Four Years: The first year

13| Aly

I was still lying in bed thinking about last night, playing out every scenario that did or could have happened. I know George was only trying to help but I got scared. I'm not too fond of it when people resort to violence. I buried my face in my pillow and groaned loudly as I realized that I had to apologize to him now.

I got ready and went to college. Upon reaching the campus grounds, I looked around in hopes of finding George there since there were no classes at the time. Luckily, I spotted him walking towards class, dribbling a basketball. I called out his name and ran over to him. "Hey, can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, sure. What's up?"

"Uh, I wanted to apologize for yesterday. You were just trying to help and I feel like I overreacted. I'm sorry."

"Eh, don't worry about it, it's no big deal. I mean, we didn't start off on the right foot anyway. I didn't expect you to be all rainbows and sunshine now. Don't think twice about it."

I tucked my chin in pleasant surprise at the rare sight of him not making a sarcastic remark out of a conversation. "Huh, so you can do it."

A confused smile reached his face. "Do what?"

"Be nice."

He laughed. "Yeah, well, don't count on it."

"Alright, I gotta head to class. Bye."

"Bye".

I turned around and headed to my class, basically frolicking, giddily. Maybe he is not an absolute piece of garbage after all, I thought to myself. I felt a rush of anticipation as I glanced over my shoulder again to look at him. He was prancing happily, still dribbling the basketball. For a moment, I hoped he'd turn. He didn't. 
So, I forget all about him and continue on my way to class.

....................................

It was approximately 6 pm, and we found ourselves in the living room once again. It seems like this has become our regular activity, but I don't mind.

Cami was reminiscing about her first kiss with Bobby from high school. She asked, "Do you remember him, Aly? Tall guy, really cute." Then, she turned to Kiara and asked, "What about you, K?"

"Oh, it was my first boyfriend, Krish. It was his first kiss, my first kiss. It was adorable actually but then he moved to London. So.. "

"Okay, Ryan's turn."

"Oh..., I don't think I remember. I think it was Vanessa, no, Andrea. Fuck, I really don't remember."

"Ray?"

"Uh, erm,... It was my lesbian ex-wife. Oh, by the way, she's moving in with her new also lesbian girlfriend so that's great news."  He said through gritted teeth, clearly still bitter about their breakup.

"Aw, Ray. I'm sorry. George?"

"Uh, it was my first girlfriend, Valerie. We were sixteen and I'd been teaching her to play guitar-"

"Yeah, then pow wow, we get it," Ryan added. "No, but jokes aside, I liked Valerie. You two were good."

"You play guitar?" I asked George.

"Yeah, been playing since I was 12."
l could sense the passion in his voice and wondered how many melodies he had created with his trusted instrument.

"So Aly, you're the only one left." Said Cami and I got distracted from asking more about music from George.

"Oh, um, it was Dave, my ex-fiance. It wasn't great." I said hesitantly. The memory of our relationship was still raw and I didn't want to talk about it. I moved on from long before but that doesn't mean what he did hurts any less.