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Saturday, December 11, 2010

SnappleApple450 Week 29: Oblivious to Love

SnappleApple 450
Saturday



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Title:
Oblivious to Love

Have you ever been in that moment when you realized you’ve been in love this entire time? Realized that every look he gave you had something hidden from your eyes. He wanted to tell you every chance he had, but you never gave him the chance he wanted. Does true love know distance and time? Is it ever too late for love? When should you realize it’s over and move on?

Mark was my best friend’s older brother. He was two years older than us, but his maturity level brought him down to our level. I’d been friends with Kim since we were toddlers and so I knew Mark for the same time. As we grew up, he was a bully thinking he was too big to play with babies; personally I think he was afraid we had cooties. When we reached middle school, he ignored us. He got his own group of friends and I became the “baby sister’s best friend” and nothing more. The most we’d talk to each other was when he came to snatch a cookie from us when we would have a sleepover. I was fine with this, completely. He was just the older brother to my best friend and not a second thought on the topic.

I remember very clearly when we reached high school. Everything seemed to change. He got a girlfriend and I remained happily single. Kim remained my closest friend I could ever ask for. I remember when her parents told them they were going on vacation and leaving Kim and Mark in charge of the house.They couldn’t say “no parties” faster than we had sent out a universal text to the world. Turned out, hardly anyone showed up. Talk about the lamest thing ever. It was just Mark, his girlfriend Brittany, Kim, her boyfriend John, Sara, Max, Joyce, Liz, and Derik that was there. We decided that since the party couldn’t get any worse, we’ll make it worse. So we decided to play Spin the Bottle. Not even with an alcohol bottle. We used a two liter coke to play with, still full and unopened.

“Let’s let Kim go!” Joyce exclaimed.

Kim shook her head. “If it lands on anyone else but John, I’ll hear about it for the rest of the night.”

John laughed. “No come on, we all have to play! No one holds anything against anyone around this circle. Agreed?”

A chorus of agreements went around the coffee table and Kim hesitantly spun the large bottle. It went around the table and landed on Max. Max wiggled his eyebrows as he leaned over the table to kiss her. Kim was about to give him a peck on the lips when Mark spoke up.

“Wait!” Kim stopped, grateful for her brother. He continued. “We need rules. This isn’t middle school anymore.” A grin spread out on his face. “Kiss has to be longer than 5 seconds and same gender is allowed if it’s a girl, but no guys are allowed to kiss another guy. Same goes for family.” Everyone laughed at his rule, but agreed to it.

Kim glared at him as he told her to continue. She pressed her lips to Max’s and counted in her head, pulling away quickly when the time was up. Max laughed sitting back down. “I’d say include tongue rule, but I don’t think Kim would appreciate that.”

John’s arm tightened around Kim as he glared at Max. “No tongue. Get your own girlfriend.”

Max shrugged. “Why when I can steal yours?”

Everyone laughed, knowing he was joking; even John was in good spirits. It was soon my turn and I took the bottle, spinning it with all my might. I didn’t really have any preference for anyone at this table so I just wanted to get it over with and move on. The bottle spun around and around and finally slowed down, landing on Mark across from me.

My eyes raised to meet his shocked ones. “Um, this doesn’t count. He’s practically family,” I tried to get out of it.

Brittany smirked. “No, come on, baby. Kiss her. It’ll probably be her first kiss anyway.”

I glared at her. I never liked her at all. She seemed like she was trying too hard to be the next Megan Fox and I guess that was her allure to the guys.

Mark chuckled nervously. “I think Rachelle is right. She’s practically family so it--”

“Doesn’t count,” Kim interrupted smiling deviously.

My mouth was open in shock at the betrayal of my best friend. “Who wants to play Twister?” I asked suddenly.

Everyone at the table started yelling at us to kiss already. “In fact, just to show you how confident I am about my boyfriend. Let’s up the stakes here. Since you have so much opposition for this, Seven Minutes in Heaven.” Brittany smirked at me.

