-Serena
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65 Tales of a Single Love Story
by Serena Kim
by Serena Kim
Book One: The tears that couldn't be explained.
PROLOGUE
They say that all love ends in death.
The classic example of this statement is Shakespeare’s own, Romeo and Juliet. Now, no matter how
ridiculous it was, it was still well loved and read by thousands and millions
of people all through history for three very simple concepts: love, despair,
and death.
Let me sum it up for you; the two young lovers had fallen in
love in first sight, not knowing anything about each other's families. After they encounter several massive problems they fell in love with
each other and what happens? The guy dies thinking she is dead, the girl wakes and sees him dead and goes into despair, and now
they are both 7 feet underground with nothing but tears and the stench of death
everywhere.
Another classic example is the very well loved and beautiful
species, the swans. People say that swans are very majestic and beautiful
birds, who live on emotion and emotion alone. When a swan “falls in love” with
a swan of the opposite sex, they attach onto each other like superglue, unable
to be away from each other for even a minute. What’s more is that not only do
they live together forever instead of just moving onto another swan and leaving, but they share
the deepest bond possible for any species on the planet; in the case that one
dies before the other, the leftover swan does not want to live without the
other, and quite literally, dies from heartbreak.
As these are only two of the millions of love/death
examples, there is also yet another example to add onto this list:
The story that I am about to tell you now.
CHAPTER I
“Leo!”
Her hair
shifted to the side as the tall, handsome boy lifted her up on his back, holding
her like a sack of potatoes. A gust of air flew out her body.
“Let me down!” she squealed.
The boy laughed wildly, his
deep blue eyes glittering with joy.
“Never!” He ran down the road with
a wide grin on his face. The sweat which was beaded on his forehead was wiped on the girls
t-shirt (or rather, her stomach). She cringed in disgust.
“That’s grosssss!” she screamed.
"I won't let you go until you say yes!"
She groaned, shaking her head.
“Shan't thou marry this young and
handsome man?” Leo yelled into her ear, whilst wind blowing in his face.
“This isn’t
funny,” she said, laughing. “We’ll get run over!”
“If we shan't live together, then we
shall die together!” He threw her back down and caught her by the waist.
“Ms. Amelia
Evans, how could you not fall for all
this?” he asked, pausing for a little moment to gesture at himself. “If not me, at least fall in love
with my t-shirt, cause this is my favorite one. It completely describes me,
don’t you—” he rambled on, quite nervously, but still, quite handsomely.
His shirt was nothing special but
merely just a black tank top, with red and orange words that screamed Hot Stuff so far that you could probably
see it from a mile away. It was poorly made and looked like a $2 retail item,
but on him, it looked like it was made for a model; funny, how cute boys can
make rags look cute too.
She shook her head and“Alright
flame boy,” she said with a straight face. “I’ll admit it. I like someone
else.”
His cheeky
and playful expression immediately dropped.
“Wait… what?” he asked, confused.
She pulled
him down by the bottom of the shirt, letting his face level with hers.
“I love…” She yanked the tank top over his head. “…this shirt!”
She ran a
good distance away from him, who stood quite shocked and confused, and seemingly, quite shirtless.
“Shirt
confiscated!” she shouted, as if she was a war general screaming victory.
He shook
his head and threw his arms over himself like a little girl would do if she
lost her shirt at a swimming pool.
“What
are you Ava? Two?” He began to close the distance between themselves.
“Eighty-two, you butt wipe!” She ran
away as fast as she could.
Suddenly,
she stopped, shocked as a deer in the headlights. Her face grew pale, glancing back in realization.
Her legs twisted and tumbled from
underneath her as they suddenly lost grip of themselves, causing her to fall
forward. In a matter of seconds, the once sprinting and lively girl was on the
cold paved road, too still to be a joke.
“Ava!”
Leo desperately raced forward, landing painfully on his knees in front of her,
turning her over to hear her breathing.
“Ava! Ava are you okay?!” He looked
back and forth for any cars up ahead. “What happened? Where does it hurt?”
She looked up and smiled,
noticeably sucking all the tears back in her eyes. “I’m
not dead,” she answered, half jokingly, with a slight coldness to her tone. “Oh
boy, looks like I’ll be yelled at when my mom sees my jeans.”
She sat up, barely gripping onto
his arm, and pulled up the ripped piece of jean which hung loosely on her leg.
She winced.
“Ugh, looks worse than it should.”
“I’ll carry you back,” he said without hesitation.
