Lost Love ~ Short Story

Sitting in his black 2007 Chevy Impala LS, Chris contemplated telling Michelle what he knew she deserved to know. He pondered over telling her something he knew would break her heart. He tried to figure out how to tell a person that he cared so deeply for some news that he knew would risk him losing a close friend forever. Chris knew that he could not hide this from her any longer and decided to face the truth that he might lose her. Taking a deep breath, Chris called out to Michelle as she reached for the door handle. "Michelle, I asked her to marry me," Chris heard himself saying in slow motion.

"Well Chris it was nice being your friend and I hope you have a nice life." Taken back by Michelle's nonchalant attitude, Chris grabbed her arm as she went to get out of the car. "What? That's all you got to say? How you just gone stop being my friend cause I'm engaged?"
"Chris, I can't stand back and watch you marry her knowing I feel the way I feel about you. I care about you a lot; more than I care to describe in any more words. And you knew this. A month after we met, I asked you did you like me. You were like 'yea'. Do you remember that?"
"Yea and I meant that."
"But Chris, you didn't mean it in the way I wanted you to. After that I asked you did you like me enough to want to start a relationship and you told that you weren't ready for a relationship. And do you remember what I told you?"
"Yea, you told me that you were."
"I told you more than that. I told you that I really liked you and wanted to be in a relationship with you. I also told you that I would wait till you were ready."
"Yea, I remember."
"And do you remember what you did six months later?"
"I ended up hooking up with..."

"Yea, you ended up getting in a relationship with her. And when you came to me and told me that, I was hurt. Oh believe me I very was hurt, but I accepted it and remained your friend regardless. I even remained a friend when you would come to me with your relationship problems. I never once gave you any advice that would persuade you to break up with her. My advice was always unbiased. I just sat back and waited for the day when you realized I was the one for you. But you never saw it. And now you're engaged to her."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know that...that"
"You didn't know what Chris? That I cared so much. You knew that's why it took you two weeks to tell me you asked her to marry you."
"You knew all this time?"
"Of course I did. Your sister called me two days later and told me all about it. She asked me if I was throwing you an engagement party."
"Oh."
"Did you even think of me when you asked her?"
"I didn't..."
"You didn't think of me till afterwards. I guess I don't mean as much to you as you do to me," Michelle commented as she got out of the car. She slammed the door behind her and quickly walked into her dorm feeling the tears start to swell up in her eyes.

Chris, not wanting to end their friendship that way, parked his car in a no parking zone and ran into the dorm hoping to catch up with Michelle. When he ran inside, he saw Michelle stepping onto the elevator and ran after her. The doors had closed when he made it to the elevator but he pushed the up button to get it to open. The doors opened and Michelle was standing in front of him brokenhearted. "Go away, Chris," Michelle said barely above a whisper.

"No, I can't."
"Why not?"
"Cause I love you."
"You don't love me."
"Michelle, I love you."
"No you don't"
"Yes, yes I do."
"What makes you think I should believe you?"

"Because I'm telling you I love you." Not sure what she should do, Michelle stood there pondering on if she should believe him or not. Chris stood there patiently waiting for her response when a guy standing on the elevator asked, "Um, I don't mean to interrupt this intense moment but can you get in the elevator?" Chris quickly shook his head and walked into the elevator. He wrapped his arms around Michelle and told her to look at him. "Michelle I love you."
"If you love me like you say Chris then why are you marrying her?" Hesitant to answer Michelle's question, Chris stood there for a minute wondering what he could say to not make the situation worse. Interrupting his thoughts, Michelle asked him again, "Why Chris?"

"Because...she...she is...she is pregnant." Stunned, Michelle looked at Chris in disbelief. She could not do anything but shake her head no as she replayed his words over and over in her mind. She was so shocked that she had not even noticed that the elevator had stopped on her floor. When the doors were about to close, she ran out the elevator leaving Chris behind. The doors closed before Chris could run after her. Not wanting to lose her, Chris pushed the button for the fourth floor in a desperate attempt to get the elevator to go back down. The elevator went up to the sixth floor to drop off the guy in the elevator next to Chris before it went back to the fourth floor. As soon as the doors opened, Chris shot out of the elevator and down the hall towards Michelle's room. When he came around the corner of her hall, he saw her unlocking her door and ran down the hall calling after her. Michelle looked at Chris with tears in her eyes right before she went in her room and slammed the door in his face.

"Michelle please just talk to me."
"Talk to you Chris. There is nothing to say. You got her pregnant!" Michelle screamed so loud that everyone on that hall came out to see what all the commotion was about.
"But I love you Michelle."
"Do you really Chris, do you really?"
"Yes I do."
"Well you have a fucking funny way of showing it. How could you be so careless as to get her pregnant? Pregnant!" Michelle screamed as she punched the door.
"I know, I didn't mean for that to happen."

"Of course you didn't, and with you being such a great guy," Michelle started to say before she found herself crying again, "you asked her to marry you because you didn't want your kids to grow up without a father like you did." Feeling worse than he was already feeling, Chris pleaded for Michelle to open the door so they could talk face-to-face. "No Chris, I don't want to ever see your face again. Just go away and leave me alone." Michelle then heard a knock coming from the restroom door. She yelled "come in" and her suitemate Nikki came in to see if she was okay. She found Michelle lying on the floor next to the door crying. She went over to Michelle and tried to persuade her to get in the bed. "No, my heart is here and here is where I want to stay. Make him go away Nikki. Longer he stays out there the more I will convince myself to take him back. I can't take him back. Make him go away Nikki. Please make him go away." Upset to see her friend like this, Nikki went out of Michelle's door to get Chris to leave.
Sitting against the wall with tears streaming down his face, Chris looked towards Michelle's door expecting to see her coming out the door. He jumped up when he saw Nikki and asked if Michelle was willing to see him. "I think you should leave Chris."
"No I'm not leaving till she talks to me."

"Chris just leave. You have my friend in there lying on the floor crying. She won't get up because she feels like you ripped her heart out and threw it on the floor. Just go! Leave her alone!" Feeling like he had been hit with a truck, Chris leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor. He put his face in his hands and started to cry. He could not figure out how he could have been so stupid. One of Chris's friends who was visiting a female on Michelle's hall, got tired of seeing his friend make a fool out of himself and tired to get Chris to leave. "Come on Chris lets go." Too drained to put up a fight, Chris got up and followed his friend down the hallway. He stopped at the end of the hall to look back at Michelle's room and saw Nikki still standing there with an angry look on her face. Facing the fact that he might have actually lost Michelle, Chris continued to walk down the hall toward the elevator feeling as if he had just lost the love of his life.

Once Chris disappeared around the corner, Nikki went back into Michelle's room to try to get her to get off the floor and into bed. Michelle obeyed and stood up. As soon as she stood up, she began to cry uncontrollably. Nikki hugged her friend in an effort to calm her. "Why Nikki? Why did he have to do this to me? Why couldn't he just have picked me? Why did he have to be so careless? Why do I love him so much? Why? Why Nikki? Why?" Michelle cried out on Nikki's shoulder as her heart ached with the pain of losing her first and only love.