Just Like Heaven

by Clarissa Carlyle

  She felt nauseous as usual but fought the urge to throw up and instead went to stand outside in the evening air which while hot, contained a gentle breeze. Outside the theatre she realized that Arthur had driven them there, meaning that she was stranded. She knew she’d have to call her Dad to pick her up, which would worry him, but what other choice did she have? She could call Hayley…

  “Demi!” Arthur came striding out of the theatre looking agitated and confused. It wasn’t the first time a girl had stormed out on him at the movies; Shelly Dibbans had when she found out Arthur had been dating her sister Sheliah at the same time, so he had deserved that outburst, but he treated Demi well, better than any girl he’d previously dated, so had been surprised at her reaction.

  He anticipated that when they did eventually discuss schools and their future that she’d be upset but he never imagined it would be to this degree. With a twinge in his heart, he realized that her pain and upset was because she loved him, and it hurt him to see her like that because he loved her too.

  “Demi, please don’t be mad, I’m sorry.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Demi cried.

  “I’m sorry, I should have. I just kept…putting it off.” Arthur explained.

  “But why?”

  Demi noticed how other couples entering the theatre were eyeing them warily but she no longer cared. The hurt and pain inside her had blinded her to anything else.

  “Because… I didn’t want to spoil this!” Arthur said, reaching out and gently stroking her cheek. “What we have is so wonderful and I felt that to discuss the future would ruin it.”

  “Because we have an expiration date?”

  “No, because ultimately we will be apart from one another and it will crush me. You are going to Georgia anyway, so you always knew you’d be leaving. Why are you so mad with me? Surely you didn’t think I’d just stay here in Collinswood. I have dreams too.”

  This made Demi felt guilty and she looked down to the sidewalk and wished the ground could somehow open up and take her away from this uncomfortable situation.

  “I’m… I’m just hurt that you didn’t tell me.”

  “That’s fair enough, I should have told you,” Arthur admitted, opening his arms so that Demi could fall in to them.

  “How will this work when we are so far away from one another?” Demi queried, inhaling his musky scent of cologne and perspiration and knowing that nothing would ever smell quite as good.

  “It will work because we love each other,” Arthur answered confidently. And at that moment he truly believed that love could conquer anything, including distance and time. All those love songs he’d heard growing up finally made sense to him. Demi meant everything to him and he’d do anything for her.

  “I feel sick,” Demi noted as the breeze carried the scent of fresh nachos from inside the theatre.

  “You look a little pale.”

  “I’ve not felt so great the past few days,” Demi admitted.

  “I should get you home.”

  “But I don’t want to go home, not yet. I want to stay with you always.”

  “Okay, so where shall we go?”

  “How about Hanglough Lane?” Demi suggested, her tone flirty and Arthur tightened his embrace around her, knowing what she inferred.

  Hanglough Lane was more commonly known in Collinswood as Make-Out Lane as it was a secluded stretch of road, up on a hillside where barely any traffic passed which made it an ideal spot for horny teenagers to park and have some privacy together.

  Demi had heard tales of what went on up on the Lane but had never been. Arthur on the other hand had regularly taken girls up there on a date but had never presumed to take Demi, feeling that she deserved to be treated more like a lady. But it excited him that she wanted to go up there and the prospect of what they would do.

  ####

  Parked atop Hanglough Lane Demi felt a nervous thrill of excitement rush through her. She no longer felt sick…instead she felt dangerous and alive. She couldn’t wait to tell Hayley that she’d been there, but then she knew she wouldn’t as what happened between her and Arthur was sacred and private.

  “So, here we are,” Arthur said as he turned off the ignition and the car fell silent around them.

  “It’s so quiet up here,” Demi noted.

  “Yeah, it is,” Arthur tried to make it sound as though he were also surprised and had never been there previously.

  “I don’t want this summer to end,” Demi admitted to him.

  “Me neither,” Arthur whispered as he leant over to her and they began passionately kissing. Demi embraced him and let him have all of her, knowing that she would never again love anyone as much as she loved Arthur Cooper.

  ####

  “You’re back late,” Demi’s Dad noted as the came through the door. She looked flushed and her hair was slightly dishevelled which alarmed him.

  “It was a long movie,” Demi gave as an unconvincing excuse.

  “Hmm,” her Dad wasn’t buying it but he also didn’t want to pry too much in to his teenage daughter’s private life. It was new and uncomfortable territory for them both but he knew he had a responsibility to ask more as he had to assume the role of both mother and father.

  “So how are things with Arthur?”

  “Good,” Demi replied awkwardly.

  “You two are getting quite serious. I hope you are taking the relevant…precautions.”

