stomach. Lillian jumped and I looked away smiling. As I watched the concert, Lillian and the girl laughed and giggled as they passed secrets to each other. Charlotte was sucked into the concert, watching five boys breakdancing. She was glued to them and they were shirtless, so she was in her own world.
It was 3:30 PM and we all left. Charlotte had her mom picking her up, so we waited for her to get home safely. And then, there were three. Lillian was beside the girl and they were just in their conversation. I thought to myself, looking at the floor, Why am I needed if it was going to be like this?
Lillian pulled me out of my thoughts as she yelled out to me.
“Dummy! Are you done walking by yourself?” They were both way ahead of me. Lillian had her hands by her hips and she was waiting for me to catch up to them. The girl was on the phone. Walking up to them, the girl was done with her conversation.
“Aiden, this is Olivia. She’s another friend of mine.” She pointed to Olivia and she looked up to me. Olivia, she looked familiar.
“Hi, Olivia,” I half grinned smiled at her and she looked away. That was a first. Normally girls would blush at my half smile. I stepped forward and held my hands out. She walked into my hug. She smelled like Victoria Secret’s perfume. It was just enough. She pulled back and softly said, “Hi Aiden, nice to meet you.”
Olivia looked at Lillian and gave her a blank stare. Lillian turned around and walked forward. What was that about? Olivia walked faster and grabbed Lillian’s arm. I was left alone in the back. We entered the train station and swiped our metrocards.
“The next stop is 74th Jackson Heights – Roosevelt Avenue…” said the train conductor.
Olivia turned around and looked at Lillian.
“Time for me to leave you guys alone.” She winked at Lillian, turned to the window and went back on her phone. Lillian ignored Olivia and continued to talk to me. What did Olivia mean by that? Did she know we almost had something?
The train was speeding fast and it was almost her stop and Olivia took off her hoodie and wore a different top. It was a light pink V cut shirt. She wore a black tank under her hoodie. Her black hair was wavy, yet straight. She was petite yet slender. I couldn’t stop staring at her, in fact, everyone on the train stared. Before the train stopped, she fixed herself and put some lip butter. I couldn’t help but notice her lips, her hair, and her eyes. The sun hit her eyes. They were grey with a mix of brown. She got up and I smelled the perfume that was lightly sprayed. The train doors opened, Lillian hugged her and she waved goodbye to me. The train doors closed and all I could think about was her. It took me 15 seconds and I blinked uncontrollably to get back to reality.
“Earth to Aiden… Are you okay?” Lillian was waving her hand in front of my face.
“Oh yea. I’m fine,” I exhaled and looked to Lillian. “Who is she?”
Lillian slyly smiled and I glanced at her. Why was she slyly smiling?