Story Exercise

I know it's been a long time since I've last updated; I've just been keeping all my writing to myself. I tried my hand at writing from the male's point of view once more, and it's been becoming more successful every time I try. Here is a story adaptation that I based loosely on the lyrics of Because You Live by Jesse McCartney. :)

I sat on the orange sofa bed staring out the window. It was raining heavily outside, pouring as if it were the end of the world, and the grey, so grey, clouds were crying, protesting. If Marigold were here, she’d have laughed at the ‘pessimistic’ clouds, and started drawing a smiley face on the misted window.
Marigold… How much I missed her. Her positive attitude could have lifted a thousand ton weight, and made it as effortless as eating a pork pie. Something wet trickled down my face, but I ignored it.
I thought of Marigold’s smile. So real, so carefree, as if she had no worry in the world. Her pretty, heart-shaped face with its two brown eyes and her cute little nose. My damp bangs flopped into my eyes, and I hugged the cushion closer to me. A tearing sensation started up in my chest; it felt as though I was being split into two by this invisible hole that continued tearing up my heart and down my stomach.
Tears were running down my face and I squeezed the pillow so hard I thought I could feel the fluff come out. I buried my streaked face into the softness, curled up like the vulnerable ball that I was. It smelt of Chanel No. 5 – Marigold’s favourite perfume. I’d bought it for her last year for her birthday. It was only then that I realized I’d been hugging our ‘anniversary’ cushion, and then hollow sobs started rippling out of my chest.
Biting my lip, my entire frame shook with sobs – full of tears and snot. I didn’t think I would miss Marigold so much. We’d been together for seven years! And she just threw our entire relationship down the drain! All that I’d done for her… Everything I bought her, everything I sacrificed for her. Did she not bother about that at all?
Had she even loved me? She’d said once that we would be together forever, that our destinies were intertwined. Had she been lying all along?
My heart screamed. LIES! I should’ve known she was too good to be true. I was not worthy of her, and I shouldn’t even have tried. For the whole seven years, I’d thought everything was perfect, and that I wouldn’t want any other life. I hadn’t, but apparently, she had.
I went through another round of spasms, my body shaking uncontrollably. The tears kept flowing; my eyes never grew tired of letting them out. It seemed as if the Niagara Falls would never stop thundering, and neither would my heart. It pounded against my chest. I could practically feel the cut inflicted on it, bleeding and bleeding. It felt that way…
My phone started vibrating in my pocket and I heard the friendship song playing… “Hello?” I answered, trying to steady my voice. Quickly wiping away my tears, I cleared my throat. “Um, Joel?” It was Serene. I swallowed the big ball stuck in my throat before replying.
“Oh yes, what?” My words came out sharper than intended, but it didn’t deter Serene. She continued speaking in that same, quiet voice. “Are you alright?” I blinked, and then said, “Sure. What’s up?” She sighed very silently on the other end, but I picked it up.
“She told me, Joel. And I can tell that you’ve been crying.” I sucked in a sharp breath, as if a rope had suddenly been wound tightly around my chest. “No, I’m fine. Seriously.” Silence. “Look, did you call me just for that? Because I’m actually quite busy, and-”
“Joel, stop faking it. If you feel upset, there’s no point hiding it. Don’t you treat me as your best friend?” She sounded snappy. I sighed. I did treat her as a best friend, but I didn’t want to whine to anyone…
“Joel, please. I just want to help,” her voice grew even quieter and I flinched. After pinching my lips a few times while she waited patiently on the other end, I finally cracked.
“Okay, so she called me, and she told me that she was getting tired of it,” my voice quivered and my stomach became shaky. I was taking shorter, shallow breaths at the memory. “She said she no longer loved me.”
She drew a sharp breath, and then a loud huffing came over the phone. “Oh my goodness, that’s terrible! I don’t think you’re alright, are you?” The wetness streaked down my face again and I could taste the saltiness of my tears.
“No, it’s just… I mean, I loved her so much, and we were together for seven years! I gave so much for her, and she’d been lying all along. It just hurts so much!” I cried into the phone, overcome by the internal tearing once more. Serene said nothing, but it helped. And for the next two hours, I spilled all my thoughts and hurt into my cell phone.