Mark stood up and sighed. “Rache, any longer and they’ll have it Twenty Minutes in Bed.”

I scrambled to my feet and followed him to the hall closet with a blush on my face. He opened the closet door and waved me in. Everyone stayed in the living room with the timer to count down. He closed the door behind him and turned the light on. It was a very faint light, giving just enough light to show where he was standing.

He chuckled. “This is embarrassing.”

I nodded, rubbing my arm. “Yeah, kinda.” I stayed quiet for a few seconds. “You know, I can’t figure out why you even like that girl,” I blurted.

Mark didn’t say anything, but finally chuckled. “I don’t. I mean not really.” I stared at him, waiting for an explanation. “She’s hot.” He shrugged off the question.

I bit my lip. “Figures. That’s all guys ever look at.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Are you kidding? Brittany is right! I’m the bookworm type, no guy ever goes for that...” I felt my eyes start to tear up, embarrassed that I was admitting this to him.

Suddenly I felt his hand touch my arm gently, pulling me closer to him. “Rachelle, what are you talking about? You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met. I’ve always thought that.”

My brain was fuzzy, I couldn’t process what he was saying to me; his close breathe fanned across my face. “We have about three minutes left in here...” he faded off as he leaned in to kiss me. His lips were so warm and tender, moving with mine perfectly. I felt his tongue barely touch my lips wanting access. I opened my mouth, inhaling as we deepened the kiss. His hands wrapped around my waist, holding me against his body as I intertwined my fingers around his neck and into his hair. He pushed me against the closet wall, kissing me passionately.

“Times up!” Kim swung the door open, letting in the bright hallway light. She gasped, eyes open when she caught us.

Mark ripped away from me and ran to his sister. “Kimberly, you can’t say anything! Brittany would freak out!” Kim still couldn’t speak and I was breathing deeply trying to regain my thoughts.

Kim closed her mouth, swallowed, and nodded. “Just...wow.” She turned around and walked back to the living room. “They’re so lame, just in their talking.”

I bit my lip as Mark looked back at me before rejoining the group in the living room. I could hear Brittany’s laugh. “She probably didn’t even know what to do with the seven minutes.”

I couldn’t hear Mark or anyone else. “Yeah, I’m so glad to have someone experienced like you.”

I didn’t know how to react. I sucked in a deep breath and walked into the room, heading straight for the door as I grabbed my coat. “I’m going home, I’ll call you tonight Kim.” I ran out before I could hear Brittany make a snide remark.

“Rache!” Kim yelled from the porch, I was already one foot in my car. She ran up to me and glared. “What the hell is up with you? Kissing Mark, are you serious?!”

I sighed, rubbing my face. “Yeah, he kissed me and I kissed him back. It was a game okay?” I shook my head to clear my thoughts. “I’m going home. Just tell them I was suddenly feeling sick or something.” I got in my car and pulled out, leaving Kim in the driveway.


That was my freshman year of high school. Mark was now heading off to college in a month and so much had changed since two years ago. Brittany was long out of the picture along with a numerous other amount of girls over the time. I had a boyfriend until a couple months ago when I found out he cheated. Now I was single as was Mark.

After that night at their house, when Mark kissed me, things had been awkward between us. I was a little more hesitant on staying over at night because he would be there. We didn’t talk in school anymore, we hardly talked at all. After a few months had passed, Mark cornered me in the hallway.

“Rachelle, wait!”

“What?”

“You’ve been avoiding me like the plaque. Why?”

I stopped and glared at him. “Why? Maybe it was...” I faded out, not wanting to continue the conversation.

He smirked “Say it. The kiss, right?”

