Broken Glass

by Tabitha Freeman

  Since Emily’s brother, Jeremy wouldn’t be home from work for another two hours, we decided to just chill out and popped in a movie. Emily and Jake sat close on the sofa, Cassie was upstairs in Emily’s room talking on her cell phone to her boyfriend, Trevor, and Grant was also upstairs, in the kitchen, getting something to eat. This left some quality, get-to-know-you time with Tyson to take advantage of. After I’d put the movie in, I went and sat down beside Tyson on the floor. I pretended to focus on the movie and nervously kneaded my fingers through the plush white carpet beneath me.

  “Are you spending the night with Emily, too?” Tyson spoke up suddenly.

  “No,” I replied, looking over at him. “I live across the street, so I’ll just walk home.”

  “I think they’re into each other,” Tyson murmured, nodding to Emily and Jake, who were now in the middle of a tickle war.

  “Just maybe,” I said, chuckling. I quit playing with the carpet and relaxed a little.

  “Do you have a boyfriend?” he asked me then. I shook my head, butterflies rapidly fluttering in my stomach. No, it was bigger than butterflies. Bats, maybe.

  “Do you?” I asked him.

  “Nah, I don’t have a boyfriend,” he answered and I giggled.

  “Just kidding,” he said. “I don’t have a girlfriend. I recently broke a girl’s heart—you might’ve heard of her…Britney Spears?” I laughed loudly. He smiled.

  “Yeah, and now she’s a big, famous pop singer,” he went on, shaking his head. “Damn the bad luck.”

  “You’re so funny,” I told him. “You crack me up.”

  “Thanks,” he said. “You’re pretty funny yourself, you know.”

  I just smiled and looked back at the TV, trying to figure out what to say next, so as to keep the conversation going.

  “Do you like it here in Virginia?” I asked him abruptly then.

  “It’s all right, I guess,” he replied. “I like it better in the city, to be honest. But I want to see my mom and my sister before I graduate.”

  “Did you not see them a lot before?” I asked.

  “Only every other holiday,” he told me. “My mom and me…we don’t really get along, so I didn’t come down to visit as much as I could have. And Laura and my dad don’t get along that well, so it was the same way with her.”

  “That sucks,” I said.

  “Are your parents still together?” he asked me.

  “My dad died when I was seven,” I told him. “So it’s just me and my mom.”

  “Oh, that’s sad,” he said, frowning. “How did he die?”

  “Cancer,” I replied quietly. “It was really tough for my mom. Sometimes I think she’s still trying to get past it.”

  “It’s got to be the hardest thing in the world losing someone you love like that,” Tyson said.

  “Yeah,” I sighed. Back to playing with the carpet. “My mom’s changed a lot since then. She’s really quiet now…she used to be lively, outgoing, always out and about and on the go. She refuses to date anyone or meet new people or…just be happy, I guess. But she’s one of those people that believe you only have one soulmate and that you only love deeply once.”

  “Do you believe that, too?”

  I looked up at him, surprised by his question, and our eyes locked.

  “I don’t know what I believe,” I replied. “I-I guess I’m not really sure if there is one definite person put on this earth for us. Sometimes I find myself wishing there wasn’t so my mom could be happy again.”

  “My mom remarried but my dad didn’t,” Tyson said. “So I wonder if they just messed up—if the guy my mom is with now is her soulmate and my dad just hasn’t found his.” I shrugged.

  “Love is so confusing, you know?” I said then. “It seems to me like sometimes it causes a lot more mess than actual good.”

  “Have you been in love before?” he asked me.

  “No,” I admitted. “Have you?”

  “Yes,” he said, his voice low. “But it wasn’t that ‘it’ kind of love, I don’t think. The kind of love where you go, ‘Holy cow, that’s forever.’ I haven’t found my forever yet, I guess.”

  “Me, either. I don’t want to fall in love with a lot of guys, though,” I said. “To me, that just seems like a waste of time if he’s not the One, you know?” Tyson shrugged.

  “You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince,” he replied, smiling. I laughed.

  “That was so cliché!” I taunted.

  “It’s true, though,” he defended.

  “Well, I want to skip the frogs,” I said flatly. He laughed.

  “Have you ever been to Luna Moon?” he asked me suddenly.

  “Yeah, once or twice,” I replied, taken off guard by the sudden change in subject. “Why?”

  “There’s a really awesome band playing there this Saturday night,” he said, and he paused. “You should come.”

  “Maybe I will,” I said, smiling. The bats in my stomach were turning into eagles now.

  “Awesome,” he replied, smiling as well, relief in his eyes. “Um, I can’t remember what time they’re playing…I could call you and let you know…” Was this a subtle way of asking for my number?

  “That’d be great,” I said, not caring how subtle he was trying to be. He’d just asked for my number. He’d just asked for my number! So I gave it to him and he put it in his cell phone so he wouldn’t lose it. We talked then for another minute about cell phones, and then I told him I needed to get home.

  “So soon?” Emily asked me, as I got up and said my goodbyes.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I have some studying to do for a Calculus exam tomorrow.”