~
“Catch, Joel!” I turned and she passed me the ball. I was momentarily stunned, but then took off with the ball in my hands, dribbling it down the court. I reached the three-point mark, and then did a jump-shot. Swish! I pumped a fist in the air and heard the familiar laughter behind me. The one which told of nothing but lifelong happiness.
“Um, hey Marigold. What are you doing here?” Serene spoke, and I found her standing beside me. Since when did she get here? I concentrated on her and tried to block out the sound of Marigold’s voice. I made sure that I kept my back to her, and I fixed my stare on Serene.
“Oh, nothing much. Just saw you guys playing, so I came over,” Marigold’s carefree voice floated into my ears, and I frowned. Serene was staring over my shoulder, and I resisted the urge to look at my ex-girlfriend. Serene had given me some tips while we were IM-ing last night. And this was one of them – don’t look at her, don’t talk to her, ignore her at all costs.
“Oh, okay,” Serene replied, and then an awkward silence descended upon the three of us. I could sense that Marigold felt a little out of place with me flat-out pretending that she didn’t exist, because she said, “Um, I’d better get back. David’s waiting for me. I’ll see you guys around!” Then, she ran off, leaving me breathless.
“She has another guy?” I asked, my voice sounding weak. Serene bit her lip and looked over at me, pity dotting her kind, green eyes. And then I walked off, my tears falling on the hard concrete of the basketball court.
~
I was walking home from school, brooding over Marigold, again. I was trying so hard not to think about her, but it was tough. All throughout the day, I was dreading seeing her in all my classes and at lunch, but it seemed as if when I tried to avoid her, I would come closer to her than ever. Just this morning after the brief meeting at the basketball court, I’d bumped into her at my locker, and again after lunch.
I even went out of my way to avoid her! But it didn’t help. During lunch, I sat alone eating my fries in cheese dip, watching enviously as Marigold sat and flirted with David across the cafeteria. I knew everyone was watching me; our relationship had been widely known throughout the school, but now, everyone saw only Marigold and that soccer dude who kicked the ball like a girl.
As I trudged through the light drizzle, I couldn’t help but recall the times when we had been together. I’d met her at the train station eight years ago, when we became the best of friends. Her phone had been stolen, so I’d lent her mine for her to call her father. Since then, we realized we lived near each other – in the same neighbourhood – and we visited each other regularly.
We always hung out at each others’ houses, and dated in secret. We even went to the same high school, and now, the same college. I remember how she used to blast that indie music from her black-and-silver amplifier, those songs by the band from Pennsylvania that nobody knows. I remember our third anniversary when we were both fifteen. I’d brought her to the pavilion three miles away from our neighbourhood where I used to play in when I was younger.
I’d decorated the pavilion with twinkly fairy lights which I knew she loved, and I’d slow danced with her to the romantic song “Smiles in the wind”. She’d smiled so sweetly it burned a hole in my heart, and that had been my first kiss – with her, and with anyone else.
Another tear fell down my cheek and soon, plenty others dotted my face. I pursed my lips and let them drip down in silence. I was almost nearing my house. When I rounded the corner, I noticed something was wrong. A silver scooter was parked in front of my house, and there was a bottle of grease on the window sill. Panic shot through my body.
Had somebody sneaked into my house?! I knew my parents weren’t home, in fact, nobody was. I hurriedly pushed open the door and dumped my bag in the living room, rushing up the stairs. Even now, I was still thinking of Marigold and when she and I had slid down the carpet from the second floor together.
I shook my head, hoping to shake all my thoughts away, and turned the doorknob to my room. It was locked.
I did the first thing that came to mind – I dropped to the floor and tried to peek in the gap between the door and the wooden floor. All I could see was a chair in the middle of the room, and that was all that had changed. I scowled. Why would a burglar be using a chair?!
I scrambled up and tried the door again, this time twisting the golden knob around and around, producing a noisy ‘click-clack’ sound. It still wouldn’t budge! I knocked against the white door and thumped my leg. “Whoever is in there, you’d better come out now or else I’ll hammer my way in!”
