Original Fic: FUN with cliches
To make up for that crap post. I will share something that I wrote last week. It was to play around with a common idea, but to write it in a better way.
Un beta'd, I'll eventually get to editing this sometime.
I never knew what to do about Calvin. All of our time together was tinged with an awkwardness that was impossible to get rid of. I've known him since we were small, the neighbor's boy. We were never really friends, but occasion came to us where we played anyway. He tagged along with me and my brothers sometimes, when we went to play in the woods.
Calvin is handsome, was handsome even at an early age, but he's very timid. He has a very diminutive nature that always made me uncomfortable, because he was so ready to follow everyone else instead of standing up for himself. He was most likely bullied in school, though I wouldn't know because I never really talked to him there.
Our time spent together in childhood is marked by nostalgic memories. One instance that I always recall is when we went camping in the woods. It was the four of us, me and my two older brothers, and there was Calvin following us as usual. We wanted to go camping but our parents had given a resound "no" to our request. So we were taking matters into our own hands. I had packed up all the things we needed and the three of us split up the materials needed fairly. Our parents had thought we went to bed, and they were busy with some friends, so they didn't notice when we snuck out of the back door. We were quiet as we could be, though I don't think we were actually very quiet.
Calvin was in his backyard, reading a book, very typical of him as he is very dreamy. He dropped the book immediately when he saw us with all of our camping gear. Our faces were bright with anticipation and a sense of adventure.
"Where are you guys going?" He had asked, in the timid voice of his that I always disliked.
"We're going camping!" Peter, my older brother replied. "Are you coming?" He asked, because he genuinely liked Calvin though he thought Calvin was a bit odd. I don't honestly mind Calvin, but he's so complaisant. I detested that trait with a passion.
So Calvin asked us if we could wait for him, please and he ran inside his house to get all of his things. His parents were actually over with my parents, as they are fairly good friends, so we didn't have to deal with them. It was a wonderful summer evening. The humidity had left the day and now there was a slight breeze, cooling the overheated earth. I could hear the chirping of the crickets and the birds settling down for their bedtime. The air felt wondrous, full of possibility and the sky was colored that intense shade of purple and bright pink and orange. With the exception of the incessant mosquitoes bothering us, it was a great evening. Perfect for camping.
Calvin came back in a few minutes, carrying a bag with odd bulges and creases. We only nodded and waved at him to follow us. There was a hole in the back of our fence that my parents hadn't got around to fixing which lead to the woods. We lived in the suburbs, so it was quite common to have a section of the forest right by your backyard. Peter and Elliot, my other brother, talked amongst themselves and sometimes to Calvin. But mostly it was me and Calvin trailing behind them as we walked along the dirt path through the woods. As we walked, Calvin suddenly stopped and bent down. I was irritated, because he had given no warning that he was just going to randomly stop. But he was up soon enough and I kept on walking, I hadn't waited for him. He ran up, breathing slightly fast and held something up to me. I looked. It was a bright pink flower, the name of which I didn't know. It was a beautiful flower and the center was a golden yellow that reminded me of bees.
"Um...for you." he said, giving the flower to me. I grasped it and felt this odd feeling of...distaste? Which made no sense, because girls, of any age, loved receiving flowers. I felt angry though, because I had no idea how to react. My brothers have often teased me about Calvin, because he had a giant crush on me, which started when we first met and still continued on strongly. I was so mad because I couldn't bring myself to kill his spirit and tell him there was no way I'd like him in the same way. I was eleven, what did I know? Children are so cruel, I now realize. So I said, rather spitefully, "You shouldn't have done that."
He startled, and looked at me in surprise, but he stayed silent.
"Why did you do that? You just killed a living thing, a flower! Even if it doesn't talk or move, it's still living! I don't want this!" I said fiercely, emotion overwhelming me, and my face glared at him with such vehemence. I know because he flinched and looked as if he wanted to cry.
"I...I'm sorry, Lily. I just wanted to give you something nice." His face looked ridiculous, like a clown's. It was torn in such despair, and that malicious part of me reveled in it.
"I don't want this. Stop giving me things!" I said and threw the flower down on the ground. I stepped on it and twisted my foot, feeling a perverse happiness in doing so. By then, Peter and Elliot had noticed and they stopped to watch.
