by Jack Parker
I shook my head at the memories, "It was so incredibly insignificant." I smiled grimly, "I feel like I matured a lot. There are parts of my personality that I don't particularly have that much… control over, like I wish I could. But at least now I feel like I understand what's really important."
I looked deep into her eyes as I spoke, "The people I have relationships with, the life I have, that's what is significant. The clothes I own, or the car I get: in the grand scheme of things, it won't mean anything to me. It's like a quick fix of satisfaction, and I no longer need that." I struggled to find the words, "I guess, what I'm saying, is my life was torn apart, but its better than it was before."
"How interesting." Her voice came out faded and pensive, Mickey seemed to be deep in thought, and didn't speak for several moments. "This is going to sound desperately unoriginal, but it's true." She smiled at me, the gleam in her eyes, "You remind me of myself. And don't think I'm only saying that, because if I didn't see myself in you I would have had you killed right after your testimony."
Her eyes hardened and I fought not to flinch under such an intense gaze. "You spited me. I gave you your life and then you aided those naïve cops that think I'll be in here longer than a couple years." She chuckled, "But it's no matter. I like you. I knew you were a feisty one when Greco tried to pick you up and you kicked him in the face. That memory still gives me joy. Unfortunately, I'm in here, and you're out there."
Mickey looked around the room, eyes lingering on the security guard, and leaned in and whispered to me, "I'll be out soon. It's only a matter of time. They need me; I told the FBI a bunch of names, and the whole drug cartel will be out of sorts. Then I'll be released, and have absolutely no competition." She laughed quietly, "I'll take it all." Pausing, she continued, "A girl with some spunk like you, we're gonna need those in this world. How do you think I control so much? You say the relationships you have with people is important, but keep them at a distance, they'll always disappoint you on a personal level."
"Sometimes it's worth the disappointment." I told her, "You run drug cartels, even though you could go to jail. It's all what you think is worth it. And for the record, you'll die alone, if you keep up your manipulating schemes. You have to have some close relationships, don't you?"
She ignored my question, "Would you want to work with me sometime?"
I was a little taken aback. "Um. No." I said, rudely.
She smirked, "Think on it. I'll need someone to inherit my position someday. I'll gladly give it you. We need more women in illegal smuggling, it's sickening how stupid men are."
I rolled my eyes at the redheaded woman, "People in general are stupid."
She laughed, "I agree."
"That's why, though," I said, "when you find one who isn't, it's actually worth your time to get to know them."
She sighed, "You haven't lived long enough to know that."
I frowned, and started to say something, but the guard walked forward. We both looked at him, his sudden movements seeming strange.
"Time's up," The guard the said sternly; his voice booming and echoing across the empty room. He walked over to Mickey, "Get up." He commanded, standing over her sitting form, looking down at her.
"I can't wait until I get out of here." She told me, being yanked up by the arm. "Come visit another time, I know I intrigue you." Mickey looked back at me, before leaving, "Oh, and tell that police officer friend of yours that I'll take the deal." She winked, "It makes no difference, I won't be here much longer."
I sat for a couple moments, a little stunned by our relatively normal conversation. No shouts, no tears, no threats? I was a bit confused, I figured there would be. I figured she would bring out the worst in me. Mickey was right though; she did intrigue me.
I walked out of the room and back to Anna, who sat at a chair, staring into the glass, where she had been watching our interview.
"What is it?" I asked her, referring to her facial expression.
Her eyes turned up to me, staring at me with inquisitive eyes. "You guys got a long pretty well."
I didn't have anything to say to that, so I stood there instead, shrugging. Mickey seemed okay. She was interesting, that's for sure.
"Hmm." She said to herself. "Are you ready to go?" She seemed to come out of the daze that she had been in.
"Very much so." I told her. Anna smiled her bright smile at me, her former dazed demeanor gone, and pulled me into her side.
"Heidi, you did it!" She glowed, "You're done."
* * *
6 Months Later
Both my parents shifted uncomfortably besides me. But most of all my mother, who hated the cold with an intense passion. She looked down longingly at the pair of boots I was wearing and then back at her thin, elasticy heels.
"I told you it was cold." I told her.
"It's freezing." She glared at the snow surrounding us, "Cold doesn't quite cover it."
"Come on, honey," My Dad tried to sooth her, "This isn't so bad, we get to have a white Christmas, and spend it with our daughter and her friends and their family."
"Why don't we just buy a house in this horrible place? Heidi spends enough time here anyways." She continued to pout.
I turned to my dad and we shared secret looks, then rolled my eyes, "Mom." I sighed, "I already told you, its my summer and winter breaks, I can do what I want with them."
"Hi!" Anna came out of the room we were staying in. It was one of the only places little Franklin had in terms of hotels or inns. Anna looked gorgeous as always, wearing a sweater that only Anna could look good in. Patrick followed suit, "I liked this place much better in the spring time." He told us, being in the same boat as my mother, a native of the Arizona climate.
