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fanfics-for-the-hockey-fan · 4 years

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A Bump in the Road - Morgan Rielly

Request: 44. You need to see a doctor.” Morgan Rielly

I winced as I got off the sofa, I had been feeling off for a couple of days now but I just chalked it up to my period and the cramps being extra bad this month. It didn’t help that Mo was out of town on a super long road trip and that always put me in a funk. But he was coming home today and I was ready to spend some time with him. I was picking Morgan up from the airport so I threw on some leggings and one of Morgan’s old sweatshirts.

Getting into the car, I tried to push off the discomfort and focused on the road ahead of me. I managed to pull into the parking lot of the airport just as Morgan texted that they landed. Heading inside the small, private terminal they would be coming through I found a couple of the other girls waiting. Alannah waved me over, smiling as I sat down next to her. “Are you okay Samantha? You look a little pale.”

“Yeah.” Alannah looked like she was going to push more but the guys showed up then. I was slow to get out of the seat so Alannah said something to Morgan before going to Zach. I had just stood up by the time Morgan got to me. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too. Alannah said you don’t feel good.”

“I’m fine, it’s just cramps from my period.” Morgan grabbed his bag as we headed out to the car, I didn’t even argue with him when he motioned for the car keys.

“You’re period isn’t for another 4 days and you only start cramping the day before. You look really pale.” I got into the passenger seat and winced as I twisted to get my seatbelt on. Morgan looked super concerned, reaching over to feel my forehead. “And you feel warm. How long have you been feeling like this?”

“A day or two. I probably just ate something bad.”

“You need to see a doctor Sam.” I really wanted to roll my eyes at him but I also knew he was just worried about me.

“I’ll get an appointment for tomorrow.” That seemed to make Morgan happy because he didn’t bring it up on the way home, letting me call to make an appointment before we cuddled on the sofa. As we caught up on tv I started to feel worse, trying to hide it from Morgan so he wouldn’t worry. That all went out the window when I stood up to get a drink and I literally swayed before falling back onto the sofa.

“That’s it, we are going to the ER now.”

“Mo…”

“No, you just almost fainted. You need to see a doctor. Right now.” His face was as serious as I had ever seen, even when he was on the ice in a tight playoff game. “You are going to sit here while I go get pants for both of us and your purse. Then we are getting in my car and I am driving us to the hospital.” I just nodded, wincing as I moved on the sofa. Morgan left the room quickly, I could hear him down in the bedroom. He came rushing back, pulling on a sweatshirt and carrying sweatpants for me. “Do you need help getting these on while I grab your bag?”

I just shook my head, slowly pulling on my sweatpants. I barely had both legs in the sweatpants by the time Morgan returned, carefully helping me stand up and pulling the sweatpants up before looking me in the eyes. “I have your purse with your wallet, your water bottle, some snacks, an ipad, and some headphones.” I nodded and before I could say anything Morgan picked me up and moved towards the door. He hurried us out of the apartment and down to the car, buckling me in before hurrying around to the driver's seat. I closed my eyes as Morgan started to drive, even with my eyes closed I knew he was speeding as much as he could in a big city with so many traffic lights.

Before I knew it Morgan was stopping and getting out of the car, my eyes opened to see him hurrying across the front of the car with the backpack before helping me out of the car. He had actually parked the car and was now carrying me through the parking garage to the emergency department entrance. A nurse spotted us as soon as we entered, bringing a wheelchair over for me. As much as I didn't want to admit it, the pain was much worse now and I was so out of it that Morgan had to do all the talking to get me checked in. Once that was all done we were moved back to a room and Morgan lifted me onto the bed.

The next few minutes were a flurry of activity, a nurse getting me on an iv as a doctor came in and started to ask questions. They must have given me something for the pain because I was finally about to focus on what the doctor was saying. "Your boyfriend said that you have been having bad stomach pain for a few days now?"

"Yeah, at first I thought it was just cramping but it is much more painful than any cramp I have ever had."

"I'm going to run some tests and we will figure this out." He spoke to the nurse before leaving the room with a nod. Once the nurse was also done I turned to look at Morgan who looked terrified.

"I'm going to text Kyle and Sheldon to let them know I probably won't be at practice tomorrow." I wanted to argue but the concerned look that covered Morgan’s face was enough to stop me before I spoke up, just nodding and watching him type out a text. When that was done he put his phone away and grabbed my hand. “How are you feeling?”

