Member-only story
What Should Have Been
A love story
With fumes of cheap beer hovering in the air, and music so loud you couldn’t hear your own thoughts, I sit fidgeting in the corner of the room on a janky couch, alone.
Until she catches my eye.
Her golden hair swings down her back in two French braids.
Groups of sweaty boys circulate around her, and I cannot stop staring at her mouth working a piece of bubble gum.
Lily Rose, the fantasy of each and every boy in southeastern Wis —
Oh shit.
I think she saw me staring at her.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I probably look like a freaking creep.
My heart begins to race as her hips bounce from left to right while strutting in my direction.
I didn’t know where to look so I whip out my phone and start pounding away simple math equations on the calculator app.
“Hey.”
Her voice sounds bruised and raspy from yelling over the music, and possibly a rebellious cigarette habit.
Come on Wall, try to sound cool.
“Uh, yeah, what’s up?” I mumble in an overly deep voice while remaining glued to my phone.
“You know I saw you staring at me.”
Shit.
Paralyzed, I look into her mesmerizing blue eyes and rebut, “I wasn’t sta — ”
Cutting me off, she leans into my ear and whispers, “Next time, grow a pair, and approach me. You know, you’re kinda cute,” before stepping back, pulling out her used piece of gum, sticking it in my wide-open mouth, and waltzing away.
I couldn’t stop a stupid grin from overtaking my face.
Lily thinks I’m kinda cute.
Hundreds of shoppers, mostly teens flocking in groups, pose for pictures around the fountain at the center of the mall.
My Yankees baseball cap sinks low enough on my head to impede my vision, thus, protecting my ego from the fact that I was at the mall with my own mother, on a Saturday.
I mutter under my breath. “Mom, can we please get out of here? This is torture.”