"Lily! What do you think you're doing?!" Peter yelled. He looked angry and all of a sudden, I felt everything leaving me. And once again, I was just a cruel and petty eleven year old girl.
"I..." I stuttered, Peter was only two years older, but very scary.
"You pick that up and apologize to Calvin! What you did was extremely rude and mean Lily! I can't believe you!" He continued. I looked down upon my feet, feeling extremely mixed up, a blend of guilt but satisfaction.
Calvin stood there. He didn't cry but he certainly looked as if he would. I mumbled something and bent to pick up the flower, now ruined, up from the dirt.
"Sorry Calvin." I said, not looking at him. I didn't mean it, not in a single bit. Perhaps now he would leave me alone.
"I'm going home." he said. "I just remembered that I have to finish reading a book for school next week. Sorry." And he ran back to the direction where we came from.
"Lily." Elliot said. He was only a year older than me, but he was mature as well and got along better with Peter than me most of time. "Why did you do that?" He asked, putting his hand on my shoulder.
"Because I'm sick of him! He's always tagging along with us and bothering me! I don't like him back! And he won't give up!" I suddenly shouted, anger coming up again.
"Well then. You should've told him in a nicer way. Trampling his gift isn't a nice way to tell him Lily." Elliot admonished. "Come on. Do you still want to go camping by the creek?"
I nodded mutely. "Shouldn't we go check on Calvin?" Peter asked.
"I don't think he'd want to see us right now...We'll check on him tomorrow." Elliot said.
We camped that night and when we went back in the morning, we got yelled at by our parents, who had been frantic with worry. They called the police, who wouldn't count us missing because we hadn't been gone for more than a day. Needless to say, we were grounded for the last week of summer and the first month of the school year.
I didn't mind too much, because this way I could evade Calvin easily.
After that incident, things returned to normal. It seemed to have no effect on Calvin, for he still gave me little gifts, which I took reluctantly. He still followed us around until Peter and Elliot stopped playing with us.
It's funny now, because I really wish I had reciprocated Calvin's feelings back when we lived near each other. Now, it's years later and Calvin works in this town as a doctor. Everyone adores him and often bring him treats and food, because I know that he's a terrible cook. He's quite popular among the women of this town because he is still handsome after all these years. Somewhere between college and now, he lost his interest in me. And now the roles are reversed because sometime during college and our childhood together, I realized that I loved him.
What a bitter pill it is to swallow. I pass him sometimes, in the grocery store or when I go the clinic he works at. His golden blonde hair is always moving, glinting in the sunlight as he walks by a window. He is still quiet, still timid. But now there's a confidence in his movement and an internal self-belief.
I go to the clinic only for checkups, which doesn't occur very often, but when I see him I feel so sad and yet so happy at the same time. I yearn to yell out loud that I was sorry for all the grief that I caused him, for all the times I've hurt him. And I want to cry that I love him and I'm a huge idiot for only realizing that after so many years, but I can't. He treats me as a friend now, and occasionally comes to see me when there's a family reunion of sorts. He's moved on, the boyfriend of Peter's wife's best friend. They are a charming couple, with the type of relationship that makes any sane person jealous of how well they work together. She is gorgeous, a brunette, tall and thin. She's smart with a doctorate in astrophysics, of all the subjects to study, and works an hour away downtown at a huge research center. She moved here after meeting Calvin. She loves him.
So one sunny afternoon, when the children are playing outside after an arduous day of school, I took out the ticket for New York that I had impulsively bought two weeks ago. My bags were packed from the night before and I grabbed them. I'd go to New York and work at a low end job until I've found another one. I'm smart. I have a degree in Journalism and am currently the writer for the local paper. I work hard. I can survive. I am also still terribly in love with him, but there's no point in that.
I drive steadily, and mechanically. It seems I have ceased feeling the misery that alights upon me when I think of Calvin. Now I only feel resigned, that there is a weary burden that won't go away in my chest. I pass his, no their, house. The windows are open and I hear a laugh, from something his girlfriend had said probably. There is a twinge in me and I blink, feeling something on my face. How typical, it was a tear. I scowled and put my feet on the gas pedal again. The plane is for seven PM and I had better drive so that I can get there in time to go through all the security procedures. As I drive past the trees on the highway, I feel a numbness overtaking me. The sun shone down on the car, casting everything in a too bright light. Opposite my lane, rush hour traffic could be seen coming from the direction of the city. It was a wonderful spring day. All I could think of was that she isn't in love with him.