  “All right, I’ll see you in the morning, then,” she said.

  “I’ll walk you,” Tyson said and we walked upstairs and outside together.

  It was a gorgeous night. Freezing, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the stars seemed brighter than ever. Our footsteps echoed loudly through the night as we walked across the street. I began to think it was so gorgeous to me because I was out there with Tyson.

  “Winter in Virginia is so cold,” I mumbled, my teeth chattering.

  “Yeah, it is cold,” Tyson agreed, sticking his hands in the pockets of his puffy green coat. “But at least you’re not getting freezing rain or slushy snow. That’s what I had to look forward to every winter in Seattle.”

  “Ugh,” I wrinkled my nose.

  “Tell me about it,” he said. “And the cold weather was always really bad on my amps because I had to keep them in the garage because my room wasn’t big enough.”

  “Amps?” I questioned. “You play guitar?”

  “Yeah, I had a band,” he said. “I miss that. No one here seems to be musically inclined.” I laughed.

  “Did you sing?” I asked him.

  “Oh definitely,” he said, smiling. “Singing, writing, and playing—that’s my magic.”

  “I’d like to hear that sometime,” I said quietly, my eyes meeting his. I couldn’t believe myself. Had I really just been that forward?

  “I’d definitely like you to,” was his reply. Yes, I’d just been that forward and it’d paid off.

  “Uh, well, this is my house,” I said, then, as we stood in my driveway.

  “That was quick.”

  “Yeah, only ten quick steps to my front yard.”

  “Um…well, then, I guess I’ll give you a call about that show at Luna Moon?”

  “That’d be terrific.”

  “Okay, I’ll see ya,” he said. “I’m freezing my butt off, so I better go back inside.”

  “See ya,” I said, laughing and running up to my front door. I stood there and watched him run back across the street to Emily’s house.

  That was my first night of falling in love with Tyson Andrews.

  2.

  “He asked for your number!” Cassie squealed the next day as we sat at the lunch table in the Marcher High School Cafeteria.

  Once again, I was trying t
o play it cool.

  “It’s no big deal,” I told her, in an overly nonchalant tone.

  “No big deal?” Cassie laughed. “Ava, it’s a huge deal! Quit trying to act like you don’t care. You know you were eyeing him last night like a hawk.”

  “Well, when you put it that way, I only sound like a psychotic stalker,” I replied, taking a bite out of my lunchroom processed chicken sandwich. “So, thanks for that, Cass.”

  She got a fit of the giggles then and nearly spewed the gulp of water she’d just taken.

  “Good afternoon, ladies!” Emily greeted, sitting down at our table next to me. She looked at Cassie, who’d just dribbled some water down her chin.

  “Are we not domesticated and housebroken quite yet?” Emily murmured to me. I cracked up and Cassie threw a fry at her.

  “Shut up!” she exclaimed. “I’m totally housebroken! Ava just has her moments.”

  “Don’t I know,” Emily rolled her eyes and began pouring ranch dressing all over the salad on the tray in front of her. “So, what are our plans for tonight?”

  “You tell me,” I replied. “I figured you’d be spending the evening with your new beau.” Emily glanced over at me quickly.

  “You mean, Jake?” she asked, a smile forming in the corners of her mouth.

  “You know who she’s talking about,” Cassie said. “Good grief, you two were playing tonsil hockey like professionals until your brother got home last night.”

  I looked at Emily, my mouth dropping open.

  “Emily!” I gasped.

  “Oh, you’re one to talk, Ava!” Emily rebounded. “You were all over Tyson Andrews last night.” I turned back to my chicken sandwich, blushing slightly.

  “He asked for her number,” Cassie told Emily. Emily smirked at me.

  “Nice,” she commented. “So, has he called yet?”

  “Nope,” I replied, not looking at either of them. “He just got my number before I left last night, so I’m not expecting anything.”

  “Three day rule,” Emily pointed out. “He can’t call you for the first three days of having your number without seeming desperate or psycho. Guys live by that rule.”

  “How do you know?” I asked. “Oh, wait, you’ve dated every guy in Marcher, Constantine, Locust Grove, and Hartville. Of course you would know.”

  “Don’t forget the entire male inhabitance of West Virginia,” Cassie added.

  “All right, all right!” Emily laughed. “If you’re done labeling me as Marcher’s biggest call-girl, what I was trying to say was that he’ll call you, Ava. Just don’t expect it today.”

  “I don’t know about that three day rule with Tyson, though,” Cassie argued. “The reason for getting Ava’s number was so he could call her when he found out what time this band is playing at Luna Moon tomorrow night.”

  Emily smiled at me.

  “Well then, the three day rule might just have to slide this time,” she said. “He’s a looker, Ava. Hats off to you.”

  At nine that night, Tyson called me. At first, he was ‘a man on a mission’, calling just to inform me of the time of the show at Luna Moon on Saturday night and to ask if I thought it would be okay if he picked me up in his El Camino so we could go together. After I accepted, he relaxed and we talked for the next two hours.

  He picked me up at five-thirty Saturday evening. Jake and Emily were coming, too, but they were meeting us at Luna Moon at seven. When Tyson arrived at my house, I was still getting ready.