  “Dad!” Demi shrieked turning crimson red.

  “I’m sorry to ask sweetheart, but as your Dad it’s my responsibility to make sure you are being careful.”

  “I can’t believe we are having this conversation!” Demi gasped as she tried to leave the room but her father stood solid in the doorway which led out of the kitchen.

  “I just need you to be careful, sweetheart. I know you think you love this boy but you don’t want to get landed with him for the rest of your life.”

  “What does that mean?” Demi asked angrily.

  “It means that you’ve got your whole life ahead of you. School and your future career as a nurse, you don’t want to jeopardise it all by doing something foolish like getting pregnant!”

  “Dad!” Demi was outraged that her Dad would even assume she would be so reckless with her life and with her future. But then her anger faded as she recalled the moments when she and Arthur had been intimate. Had they used anything, been careful? She assumed he was taking the relevant precautions but then they’d not discussed it. She had trusted him to be careful, when perhaps she should have been handling that herself.

  “Demi?” her Dad asked, concerned by her troubled expression.

  “Dad everything is fine. We are being very careful, you’ve nothing to worry about,” she told him and he stood aside and let her go upstairs to her room where she flopped down on to her bed and stared intently up at the ceiling.

  Her Dad remained in the kitchen, unconvinced by her claims that she was being careful. He thought on how unwell she’d been of late and her symptoms were reminiscent of those his late wife had displayed seventeen years earlier. Worried, he made the decision to take Demi to the doctors the following day, just to put his mind at ease and perhaps have someone else discuss contraception with her, someone she would listen to.

  As Demi lay on her bed her hand rested on her stomach as she tried to calm the worried voices in her mind that everything was alright and that she had been careful enough. Just then her phone buzzed to life. Leaning over she grabbed it and saw a message from Arthur;

  Goodnight babe, this evening was amazing. I love you so much. A xx

  Feeling tired, Demi deftly typed back a response;

  I had so much fun. You mean everything to me xxxxx

  She assumed that was it for the night and let her eyes fall shut but then her phone buzzed yet again. It was another message from Arthur;

  I love you and I will love you forever. This summer doesn’t have to end. Tomorrow let’s go get matching tattoos so that we can
keep the magic forever? Say you will! Xxxx

  Demi pondered it for a moment. A tattoo was something she’d never considered before. It was such a rebellious statement and so very…permanent. But the way Arthur had presented it as a romantic gesture made her heart melt and she knew she’d have anything inked in to her skin if it meant preserving the memory of this summer. She typed back her response, simple and straight to the point;

  Yes, let’s do it xxxx

  Laid back on his own bed Arthur read the message and smiled to himself. He already knew exactly what they should have. He closed his eyes and fell asleep, dreaming of the moment when he would next hold Demi in his arms.

  ####

  “So I think you should go to the doctors today,” Demi’s Dad said over breakfast. She glanced up at him from the bowl of cereal she had been wolfing down and shook her head dismissively.

  “Today is no good, I’ve got plans, and besides, I feel fine.”

  “I’d feel better if you went,” her Dad argued.

  “Well, I wouldn’t!” Demi declared, becoming the petulant teen she occasionally was. “I’ve got plans!”

  She stormed out of the kitchen in a dramatic fashion leaving her Dad feeling both dazed and confused by her ever changing moods. Even though she was against going, he knew his own mind would be at ease if she went to the doctors and so he went and made her an appointment for that afternoon, hoping that whatever plans she had would be over by then.

  ####

  Arthur nervously eyed the walls covered in various tattoo designs while holding on tightly to Demi’s hand. In theory it had been a great idea to get something permanent which would forever remind them of this summer but now they were actually here about to go through with it he felt unbearably nervous.

  He’d never liked needles. He didn’t understand how Jared could tolerate them as he did. For such a young kid his brother was unbelievably brave.

  “So what are you going to get?” Demi asked her voice low as though she were afraid to be too loud even though they were the only ones in there. Beyond them in another room they could hear the wasp like hum of the needle permanently etching a design on to another customer.

  “We are going to get this,” Arthur rummaged in his pocket and produced a piece of paper which contained some elegant script;

  And I promise you, I promise that I”ll run away with you

  Demi recognised the lyric and smiled.

  “It’s certainly a nice sentiment.”

  “It’s more than that, it’s an oath,” Arthur said as he absently fingered the paper in his hand.

  “That no matter where life takes us, to Duke, Georgia, wherever, that one day we will run away and be together, just us, no matter what.”

  “I like the sound of that,” Demi said wistfully.