Critique? Comments?
Un beta'd, I'll eventually get to editing this sometime.
I never knew what to do about Calvin. All of our time together was tinged with an awkwardness that was impossible to get rid of. I've known him since we were small, the neighbor's boy. We were never really friends, but occasion came to us where we played anyway. He tagged along with me and my brothers sometimes, when we went to play in the woods.
Calvin is handsome, was handsome even at an early age, but he's very timid. He has a very diminutive nature that always made me uncomfortable, because he was so ready to follow everyone else instead of standing up for himself. He was most likely bullied in school, though I wouldn't know because I never really talked to him there.
Our time spent together in childhood is marked by nostalgic memories. One instance that I always recall is when we went camping in the woods. It was the four of us, me and my two older brothers, and there was Calvin following us as usual. We wanted to go camping but our parents had given a resound "no" to our request. So we were taking matters into our own hands. I had packed up all the things we needed and the three of us split up the materials needed fairly. Our parents had thought we went to bed, and they were busy with some friends, so they didn't notice when we snuck out of the back door. We were quiet as we could be, though I don't think we were actually very quiet.
Calvin was in his backyard, reading a book, very typical of him as he is very dreamy. He dropped the book immediately when he saw us with all of our camping gear. Our faces were bright with anticipation and a sense of adventure.
"Where are you guys going?" He had asked, in the timid voice of his that I always disliked.
"We're going camping!" Peter, my older brother replied. "Are you coming?" He asked, because he genuinely liked Calvin though he thought Calvin was a bit odd. I don't honestly mind Calvin, but he's so complaisant. I detested that trait with a passion.
So Calvin asked us if we could wait for him, please and he ran inside his house to get all of his things. His parents were actually over with my parents, as they are fairly good friends, so we didn't have to deal with them. It was a wonderful summer evening. The humidity had left the day and now there was a slight breeze, cooling the overheated earth. I could hear the chirping of the crickets and the birds settling down for their bedtime. The air felt wondrous, full of possibility and the sky was colored that intense shade of purple and bright pink and orange. With the exception of the incessant mosquitoes bothering us, it was a great evening. Perfect for camping.
Calvin came back in a few minutes, carrying a bag with odd bulges and creases. We only nodded and waved at him to follow us. There was a hole in the back of our fence that my parents hadn't got around to fixing which lead to the woods. We lived in the suburbs, so it was quite common to have a section of the forest right by your backyard. Peter and Elliot, my other brother, talked amongst themselves and sometimes to Calvin. But mostly it was me and Calvin trailing behind them as we walked along the dirt path through the woods. As we walked, Calvin suddenly stopped and bent down. I was irritated, because he had given no warning that he was just going to randomly stop. But he was up soon enough and I kept on walking, I hadn't waited for him. He ran up, breathing slightly fast and held something up to me. I looked. It was a bright pink flower, the name of which I didn't know. It was a beautiful flower and the center was a golden yellow that reminded me of bees.
"Um...for you." he said, giving the flower to me. I grasped it and felt this odd feeling of...distaste? Which made no sense, because girls, of any age, loved receiving flowers. I felt angry though, because I had no idea how to react. My brothers have often teased me about Calvin, because he had a giant crush on me, which started when we first met and still continued on strongly. I was so mad because I couldn't bring myself to kill his spirit and tell him there was no way I'd like him in the same way. I was eleven, what did I know? Children are so cruel, I now realize. So I said, rather spitefully, "You shouldn't have done that."
He startled, and looked at me in surprise, but he stayed silent.
"Why did you do that? You just killed a living thing, a flower! Even if it doesn't talk or move, it's still living! I don't want this!" I said fiercely, emotion overwhelming me, and my face glared at him with such vehemence. I know because he flinched and looked as if he wanted to cry.
"I...I'm sorry, Lily. I just wanted to give you something nice." His face looked ridiculous, like a clown's. It was torn in such despair, and that malicious part of me reveled in it.
"I don't want this. Stop giving me things!" I said and threw the flower down on the ground. I stepped on it and twisted my foot, feeling a perverse happiness in doing so. By then, Peter and Elliot had noticed and they stopped to watch.
"Lily! What do you think you're doing?!" Peter yelled. He looked angry and all of a sudden, I felt everything leaving me. And once again, I was just a cruel and petty eleven year old girl.