“Like there is a knife in my stomach, but besides that I’m fine. How was your road trip?” Morgan raised an eyebrow, making me laugh. “It will distract me until the doctor comes back.”

“Fine.” With that Morgan launched into a story of the shenanigans that he and his teammates got into during their trip. As Morgan was telling me about Mitch hiding Auston’s gear before a practice. The story made me laugh which caused pain that I was trying to hide from Morgan. "I'm hurting you by making you laugh. Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?"

“No, I think it’s just something I have to deal with until the doctor figures it out.” Morgan held onto my hand as we waited, telling me more about the road trip until the doctor came into the room around 30 minutes later.

“Ms. Kennedy, we got the results of your test back. Your appendix is about to burst. We need to get you into surgery right away. The complications if we wait too long are severe so time is of the essence. Our plan is to do it laparoscopically, that might change once we are in there. The surgery should last about an hour as long as everything goes to plan. Do you have any questions?”

“What is the recovery time?”

“You will probably have to stay in the hospital for a day or two, maybe 3 if there are any complications. You should be back to regular daily activities in 2 to 4 weeks, nothing too strenuous for the first week or so. Anything else?” We both say no, the doctor shaking both of our hands before moving towards the door. “Someone will be in shortly to prep you for surgery.”

Once he was gone I looked over at Morgan who was frozen. “Mo, it’s going to be fine.”

“It’s still surgery Samantha! Surgery always has a chance of something bad happening.”

“Wow, did you really just full first name me? I will be fine, and two days from now I will be watching you play hockey from the comfort of our bed while you kick ass on the ice. I’m gonna text my family quickly before I go back for surgery but I am going to need you to keep them up to date with what’s going on. I know they are going to want to fly out but hopefully I can convince them not to come.”

“Good luck with that.”

Morgan’s POV

I watched as Sam texted her family before the nurse came in to take her back for surgery. “I’ll see you once soon. I love you so much.”

“I love you too Mo.” I kissed her forehead and then her lips before they wheeled her bed away. Another nurse showed me to a waiting room where I would be out of the way and they would know where to find me. I was texting an update to Samantha’s family when someone bumped into my legs. It annoyed me when they just stood there then, not apologizing. I looked up and saw Fred and Auston standing there with coffee and a bag of food.

“What are you guys doing here?”

“Sam texted us and said you might need some company. So we brought coffee and snacks." They sit on either side of me, handing me a coffee before pulling out some sandwiches. “How long is the surgery supposed to take?”

“Hopefully an hour. Thank you guys for coming.”

“Of course, Sam’s family too.” Freddie says handing me a sandwich. Auston and Fred kept me distracted for the whole time as we waited for the doctor to come out. I started to get antsy when the hour mark passed. As we got closer to two hours I was pacing the waiting room. “Mo, sit down. I’m sure they will be out soon with news.” Freddie had to pull me back into my seat to stop me from pacing. Instead of pacing my leg was bouncing and Auston laughed at me.

“Sometimes surgery takes a while, if something went wrong I’m sure that someone would come out and update you.” I really wanted to believe my teammates, but I was still worried. Finally Samantha”s doctor came out and as soon as I spotted him I was up, out of my seat and moving towards him.

“Did something go wrong?”

“No, things were a little worse than we expected so we weren’t able to do it laparoscopically. Besides that everything went perfect. She is in a recovery room now. I don’t think the change in procedure will extend her time she needs to stay here, it could take her a little longer to get back to 100 percent.”

“Okay.”

“A nurse can take you to her whenever you are ready, but unfortunately only one visitor can see her.” I thank him, shaking his hand before going to tell my friends what was going on.

“We’ll try to stop by tomorrow after practice if Sam is up to it.” I bid them goodbye before following the nurse back to where Sam was. Walking into the room, I wiped my sweaty hands on my sweatpants before going into the room. Sam was laying in the slightly inclined bed with her eyes closed, so I tried to be quiet as I pulled a chair up to her bed. Just as I was sitting down Sam looked at me smiling.

“Hi.”

“Hi, how are you feeling?” That caused me to laugh, of course she was asking me how I was.

“Aren’t I supposed to ask you that, since you are the one who just came out of surgery?” That got a smile out of her as she reached for my hand.

“I’m fine but I am also pretty sure that I have pain meds in me right now.” Sam stroked my cheek and smiled at me. “You worry about me, and the nurse mentioned that the surgery ran long so I know that you worried even more.”