  Arthur wrapped an arm around her, noting how he liked how she fit perfectly in to his side, as though they were two parts of a puzzle slotting together seamlessly, and kissed her head.

  “Will it hurt?” she asked, sounding nervous.

  “A bit,” he replied honestly. “But it will be worth it.”

  “Yeah.”

  Linking hands they gazed in to each other’s eyes, feeling the depth of their feeling and of their promise to one another.

  “I love you so much,” Arthur said, squeezing her hands.

  “I love you too.”

  “Are you kids ready?” a burly man with tattoos running up his arms came out and stood behind the counter, regarding them with a slightly contemptuous look.

  “Yes,” Arthur replied confidently. “We are ready.”

  ####

  Demi felt as though she were floating when she came home despite the throbbing along the base of her spine where her new tattoo sat atop sore skin. Being in love was just as wonderful as she always hoped it would be, and saying goodbye to Arthur each night really was the sweetest sorrow she’d ever known. Already she lived for the moment when their lips would next lock together. It was all so wonderful, so magical. Nothing would ever come between them, not college, not distance, not time, nothing.

  “Where have you been?” Demi’s Dad asked angrily the moment she came in through the front door.

  “Dad, I told you, I had plans,” she snapped at him.

  “Well, I’m taking you to the doctors, now.”

  “Dad, I’ve just got in!” Demi protested.

  “Young lady you will do as I say! I’m concerned about you, now go get in the car!”

  Demi wanted to fight back, to not be bossed about like that but she loved her Dad dearly and appreciated just how difficult it was for him to be a single parent and she hadn’t been spending much time with him lately. If a trip to the doctors would make him happy then she would go along with it.

  ####

  “Your brother is already asleep,” Arthur’s Mom told him as he came home and slung himself across the couch.

  “It’s only six thirty.”

  “He’s been getting more tired lately, I told you that,” his Mom said curtly, her own eyes tired and strained from worry.

  “Can’t I go see him?” Arthur went to get up but she held out a hand signalling him to stop.

  “He needs his rest, Art. If you want to spend time with him perhaps you shouldn’t go gallivanting with that girl all day.”

  “That girl? I thought you liked Demi!”

  “I did… I do… it’s just,” he could see his mother choosing her words carefully for fear of offending him.

  “You two are getting so serious and with college on the horizon, I don’t want you to be making it difficult for you to leave come fall.”

  “Isn’t it already difficult enough?” Arthur shot back. His mother sighed wearily and went to turn away when something caught her eye. While they had been talking Arthur had been stroking his sore, now branded arm. And like all mothers, his was perfectly in tune to changes in his movements and behavior.

  “Lift up your sleeve,” she ordered.

  “What?” panicked Arthur straightened on the couch, clutching his arm protectively.

  “Your sleeve, lift it up.”

  “What? Why? No!”

  Arthur Conrad Cooper you’ll do as I say while in this house!”

  Not wanting to anger his mother more when she already had so much to worry about with Jared, Arthur slowly raised his jacket sleeve and watched the colour fade from her face as he did so. Then his mother went from white to red and her lips set in a firm line as she pondered on what she was seeing.

  “Is this to do with Demi?” she asked, her voice shrill.

  “What if it is?”

  “Do you realize how ridiculous you look? To have a tattoo? And they are permanent, did you know that?”

  “Mom, I know, and it’s my body, I can do what I like to it!”

  “Lord knows what your father will say!”

  “I don’t care what he says!” Arthur stood up, yelling, forgetting about Jared sleeping just above their heads.

  “It was my decision!”

  “And a poor one it was!” she spat, casting cruel judgement over her teenage son. “You are spending far too much time with that girl. I’m scared you’ll do something even more stupid than that tattoo!”

  “Like what?”

  “Like end up being stuck with her for the rest of your life!”

  “That’s what I want!” Arthur declared.

  “Right now you do, but trust me, the world is much bigger than Collinswood and you’ll see that soon. There are many girls out there who will be desperate to date you.”

  “But I don’t want to date them!”

  “You will, Arthur. You’re a young man, it’s in your nature to date and enjoy yourself, don’t deny yourself a future by tying yourself down so young.”

  “I love Demi!”

  “The world isn’t some fairy tale. The girl you meet at eighteen isn’t the girl you’ll spend your life with. In time you’ll see that, I just don’t want you making any more mistakes before you d
o!”

  “Stop lecturing me!”

  “Would you rather your father did it?”

  Arthur was silent at this; the judgement of Conrad Cooper was something he could definitely do without.

  Above their heads they heard soft muffling.

  “Christ, he’s awake,” Arthur’s Mom sighed, raising a hand to her temple.