  “Ava!” My mom yelled up the stairs to my room. “Your date’s here!”

  Suddenly I felt sick. I was sure I was going to blow chunks.

  No, no, no! my mind screamed. You aren’t going to do any such thing! Finish getting dressed and go downstairs. You can do this!

  “Great,” I muttered aloud then. “I’m my own personal motivational speaker.”

  “Let him in, Mom!” I yelled back down to her. “I’ll just be five more minutes!”

  I heard my mother let him inside and he immediately started a conversation with her. I finished getting dressed, grabbed my jacket and went downstairs.

  I walked into the living room where Tyson sat on the couch across the room from where my mother sat on the recliner. Things looked to be okay. He was being so polite and charming and I saw approval on my mother’s face—something I didn’t see often when it came to my near-desolate dating world.

  When I entered the room, Tyson stood up and smiled, and with the risk of sounding utterly corny, he took my breath away in just in khaki pants, a t-shirt with a hamburger on the front of it, and those same blue sneakers.

  We left my house then and the confirmation that this was an actual ‘date’ came when we stopped by McDonald’s on the way to Luna Moon—and Tyson paid not only for his own value meal, but also for my chicken nuggets and diet coke.

  When we got to Luna Moon after our very posh dining out, it was packed. But somehow, Tyson and I managed to push through the horde of people at the front door to find Emily and Jake. Luna Moon was a café-type place with a small stage in the front of the building for performances, and a bunch of round tables facing that stage. There was a patio, as well, for people who liked to eat under the stars, and all in all, it’s quite a happening place to be in the likes of such a small town as Constantine, Virginia.

  Luckily, we spotted Emily and Jake as soon as we got inside, and they’d saved us seats at a table in the back.

  When the lights went out and the show started, Tyson and I didn’t stay seated long. We really got into the music and in the middle of the second song, Tyson grabbed my hand and led me to the front so we could ‘mosh’ with the crowd.

  The show lasted two hours and it was fabulous. Probably one of the best nights of my life. Afterwards, following Tyson’s suggestion, we drove out to the Constantine County Dam, just the two of us. We sat high up on the edge of it gazing at the stars. It was cold out there, but the sky was clear, and it was so beautiful that we had to take advantage of it.

  “Do you ever look up at the stars and think, ‘Damn, I am so small’?” I asked him at one point. He laughed.

  “Of course,” he replied. “And it’s true. We really are so…tiny compared to all of that up there. All the stars that just go on forever and forever…”

  “The sky is really amazing tonight,” I said, shivering then. He scooted closer to me and put his arms around my shoulders.

  “I’m not really warm, but I hear body heat is good for hypothermia,” he said. I giggled and looked at him.

  “Is it cold enough to make that diagnosis?” I asked.

  “Of course!” Tyson exclaimed, smiling. “I don’t know about you, but I can’t feel my body…well, except for…” His voice faded and he looked up at the sky again.

  “Except for what?” I asked, my eyes searching his face. He looked back down at me again and grinned.

  “My lips,” he replied, softly. “I can’t feel anything but my lips.”

  “Ditto,” was my reply. He touched the tip of my nose with his finger and then leaned down and planted one on me. It was a quick kiss, but then he leaned in again for another.

  My eyes caught sight of something in the sky as we pulled away.

  “A shooting star!” I whispered, pointing. “Look, Tyson!”

  “I saw it,” he said, looking. “Did you wish on it?” I closed my eyes.

  “Yes,” I answered, opening my eyes again and looking at him. “Did you?”

  “Yeah,” he replied, grinning crookedly again. “But there wasn’t any point in making a wish that’s already come true.”

  I burst out laughing.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Th-that was the cheesiest thing anyone’s ever said to me!” I exclaimed. He turned red.

  “This is what a guy gets for trying to be romantic?” he replied, pitifully. “Geez.”

  “But it was also the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me,” I added then, my laughter subsiding. His eyes met mine.

>   My heart fluttered and I almost thought I was dreaming. Good things like this didn’t happen in real life, did they?

  He winked and kissed me again.

  Tyson called me the next day and we went to the local park. Then, the following week, he called me every night and we talked for hours. It went like this for two weeks and then, in his own charming style, Tyson asked me to be his girlfriend by writing me a note on a little scratch piece of paper while we were watching a movie at my house. It said, simply, “Will you be my girlfriend? Check yes or no.”

  I checked “yes”.

  From that night on, Tyson and I were inseparable and everybody knew it. It was a really different experience for me, being in a relationship with Tyson, because I’d never been so dedicated to anything or anybody in my entire life. I’d never been so happy, either. I talked about him all the time. Yes. I became that girl. I didn’t brag about how wonderful he was, mind you, but somehow, in any conversation, something would come up about him. I was suffering from the worst possible case of tunnel vision.

  I advocated his music for him, too. He’d met some guys at Constantine High who were musically inclined and they’d formed a band. It didn’t take long for them to realize just how much potential was there and how good their music could be. After only being a band for a month, they had gigs at all the local hot spots.