“Well, Fred and Auston didn’t have to tie me down to the chair.”

“That’s good.” We talked for a bit before a nurse came in to check on Sam. When he left Sam turned to me. “Why don’t you sleep at home?”

“I’m sure they will be okay if I stay here with you overnight.”

“It’s not going to be comfortable for you. Please go home and sleep in our bed, I will still be here in the morning and your back will thank me for making sure you don’t hurt yourself.”

“Sam…”

“Please Mo. Do it for me. I am going to be asleep basically the whole time you are gone.”

“Fine, but I will be back in the morning as soon as visitor hours start.”

“I can’t wait.” Kissing Samantha goodbye, I left the hospital, wishing that I was back with her but knowing she was right.

***

“She is walking around with a nurse but they should be back in the room in a few minutes.” I thank the nurse and sit down in a chair and answer a few texts before I hear Sam and a nurse coming into the room.

“Mo!”

“Hey Sam, how are you feeling?”

“A little stiff, but good. It felt really good to walk around the floor.” The nurse says a doctor will be in soon before leaving us, Sam coming to sit on my lap. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too, but you were right.”

“I’m sorry, can you repeat that?” I laugh, kissing her before lightly squeezing her side.

“You were right and I love you. I also brought you an iced coffee, I called the nurses desk and they talked to your doctor who gave the okay for the drink.”

“I love you too. And not just because you brought me coffee.” Hugging Sam as she drank her coffee and we chatted, waiting for the doctor, I was happy that this was just a bump in a road and even though I was super worried about the surgery, it all worked out.

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smokeybrandreviews · 4 years

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Jill Sandwich

So Resident Evil 3 Remake is out in the wild and i can finally talk about this thing in detail. I have an interesting relationship with the RE franchise. It’s kind of a love/hate situation. I love the first three titles and Veronica. I kind of hate everything that came after. IV through VI are just plain awful, particularly VI. Cats fight me about IV but i don’t care for it. Capcom stopped doing what they do best, desperate survival horror, and started emulating those action films starring Leeloo Dallas. That’s find but, i mean, watching Chris Redfield, jacked up on the super roids, punch out a whole ass boulder, while fighting a chimera virus infected Wesker, in the heart of a goddamn volcano, was way too much. And there was another entire game after that one with this campy, wacky, bullsh*t. I hated it. All of it. Then Resident Evil VII dropped and everything changed.

Revelations hinted at a return to form but it was REVII that showed the world what Resident Evil was really about. My goodness was that game good. I was on the edge of my seat playing through that coil of stress, atmosphere, and insidious violence. It was beautiful. That game was beautiful. I found my self longing for that engine, driving my favorite title of the entire franchise, Resident Evil II. To my surprise i got exactly what i wanted. Holy sh*t, when Resident Evils II Remake dropped, i sh*t myself. This was the Resident Evil game i always wanted. This is what survival horror should have been the entire time. Remake hit every note of nostalgia while building a brand new experience. Not only were the graphics updated, bu the entire story was streamline and, thanks to some excellent voice work, it was rather enthralling this go around. REII was already one of my favorite games but Remake found a spit right next to it on my all-time list. When i finished that motherf*cker for the first time, after experiencing that horror on two legs called Mr. X, i thought about how dope Nemesis would be in this engine. To my surprise, i wouldn’t have to wait long to find out.

First and foremost, R3make is goddamn gorgeous. It’s absolutely beautiful. Capcom’s RE Engine pulls all of it’s weight on this one. The lighting and particle effects are spectacular. I thought Remake II looked great but this game really stand out. There are a few little concessions made to push the hardware but that’s to be forgiven. I can deal with an exploding limb or disappearing body if it means i can get the detail and literally horde levels of zombies on my ass at all times. It’s insane just how many of theses things are packed on screen, in that level detail, while Nemesis is launching f*cking rockets at you.

I have to absolutely gush about the writing for a minute here. I remember the old REIII being kind of hokey, kind of campy. I chocked it up to the limitations of the OG PlayStation. Not this one. The PS4 gives the script writers a level of power to get really creative. The dialogue Jill has with everyone feels real, It feels organic. She acts like a person with training in the middle of a crisis and i adore every second of it. I mean, her banter with Carlos is more than enough for the price of admission.