"I..." I stuttered, Peter was only two years older, but very scary.
"You pick that up and apologize to Calvin! What you did was extremely rude and mean Lily! I can't believe you!" He continued. I looked down upon my feet, feeling extremely mixed up, a blend of guilt but satisfaction.
Calvin stood there. He didn't cry but he certainly looked as if he would. I mumbled something and bent to pick up the flower, now ruined, up from the dirt.
"Sorry Calvin." I said, not looking at him. I didn't mean it, not in a single bit. Perhaps now he would leave me alone.
"I'm going home." he said. "I just remembered that I have to finish reading a book for school next week. Sorry." And he ran back to the direction where we came from.
"Lily." Elliot said. He was only a year older than me, but he was mature as well and got along better with Peter than me most of time. "Why did you do that?" He asked, putting his hand on my shoulder.
"Because I'm sick of him! He's always tagging along with us and bothering me! I don't like him back! And he won't give up!" I suddenly shouted, anger coming up again.
"Well then. You should've told him in a nicer way. Trampling his gift isn't a nice way to tell him Lily." Elliot admonished. "Come on. Do you still want to go camping by the creek?"
I nodded mutely. "Shouldn't we go check on Calvin?" Peter asked.
"I don't think he'd want to see us right now...We'll check on him tomorrow." Elliot said.
We camped that night and when we went back in the morning, we got yelled at by our parents, who had been frantic with worry. They called the police, who wouldn't count us missing because we hadn't been gone for more than a day. Needless to say, we were grounded for the last week of summer and the first month of the school year.
I didn't mind too much, because this way I could evade Calvin easily.
After that incident, things returned to normal. It seemed to have no effect on Calvin, for he still gave me little gifts, which I took reluctantly. He still followed us around until Peter and Elliot stopped playing with us.
It's funny now, because I really wish I had reciprocated Calvin's feelings back when we lived near each other. Now, it's years later and Calvin works in this town as a doctor. Everyone adores him and often bring him treats and food, because I know that he's a terrible cook. He's quite popular among the women of this town because he is still handsome after all these years. Somewhere between college and now, he lost his interest in me. And now the roles are reversed because sometime during college and our childhood together, I realized that I loved him.
What a bitter pill it is to swallow. I pass him sometimes, in the grocery store or when I go the clinic he works at. His golden blonde hair is always moving, glinting in the sunlight as he walks by a window. He is still quiet, still timid. But now there's a confidence in his movement and an internal self-belief.
I go to the clinic only for checkups, which doesn't occur very often, but when I see him I feel so sad and yet so happy at the same time. I yearn to yell out loud that I was sorry for all the grief that I caused him, for all the times I've hurt him. And I want to cry that I love him and I'm a huge idiot for only realizing that after so many years, but I can't. He treats me as a friend now, and occasionally comes to see me when there's a family reunion of sorts. He's moved on, the boyfriend of Peter's wife's best friend. They are a charming couple, with the type of relationship that makes any sane person jealous of how well they work together. She is gorgeous, a brunette, tall and thin. She's smart with a doctorate in astrophysics, of all the subjects to study, and works an hour away downtown at a huge research center. She moved here after meeting Calvin. She loves him.
So one sunny afternoon, when the children are playing outside after an arduous day of school, I took out the ticket for New York that I had impulsively bought two weeks ago. My bags were packed from the night before and I grabbed them. I'd go to New York and work at a low end job until I've found another one. I'm smart. I have a degree in Journalism and am currently the writer for the local paper. I work hard. I can survive. I am also still terribly in love with him, but there's no point in that.
I drive steadily, and mechanically. It seems I have ceased feeling the misery that alights upon me when I think of Calvin. Now I only feel resigned, that there is a weary burden that won't go away in my chest. I pass his, no their, house. The windows are open and I hear a laugh, from something his girlfriend had said probably. There is a twinge in me and I blink, feeling something on my face. How typical, it was a tear. I scowled and put my feet on the gas pedal again. The plane is for seven PM and I had better drive so that I can get there in time to go through all the security procedures. As I drive past the trees on the highway, I feel a numbness overtaking me. The sun shone down on the car, casting everything in a too bright light. Opposite my lane, rush hour traffic could be seen coming from the direction of the city. It was a wonderful spring day. All I could think of was that she isn't in love with him.
Critique? Comments?