The frantic scraping of the chair could be heard, as well as an ear-piercing screech coming from inside, as if it was metal on metal. My eyes widened in frustration, and panic shot through my veins. I braced myself to crash against the door if this person didn’t open it in three seconds.
Muttering “three, two, one…” under my breath, adrenaline raced through me and I huffed. Taking a deep breath, I shouted at the top of my lungs and charged into the room just as the door swung open. I skidded to a stop once inside, and gasped in wander. What happened to my room?!
~
My room looked as though it had been transformed into a set straight out of the heartland of Hollywood. Posters of my favourite movie, sports and music stars hung from the walls, which were all coated with fresh paint of bright, lively colours – orange, yellow, lime green and sky blue.
The furniture had been re-arranged, and all the old photos had been taken down, replaced by new, happy pictures of Serene and my family, framed with pretty designs in pastel colours. I also noticed Marigold’s scent was rid from the room, and instead, sprayed with a Drakkar Noir perfume, the same one on my beaten, leather motorcycle jacket.
I couldn’t believe it. I suddenly noticed a striking pink note on my wardrobe door, and shuffled over to look at it, still shocked and in a state of utter amazement. It read, in red cursive words, “Meet me at the rooftop – the S ;)”
A wide grin spread over my face as I pushed open the door at the corner of the room, which led to a flight of stairs up to the rooftop. Clutching the note in my fist, I stepped out onto the windy roof, the light breeze pushing my blonde bangs into my eyes. I quickly scanned the flat place, and spotted her with her back to me, sitting on the bench near the edge.
“Hey,” I bounced over and sat beside her. She didn’t turn to look at me, but muttered, “Hey”. She was wearing a black glam shirt with grey skinny jeans and black converse. I sensed that she was in one of her rare ‘deep-thoughts’ moments, so I left her alone to look at the sunset for a while. Then, she finally faced me, and said in her uplifting voice, “So, do you like your new room?”
I laughed when she winked at me teasingly. “It’s good, thanks so much.” “Seriously?” She questioned, doubtful. I gazed at her, wondering how her face seemed to glimmer in the faint light. “Yeah.” And I wasn’t kidding – my room really did look good!
With that, we continued chatting till dusk, when my parents came back from work, and she had to leave to finish up her homework. It wasn’t until she left that I realized she lived on the other side of town.
I chuckled to myself and hid in my room, sketching some random picture on a piece of drawing paper. I never knew that friends could do so much for you, especially Serene. She’d really helped me so much; I didn’t know how to thank her.
Just before I went to bed, I looked down at the picture I’d been doodling since an hour ago, and saw Marigold and I kissing under an umbrella in the rain…
~
A hollow slurping sound came from beside me and my eyes left the only orange table in the cafeteria, slinking over to Serene. She was biting her straw, her face scrunched up in intense frustration. I started laughing out loud, and I didn’t know why – either because of the reason why she was producing that gassy noise, or because of how cute she looked.
She noticed me staring only thirty seconds later, and she said, “What?” I almost believed her… until her green eyes – the most striking feature of her face – puckered and a slight flicker started up in it. I blew my bangs out of my face.
“Dammit, you’re trying to make me laugh, aren’t you?” She blinked twice, in shock that I’d guessed it right, and then spoke with a layered innocence that I did not believe. “Why would you say that? I mean, you laugh when you laugh, I don’t have to make you laugh, do I?” But I caught the mysterious glint in her eyes that happened sometimes and started cracking up again.
“Thanks,” I said, really meaning it. A sly grin popped up on her face, and my eyes narrowed in apparent dramatic form. “Well, to really thank me, maybe you could treat me to dinner today.”
My jaw dropped. Serene. And. I. Go. For. Dinner?! She saw my expression and her face fell; I could almost see the hurt in her eyes before it flashed away. “It’s fine if you don’t want to. Just a little extra request,” she winked. I chuckled. It was great that my best friend knew how to pass an awkward moment. Very awkward moment.
~

--Because You Live; Random Writing