Also, Jill is just a regular badass. It’s dope seeing her getting her proper due in this game. The last time we saw her, outside of one of those Revelation games, she was a muppet for Wesker. Bullsh*t, son! Not here. Here, she is in all her bad ass. Umbrella busting, glory and i love it. I also love her redesign. Function over fashion, ya dig?

The remix of levels caught me off guard at first. They took out a lot of set pieces i remember like the park and Jill’s run through the RPD. These aspects of her original playthrough make an appearance, just in completely different ways. Also worth mentioning, there are like, no puzzled in this game. I remember the original being very, frustratingly, puzzle heavy way back when. This game is not that. It is a narrative focused, action driven, murder fest. I am more than okay with that particular alteration.

The redesigned enemies in this game are spectacular. I kind of expected a few changed, mostly based on the Ivy from Remake II, but Capcom really found a way to be creative with these new enemies. There’s, like, Las Plagas zombies in this thing. You blow of their heads and a parasite pops out. It’s insane. I always though Nemesis was infected with a Plagas and this game kind of confirms that. I love the new take on the Hunters. The Alphas have kind of a predator face now but the Gammas? The Gammas have this massive parasite that pops out of their gaping maws. It looks just like the Gravedigger and since there isn’t really a park level to this game, imagine they serve the same purpose. Or, repurpose in this case. There’s even a couple of surprises in store for those who know their lore. Their horrifying Resident Evil lore.

F*cking Nemesis, man. Nemesis is nightmare fuel incarnate. Dude is outright horrifying, the entire time you play this game. He’s fast, agile, and f*cking terrifying. I had problems with Mr. X but this asshole? Dude literally sprints after you when you run away. I kind of hate it but, at the same time, i f*cking need it! Good ol’ Nemi’s redesign is amazing. I was a little iffy at first, but seeing it in action sold me. And then his second form happened. Bro. What? And then that third. Okay, Capcom, come on? Y’all were just showing off with that one.

The only thing holding this game back, in my opinion, is that it can get a little REVI at times. I mean that the action becomes just a hair too over-the-top. That entire end sequence with final form Nemesis was absolutely ridiculous. I mean, i loved it, don’t get me wrong, but, f*ck, coming off Remake II and several parts of this one, it just felt a little out of place. There’s a few times where this issue creeps up but, like i said, it’s more of a nitpick than anything. The grounded nature and character driven narrative distract from the more... zealous aspects of this game.

As far as gameplay, if you played Remake II or any of the RE titles after IV, you know what to expect. Over the shoulder, third person, all day! I hate shooters but i can play the f*ck out of these types. Tank controls have gone the way of the dodo it seems but i ‘m not bad with their replacement. This game feels right with this camera set up. Shooting feels right. Dodging feels rewarding. This game feels real good to play.

There aren’t anymore of those quick decision deals like in the original but that’s not a problem. They would have interfered with the narrative driven aspects of this game. You can still, you know, shoot Nemi in the face for dope sh*t but i wouldn’t. F*ck all of that. Maybe after a third of fourth playthrough. Maybe. There’s no Mercenaries mode or multiple endings but you can play a good portion as Carlos and there’s a brand new multiplayer component with it’s own narrative called Resident Evil Resistance so, i guess that’s dope? I dunno. I f*cks with that single player campaign all day, tho.

R3make is f*cking outstanding. I love this game. Absolutely adore the f*ck out of it. I still like Remake II better but that’s more because i just adore II overall. That said, R3make is the f*cking tits. This sh*t is fast paced, adrenaline pumping, stress inducing, action packed, zombie killing. It does justice to Jill, makes me care about Carlos, and even does some interesting things with Nemesis. I was thoroughly surprised by some narrative choices taken but they dded to the overall plot,giving life to a game that sorely needed it, while not compromising once on gameplay. While there are certain design aspects i would have liked seen skew closer to the earlier titles in the franchise rather than the later ones, that is a small gripe. Even in all of it’s Bayhem glory, and there is a lot of that toward th end, this game never loses the spirit of who it is. Resident Evil III Remake is a f*cking masterpiece and you should get into it the second this quarantine lifts if you haven’t already had an opportunity to grab a copy.

#Resident Evil 3 #Resident Evil #Biohazard #Biohazard 3 #Jill Valentine #Nemesis #Resident Evil 3 Nemesis

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irarelypostanything · 8 years

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The Harvard Homewrecker (Full Text)

Sometimes, two people stay together simply because they don’t remember what it feels like to be alone.

