Glass Doves and Paper Swans: Prologue
A little look-see at a series I plan on writing to train my writing skills and hopefully meet new people on sofurry.
*Three years earlier*
A gentle breeze is blowing through the air on a cool spring day, as distant laughter can be heard. One lone ram is walking along a park path, hands in his pockets and shoulders slumped. He lets out a sigh as he trudged along the beaten path. "Hey! Eric!" He hears someone call out. He turns around to see a familiar feline running up to him, "Hey Jessie." He says with a sluggish wave.
Jessie caught up with Eric with a smile on her face said, "So, how did it go?" Jittering with excitement. With a heavy sigh, Eric replied, "She said no." With that said the smile dropped from Jessie's face as she uttered a sympathetic "Oh..." Eric looks over to her, "Don't worry about." He said with a lighter tone. "Not everything is going to work out." Jessie gave him a pat on the back and said, "I know but I thought you had a chance with her." "Yeah, so did I," Eric replied as he began to walk again, Jessie quickly following after. "The worst part wasn't that she said no, but she gave the whole you're a nice guy but speech." Eric lets out a little scowl, "Do my and all the guys you are going to say no to in the future and never give them that speech, it's almost as bad as spitting in our faces."
A little time goes by as the two talk back and forth about failed relationships and some that never even came. "I'll get over it in a day or two," Eric said hoping to end the discussion on his rejection. "When did we start talking like friends? I always forget" Jessie pondered. Eric moved his arms over themselves as a breeze kicked in. "I think it was the end of the third quarter or something like that." "Right," Jessie responded still unsure.
A few moments pass before Eric looks over at her and says, "Hey, thanks." "For what?" Jessie asked confused. "Thank you for trying to help me with Lauren, and thank you for being a good friend." Eric said a bit quietly, "I don't have anyone to talk about this stuff but you. And hell, it means a lot to me." Jessie was taken a bit by surprise, "Um yeah... You're welcome." She said, "Well, thank you too, I don't have any friends I can really talk about this stuff with either." Eric looked over at her, "Really? Am I the only one? Don't you have Lauren or Jordan?" Jessie replied, "Not really, Lauren is not really a talky-feely type and Jordan basically a brother to me." She looks at the ground.
After a little bit of walking and thinking, Eric gave her a pat on the back. "Don't worry about it, there's someone out there perfect for you, as well as someone for me. But we got to keep looking. Sometimes your heart gets crushed on the first word or the 14th date. And after each time it will feel horrible and hopeless. But still, a day or so after it happens, You learn to smile and carry on like it didn't happen, and you see all the reasons it couldn't work and you get over it so long as you got a no." Jessie looked up at him and said, "Thanks. I need to hear that."
Over in the distance, a car pulls up outside of the park walls. "Oh, That's my ride," Jessie said. "So, this is the last time we'll see each other this year," Eric said with a solemn expression. "Yeah, it is, isn't it," Jessie said slightly saddened by the turn of events. Eric let out a sigh and said goodbye to her, but Jessie instead gave him a hug. Eric was surprised and stumbled down to meet her height and hesitated, but before he could react she let go and waved him goodbye as she ran off to the car.
"But only one thing was in my mind at that moment. Was there something there. I guess I'll never know. I don't know why out of all of the things I could have remembered about high school, why this one is always the first one. Why am I even thinking about this right now, I should get up...."
Maybe I remember because I never got a no.
To be continued