Anna laughed at him and kissed his cheek, "Awww, my poor baby." He took her hand and smiled sheepishly. The looks the detective give her almost always made me jealous, they made me miss Camdon, but I was giddy, knowing that I would be seeing him shortly.
Anna and Jill became increasingly close, their personalities and sweet demeanors seemed to click, and they were often in conversation with one another. Anna is originally from Chicago, and stopped in Franklin to make sure she got to see her friend. Patrick was so in love with Anna he reminded me of a puppy dog, he adored her, and caved to whatever she asked. He's been asking me how to ask her to move in with him, and he's been nervous about it for weeks now. But he's extremely happy, because Anna wants him to meet her family, and I think when she asked him that, it made his whole year.
Although Anna and Patrick could only stay until tomorrow, we decided to celebrate Christmas Eve together, and after much begging and pleading, and some added schmoozing on Anna's part, my parents finally agreed to spend 3 days in Iowa, anything more was too much for mommy dearest, as we would 'loose an arm due to frost bite'. I was ecstatic, however, and could barely contain my joy. Dylan and Marcus came and picked us up at the airport, and I got to hang out with them for most of the day, but I had yet to see Camdon. I already faced the wrath of my father, once he found out, around the middle of summer, that Dylan wasn't actually a girl. That was slightly disastrous. But no harm done, all is well now, and he caught on that we were best friends, and completely platonic, although he still doesn't seem to approve.
My relationship with Camdon made my parents nervous. They had never met him, this would be part of the reason they agreed to come, and were more than uncomfortable with me spending so much time talking to people who I only got to see every couple months. They didn't like it at all. Sometimes, I would spend my entire weekends at my house, having skype dates with Camdon. I would be on the phone with them several times a week, and texted them if I wasn't. It made me happy, to know that we hadn't lost touch, like so many long distance relationships, friends or otherwise. These were people that meant the world to me, and there was no way I was letting them go.
I suppose it was a bit unhealthy, my senior year of high school, to spend most of my time talking to people living miles away. I d
id hang out with some of my old friends, just for the company, and made some new, but I only had a couple months left before college.
Marcus, Dylan and I had decided to attend Iowa University together, and were all waiting on our letters, which we weren't too worried about, we had the grades to get in. Camdon was waiting to see where he got the most scholarship, and was considering signing for lacrosse at Iowa, Iowa State, University of Illinois, and a small but pretty expensive private school in Colorado. He made me nervous, because even though I knew we would be important to each other forever, I wasn't sure how we would survive college if we went far away from each other. And I couldn't ask him to try and make it work, long distance for this long is hard enough. It was sad to even think about, I only wanted to be with him.
"Heidi, please hurry and get in the car, it's freezing out." We all piled into a car we rented and drove off to Camdon's. It was crazy bizarre, driving down the roads I used to run, by the school I used to go to, and finally, down my old street, passed my old house. I missed it, I missed it all dearly, but I knew at least I would be able to be with the people I loved, and my friends I missed so much, soon.
We pulled up to Camdon's house, and I was absolutely giddy. Anna turned around from the front seat to smile at me, "Are you excited?"
"What kind of question is that?" I laughed, "I can't wait to see Camdon." I turned to my mom, "You'll love him for sure, just wait and see."
Ella pulled open the front door before most of us had gotten out of the house. She sprinted out and jumped into my arms. "Hi sweetie," I whispered in her ear.
"Hi Heidi!" She whispered back, "Do you like my dress?" I set her down and she spun around for me, wearing a cute little dress with white leggings and mary janes. She was like a baby gap model, Ella was going to be five soon, and I had been trying to coax her into talking more, I felt like I was starting to make some headway.
Jill greeted me next, "Hello Heidi! Finally, you're here, I was wondering why you hadn't come by yet, I don't think you need to build up my son's frustration any longer." Heat filled my cheeks at Jill's familiar mannerisms, and I hugged her, "Oh! Where is your father? I have been reading about the correlation between this fascinating mathematical formula and success of certain type of investment businesses. It went into great detail about the way-"
I stopped her, "My parent's are right here," I turned around, "Mom! Dad!" They were by my side, instantly gravitating towards the heat from the house. "This is Jill and Ella,"
They introduced themselves before Jill spoke, "My son is helping out my husband, they're setting the table for us. Come on in."
After a wonderful dinner, and Ella opening presents, everyone was getting ready to leave, and I clutched Camdon's hand tighter than I had been already. We had never really gotten anytime to talk to each other, and it wasn't enough, I wanted to be able to kiss him and curl up against him without worrying about my parents watching. As everyone was saying their goodbyes, Camdon gave me a hug and whispered into my hear so no one would hear, "I have a present for you, meet me outside your hotel, at around midnight?" I nodded into his shoulder, before parting, and giving him a secret smile.