Sometimes, two people stay together for a more meaningful reason.

Other times, one of them meets Tony.

Part I

The day he attended his first meeting, Tedmund decided to run for office. I can’t remember what club this was, so I’m just going to say it was Key Club.

He was already a second year in high school. He worried that his youth was slipping away, and it was time he involved himself in school activities. The president greeted him at the door and said they were electing new officers.

“The president is probably going to be me again,” said the president, and he wasn’t lying. He was a pretty competent president. “The other positions are pretty competitive, but no one is running for secretary.”

“Oh,” said Tedmund. All of the names in this story are from a random generator, in case anyone was wondering.

“You should run.”

“This...this is literally my first day.”

“Okay.” The president shrugged. “I mean, if you don’t have the balls for it...”

10 minutes later

“My name is Tedmund,” he announced from the podium, “and I am proud to be running for secretary.” Only a few people recognized him from class, but everyone applauded on account of his carefree speaking.

“I have been observing this club,” he said, pausing to look at the president’s logo, “which is Key Club, and it can definitely be improved.” He saw a few people frown, but now everyone was listening intently. “I will bring,” he glanced at the president, who mouthed the words community service, “I will bring more community service projects. And I’m going to take notes really well. And it’s going to be great.” Everyone cheered.

He won, of course. No one was running against him.

The VP was named Candy, and the two really hit it off. They didn’t mind staying late after school to make posters together, or to email coordinators together. For Tedmund, Candy was a great friend with whom he could get through the tedium of officer duties. For Candy, Tedmund was something more.

Their AP Psych teacher noticed the chemistry and paired them up during the Relationships unit, as well as the Human Development unit. Their chemistry teacher noticed it as well, but didn’t give AF.

Several months went by like this, but this was Tedmund. He knew so many girls who were in love with him that he dismissed flirting as normal behavior.

She called him eventually, late in the night, when the only light came from his TV screen and the only sounds were the gunshots from Halo.

“Tedmund,” she said, “I have something to tell you.”

“Yeah?” He couldn’t hit pause; it was multiplayer.

“Yes, I...I forgot.”

“Okay.”

She didn’t say much to him again for an agonizing month, when she could no longer resist the urge to call him again.

“Hi Tedmund,” she said, “how are you?”

“Good,” he said. “I just had dinner.”

“How was it?”

He spent the next ten minutes describing to her, in detail, what he had eaten and how delicious it was.

“Tedmund,” she said, “I love you.”

“So do I,” said Tedmund. The news was even better than his dinner.

They became a couple. They spent as much time as they could together. Everyone who knew them thought of them together, and the blissful weeks passed effortlessly as they filled their time in love and with the ridiculous number of AP classes Washington High people took.

And then, out of nowhere, she saw Tony at a track meet. He didn’t notice her, but she noticed him. He finished first, and she noticed that he didn’t sweat. He glistened.

He wasn’t just hot. He seemed to radiate hotness.

******

Part II

One of the events in this story never actually happened, but I’m not going to say which.

There were many dorms at UC Davis, but it was universally known that Miller was the best. This is undisputed. Miller had the fastest wi-fi connection, a kitchen on every floor, and a $10,000 grand piano that made the one at Thompson look like a garage sale giveaway. ATM was the best part of Segundo, but Segundo was known for having Miller. Tercero couldn’t compete, even with upgrades, and Cuarto looked like a glorified three-and-a-half star motel next to Miller.

Of course, these two were at Miller after 2012, so I don’t know much about the other people who were there.

His name was Rick, your typical run-of-the-mill attractive intelligent charismatic Regents Scholar video game champion in his first year of college. Jessica was all of these things, minus the video games.

Like most of the people in Miller, Rick and Jessica lived together and took a class together. The class had 23 people, and only one guy. Guess who the guy was?

If you don’t know how UHP worked, here’s a 25-second tutorial: Everyone signed up for small classes; some were easy, and some were not-so-easy. The ones who took the easy classes were happy (I guess), and the ones who took the not-so-easy classes complained about it on the ISHP Facebook page. By the laws of karma, the people who took the easy ones their first quarter just so happened to choose the not-so-easy ones in their second quarter.

The two clicked really well, especially since both of them joined a college club together. I’m just going to call it CKI because I’ve dropped so many meaningless abbreviations that I kind of stopped caring.