I looked away angrily and almost hurt that he didn’t think it was a big deal. It was huge to me, it occupied every thought in my head. I never stopped thinking about it over the past months. I would replay it in my head, wondering what could have happened next for us. I remember what he told me in the closet. That he always thought I was beautiful. Did that mean nothing? Tears threatened to overflow, but I batted them away and glared. I tried to push past him but he grabbed my arm, pulling me back as he kissed me. I was so shocked and taken by surprise; I didn’t know how to respond.

He broke the kiss and looked at me without a smile. “The truth is I meant everything that happened in that closet.” He wanted to say something else, but he sighed and walked off, leaving me alone in the hall.

I leaned against the lockers and stared at his retreating figure. The bell rang letting school out; kids filled the hallways, running for the exit. I didn’t move; couldn’t tell my feet to move. Kim walked up to me, holding up her phone for me to read.

“It’s from Mark, just texted me. He wants you to meet him on the pier.”

My heart flipped, but I wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing. Kim shoved her phone in her pocket and crossed her arms.

“How long will you keep this up?”

I stared at her blankly. “What are you talking about?”

Kim glared. “You’re seriously going to deny being in love with him?” My mouth opened but no words came out. She nodded, “that’s what I thought.”

“How long have you known?” I whispered.

Kim chuckled, taking my arm with hers as we walked out to my car. “To be honest, I knew he did, but when I caught you in the closet all over him…” She laughed.

“So you’ve been playing Cupid this whole time and I didn’t even know.” I pulled out of the school parking lot and headed for her house.

“Sweetie, there’s a lot you’re not aware of,” she laughed. I came to a stop and let her out in her driveway. “You’ll go to the pier, won’t you?” she asked in all manner of seriousness.

I bit my lip, thinking. She whined out loud and I rolled my eyes. “Yes, fine I’ll go!”

She squealed. “Ooh goody! Have fun! But not too much fun, I don’t want to be an aunt yet.” She slammed the door before I could respond, not that I had a good response anyway.

I stared straight ahead and took in a breath. I made my way to the ocean and parked. No one was in sight, not even cars were passing by. Not many people were coming to the ocean this time of year. Slowly, I walked out onto the long walk. Halfway out I sat down and dangled my feet over the edge of the water. I looked around, trying to see if any cars were pulling in. I knew what Mark’s car looked like, but I didn’t see it anywhere.

With a sigh, I leaned back and raised my face to the sky, closing my eyes. It was a couple weeks before school was out and you could feel the weather getting warmer. It felt great to me, just enough cold air to wear pants.

“Hey…”

I looked up into the sun and saw Mark’s silhouette. “Hey.”

He sat down next to me. “Kim said to come down to the pier, I didn’t know you’d be here.”

I started to say something, but stopped and smiled. Kim once again played her tricks on me. “Yeah Kim said you wanted to see me.”

He chuckled, “as a matter of fact, yes.” I waited silently for him to speak. “Rachelle, ever since seventh grade, I’ve had a crush on you, a huge crush.” He paused to gauge my reaction. “I only dated other girls because I knew I didn’t have a chance with you. Brittany was just my futile attempt to distract myself and to be honest… I failed at it.”

“Mark—“ he interrupted me.

“No listen. That night at the party when we were in the closet… I’d been waiting for that moment for too long, I’m sorry if you don’t feel the same. I shouldn’t have kissed you without asking.” He sighed.

“I’m sorry for putting you in an awkward position, it wasn’t my intention. I only came here to apologize.” He stood up and started to walk away.

I followed. “Mark wait!” He stopped but didn’t turn around to face me. “Mark, I wanted to kiss you. I like you…a lot!” He slowly turned around. “I was afraid you didn’t like me,” I laughed briefly.

A smile exploded on his face as he took me up in his arms and spun me around. He cupped my face in his hands and kissed me. I pulled on his shirt sending him flying into the water with me. When my head broke the surface he kissed me again as we laughed, wading in the cool water.

“Rachelle, I love you!” He breathed with a smile.

I closed my eyes and floated on my back. “I love you, too.”

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