My parents got separate rooms for us, so I had my own room, while they shared one down the hall. I paced the room restlessly, and did everything, including recurling my hair and doing my make up, unpacking the clothes I brought, surfing the web, and watching T.V., until midnight finally came around.
I silently slipped out of my hotel room, leaning my ear against my parent's door, the lights were off, and the only noise I could hear was my dad snoring loudly. I practically ran out of the hotel lobby, where the clerk stared at me strangely, and into the parking lot, where Camdon was parking his truck.
He came out and quickly walked over to me, putting his lips on mine. Our kiss was slow and deep, and made me lose focus of everything else. I couldn't concentrate on anything but how good it felt to finally be kissing him, and I didn't want to think about anything else. I smiled into his mouth, enjoying our proper reunion.
"I missed you." He said, the air so cold you could see his breath in the air.
I put my hands on either side of his face, to try and warm his cold, red cheeks. "Missed you more."
"Not likely." He chuckled, leaning in to kiss me again. I stood on my tippy toes, meeting him half way. I lightly took his bottom lip between my teeth, and let it go, before slipping my tongue in his mouth, our kisses falling right back in sync.
He let out a satisfied sigh against me, and I laughed, breaking our kiss. "Okay, maybe you did miss me more."
"Ha ha." Camdon's cheeks got a little bit redder. He was adorable, with his self-assured smirk and blue eyes gleaming at me, I couldn't help but love this kid.
"It's cold." I told him, "Can we please go inside now?"
He laughed, "What? Forgot how to take the snow?"
"Yes." I tried pulling him towards the door but he shook his head.
"Aren't you sharing a room with Anna or something?"
I shuddered, "No. I never will never share a room with those two lovebirds. They're so sappy its gross, God knows what they get up to in the middle of the night."
After Camdon realized he wouldn't have to share my company with anyone else he was all up for going to the hotel room, and as soon as we got there I shed my layers of coats and scarves.
"Warm enough there?" He raised his eyebrows at me. I made a face at him but curled up against him as he laid down on my bed. I snuggled closer and put my head on his chest, and drew circles with my fingers on his stomach.
"I wish I could see you more." I told him quietly.
He pulled my chin up so I had to look at him and gave me a very serious stare. "I wish I could see you more too. Talking to you on the phone just isn't enough."
I nodded in agreement, my eyes starting to get teary, and I buried my head in shoulder, not wanting him to look at me while I was putting my self together.
"Hey," He said, his voice full of concern, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." I sniffled. The truth was it wasn't nothing. Sometimes it terrified me, thinking of being away from Camdon for so long. What were we going to do in college? Wherever he went, I would hope we would try and make it work, but long distance relationships were hard, and I would hate us to start slipping, the physical distance putting an actual emotional distance in our relationship.
"No," Camdon held me tight, "Tell me."
"I'm scared." I confessed. "I'm scared what will happen in the future. Because I love you so much, I can't imagine not-" I even struggled with the words, "not being with you. Or you not feeling the same way anymore, or finding someone else." I started to shake my head at my own doubts. "I just really, really, love you, and I know this can be hard, but I wanted you to know I want it to work out, somehow. In whatever way we can."
Camdon pulled us up so I was facing him, he rested his forehead on mine and soothingly ran his thumb across my cheek. "Sometimes I worry about that too," He whispered, "I wonder what the distance will do to us, or what college will be like. But I can honestly tell you that I can't imagine a future without you in it. I don't know what the next couple years will bring. I don't know if we'll meet other people, but I know we'll always have each other, in one way or another. You'll always be apart of my life."
At this, a couple tears ran down my face, "Do you mean that?"
Camdon nodded, kissing me. "I cannot even fathom what it would be like to be with someone else," He nuzzled his head into my shoulder, making me smile at the sensation, "because nothing compares to the love I have for you," Camdon kissed up my neck and finally whispered in my ear, "and they way we are with each other… It's unexplainable."
I sighed contently, hugging him tight. "I love you."
"Love you too." He smiled, "And, I have a surprise for you."
"Oh?" I raised my eyebrows at his sudden bouncy demeanor.
He hopped off the bed, and I sat a little glum, waiting for him to come back so I could hold him clos
e to me again. He went over to his jacket to fish something up, and when he pulled out a wrapped present, and turned to face me and I couldn't help but admire how adorable he looked. He was wearing a signature blue Ralph Lauren polo, and with the color popped slightly, and khaki pants; I personally thought he looked super hot. The blue in his shirt brought out his eyes, and his hair was like it always was, effortlessly tussled, messed up because I had been running my hands through it.
He walked over and playfully tackled me on the bed, and began to tickle my sides. I pushed my hands against his solid chest, and squirmed helplessly as I began laughing loudly.