Is there really any more to it than that? If there is, I don’t know the details. They were up until sunrise together, just the two of them...talking. One night, she asked if they could play Hot Seat.

He calmly said yes, but fireworks were going off in his head.

She was up first. “If we knew each other a year ago,” he said, trying to be as subtle and indirect as possible, “do you think we would have dated?”

She nodded.

Shortly after, they started dating.

And that wraps it up. They were a perfect couple.

That’s it. End of story.

Oh wait…

Jessica found herself alone in San Francisco one weekend, because that’s what people in Davis do when they’re bored. They spend an hour driving to a city that everyone hates driving in. But her car was still in the shop this time, and Jessica took the shuttle.

Jessica sprinted for the bus, and the driver saw her, but it was Muni. Obviously, he didn’t stop.

“No...” she said. It was Muni, so the next bus wasn’t going to come for an hour. By the time she made it to Berkeley her shuttle would be gone, and she’d have to spend the night there.

“What’s wrong?” asked Tony. He had just flown in from the East Coast, and he had just finished visiting his peasant friends from high school. How he became rich is explained in parts III and IV.

“I missed my bus,” she said.

“Would you like a ride?” he asked. She looked at him closely. He was in a designer jacket, wore designer pants, and next to him was a red 488 GTB Ferrari.

“In that?” she asked, making eye contact with his beautiful car.

“No, I was just taking that to my lift.” He pointed to a building nearby, a gorgeous piece of massive glass with a helicopter to top it off.

“Do you own that helicopter?” she asked.

“Of course,” he said, and smiled. “Why else would I have paid to put a helipad on my building?”

*****

In a relationship, whoever is more in love will always be at a disadvantage.

Unless you’re not competing, or you don’t try to measure it, or...I don’t know...you’re in a relationship with pizza.

I just wrote that first sentence to get your attention.

Part III

This story begins with a guy making someone a sandwich.

Jake was an athletic, heavily involved high school student whom everyone was cool with, except Mr. B. He also put a lot of effort into his sandwiches. This sandwich was an hour-long project: The bread was lightly toasted, there was just the right amount of peanut butter and jelly, and the way he presented it was like something you would see on the Food Network.

I had to learn piano to get a high school girlfriend. Stanley had to master multivariable Calculus. David had to win a track medal, star in a summer performance, become the #7 Tetris player in North America and maintain a non-weighted 4.0. For Jake, the deal-maker was a sandwich.

Jake and Crystal joined dragon boat around the same time. For anyone wondering, dragon boat is a form of competitive water racing that dates back to ancient times, when warring Chinese factions jostled for control of the seven kingdoms. After many generations, a general known as the Mother of Dragons made a surprise attack from the sea and finally ended the war.

The sandwich came shortly after.

We all took a trip to Long Beach—a beautiful, ridiculously over-the-top party town where people drank, danced, and paddled like there was no tomorrow. We were in high school, so the only thing we participated in was the paddling.

After our first round of races, I ate dinner with the team, crawled into my hotel room, and knocked TF out. When I woke up, Jake and Crystal were out.

“I’m not good enough for you,” Jake had said the previous night, as they sat at the nearby beach and pretended to look at the water. They had been dating for over half a page now.

“Why do you say that?” she asked, in a voice that was always calm and mellow because that’s what Crystal’s voice is like.

“You’re smart, and you’re beautiful, and if you weren’t with me then you could find someone else.”

They talked until the light came back. In the afternoon, when one of us finally asked, they were still together. Maybe it was conversations like those that made their relationship stronger.

We all stayed in the team and paddled a lot.

JUST KIDDING. Most people didn’t stay in the team. Those of us who did, paddled a lot.

We talked between laps.

“I can’t get pho with you guys,” said Tony one day.

“Traitor,” I said.

“Well, I’m applying for the Gates Millennium Scholarship. I don’t think I have a chance...the probability of winning that is lower than the probability of getting into Harvard.”

“You know what would be awesome? If you got into Harvard AND got the Gates Millennium Scholarship.”

With that, Tony burst out laughing.

20,000 strokes later:

“I think I’m going to go to Davis now,” I said.

“Just like that?” asked Stanley. “You’ve changed your mind this easily?”

“The froyo was really good.”

A few months and many, many strokes later:

“I think I’m going to stay in the city,” said Jake.

“I’m not,” said Crystal.

…..

….

It’s been years.

A few weeks ago, living alone at my apartment in an unheard-of town, I got really bored and wrote this. Not bored like...not enough time. It’s a different kind of boredom.

As I wrote, Jake was at his own apartment. He never left the city. On his desk, he looked at a picture of Crystal, had a brief flashback, and then tucked it away in a drawer. On full display was a picture of his current girlfriend.

Crystal wistfully looked out her window. Her current boyfriend was sleeping next to her, and southern California was shining out in the distance.

Unable to sleep, she tiptoed out of bed, made her way to the kitchen, and spent an hour preparing herself a fancy PBJ sandwich. The sandwich made her happy again, and she gingerly went back to bed.

She quickly fell asleep.

*****

For our high school graduation, the valedictorian reminded us that everyone would eventually be dead. He talked a lot about human hatred, and disease, and nuclear war. The rest of the speech was optimistic, but all anyone remembered were those first few sentences.

Then our high school salutatorian spoke. “I’m going to talk about love,” he said, “and cures for diseases, and...the opposite of everything else Jon spoke about. By the way, my name is Jon. Both of us are named Jon.” The second Jon’s speech was met with rounds of applause that continually increased in both volume and duration.

After his salutatorian speech, Jon (again, the second one) was required to present the CSF trophy to the member with the highest GPA. Tony won it. I can’t remember the explanation.

There were graduations everywhere that day. I don’t even remember all the things that happened. Aaron presented a senior video, and Katherine won one of the highest honors, and then Emma and Alonzo and Colin won numerous scholarships. And somewhere, just a few miles out of San Francisco, Zach almost met his future wife.

Part IV

“Do you feel like time is moving really quickly?” I asked Tony one day, a little after our college graduation.

“What do you mean?” asked Tony. “Time has always been moving at a constant speed.”

“That’s not what I mean.” “Oh, that’s right. According to Einstein-”

“What I mean is that life events are happening really quickly. My coworker just bought a house. Someone brought up marriage the other day when talking about her boyfriend.”

“Well, we are at that age.”

“Are we, though?”

Rena, David and I went right into the workforce. Most of the people I knew from Davis either stayed for grad school, or applied to various medical school programs. In my first month of work, they asked me to help hire the next round of people. That they asked me to play any part in this was beyond crazy.

“So after my senior design project helped cure Type 2 Diabetes,” said Zach, “I decided to direct my talents into another side-project. It was like Google, for porn.”

“That second thing is the most brilliant idea I’ve ever heard,” I said. “I have never visited a porn site, but I can only imagine the potential. Now, on an unrelated note...how do you feel about loyalty?”

“I don’t believe in it, period. You do your job, and if you don’t do a good one then you step aside. The lack of loyalty cuts both ways - if a job doesn’t satisfy you, you quit.”

“That’s the realest thing I’ve ever heard anyone say,” I said. “The other responses people gave me were so full of shit. I’m going to recommend that they hire you immediately.”

A few months passed. If it sounds like I’m rushing, it’s because that’s what it really felt like. Tony joined a start-up, and the boss was such a dick that Tony started his own company and bought out his boss’. All of this was just to fire him. That’s how much of a dick he was.

Zach’s talents were quickly recognized by everyone except his manager. He also bought a house. He was also accepted into grad school. Then, out of nowhere, his girlfriend called him.

“Remember that time we had unprotected sex?” she asked.

“Which time?”

“I don’t know, but I’m pregnant.”

“Shit.”

And just like that, a year passed.

I still had the same coffee mug, and I still drank the same flavor of beer at the same bar, and I still lived exactly where I was before. Also, I still didn’t get pointers at all. Seg faults were my life.

“How was your wedding?” I asked Zach once, out of the blue. Last I checked, he had proposed.

“What wedding?” he asked.

“Um...how’s the baby?” I asked, as if that were a logical transition from my last question.

“I told you,” he said. “She lost it.”

“Is that why you didn’t marry her?” I asked.

“I mean, that’s not the reason we’re not together anymore. A lot of things have happened.”

“You don’t say.”

Zach quit later, but not...immediately after. I don’t know how to make time go slower. I don’t even know at this point how much time had passed.

He wrote me a letter. All it said was You can stay there if you want, Evan, but I don’t recommend it. You’re in the kind of city that people leave.

I don’t know what happens to everyone in the story after that, because now we’re all caught up with the present.

#short story #fiction #prose

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smokeybrand · 4 years

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Jill Sandwich

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