“Don’t lead on the drama queens,
they’ll just keep getting worse,” she said, referencing to the huge scars
imprinted across her legs. “Suck it up, losers. You’re not dead yet.” Her
bright face flickered, just for a second, into a face he had never seen
before.
Pain? Suffering?
Or darkness?
“I’m okay,” she stated softly. “I’m
not that easy to shoot down. It's just a scratch.” She
laughed, sticking her tongue out at him. There was a pause between them.
“I swear,” he said, embracing her. “You’re an impossible little
toddler at times.”
They smiled
at each other, letting the silence of the road settle their hearts down. The
summer breeze had been kind to them, blowing the warm, soft air on their foreheads. They sat there on the pavement, too tired and drained
to move.
“Seventeen,” she said reassuringly.
“Not eighty-two.”
“Let’s hope
so,” he said with a smirk. “If you were eighty two, we’d have some bigger
problems than the scars on your legs.”
Ava winced
slightly, grabbing him by the shoulders and wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Ya,” she
replied weakly. “That would be a
problem.”
CHAPTER II
Something had not been right about Ava that day—and Leo knew
that.
After the
proposal (or his confession) on the road, the two had grown quite distant; was it because of the
confession? Neither of them knew.
Leo had
noticed everything right about Ava while they had been walking towards the
coffee shop near the end of the small town: her upbeat tones, her quirky face
expressions, her flustered reactions, her beautiful smiles; and yet, something
felt distant. Her eyes seemed a little—off.
“Flame
boy,” she called, flicking her finger at him to inch forward. “I found a
perfect cup for you.”
Leo smiled,
finding her non-feminine actions quite adorable.
“What is
it?” he asked.
“Look,” she
said quietly. “It’s you.” She pointed at a picture of a giraffe on fire, with
the words ‘I’m so hot; I’m burning!’
imprinted over it in big, bold letters. She snorted, holding back her laugh and
pursing her lips shut.
“Ha,
funny,” Leo said with an un-amused voice. “I feel like kissing you as
punishment.”
She stepped
five feet backwards, with over-exaggerated motions. “let’s not go there, tiger.”
Leo showed
off his demented smile. “Punishment time.”
She
scrambled towards the exit of the shop, holding the door behind her.
“Leo. Leo.
We are in a café,” she whispered in a British accent.
“We’ll have
to take this outside then, wont we Ava?” he whispered back, teasingly
continuing his evil smirk.
“Snap out
of it, boy; lets drink our coffee in peace,” she begged.
“Since thou hath wished to begin this war, then thou
shall pay dearly.”
The other
customers began to stare at the two, awkwardly drinking their coffee
and pretending to go along their business.
“There are
innocent children here,” she reminded him. “Ugh, I’m sorry, okay?” she repented,
holding her hands together in front of her face.
“What are
you sorry for?”
“I’m sorry I compared you to a
flaming giraffe.”
He sighed,
running his hands through his perfectly-golden, curly hair. She loosened her
grip on the door and jumped over to his side, pulling him into the line for a
cup of coffee. “So, you’re not mad?”
“Naw,” he
admitted, “I was offended that you saw me as a giraffe, but I thought hard and realized you were saying I was hotter
than flames, and I forgot all about it.”
She shook
her head, exhaling through her mouth. “I wouldn’t think too hard about what I
meant, if I were you.”
He pulled
her closer by wrapping his arm around her neck. “What did you say, Mrs. Butt
wipe?” he asked, nuzzling her on the head.
“I said you
look lovely today, babe.” She answered softly, showing a slight smile of
satisfaction.
He stumbled
backwards, putting of a face of shock.
“Did you just call me babe?” he asked loudly.
She turned
red as she looked away, mostly flustered and partially angry. “Poppy-cock!” she
blurted loudly.
He smiled
devilishly, barely holding back his laughter after hearing the marvelous word, poppy-cock.
“So you accept the terms of our relationship then?” he
asked Ava, pulling her back to the position they had kept before. She stood
there silently, fiddling with the ends of her sleeves, which had been filled
with holes.
“What-
whatever.” She mumbled back.
He smiled, satisfied from her answer.
“What would
you like to order today, sir?” asked the worker over the counter.
“I’ll take one
grande mocha frappe please,” he answered, kissing Ava’s cheeks.
“And a straw for the both of us.”
On the drive home, young Ava had been more hyper than usual.
She kicked up her feet and stuck them out the window, giggling and laughing the
whole time. Her long, brown hair spread messily all over the side of her seat,
blowing violently through the wind and occasionally letting leo get a whiff of the
strawberry scented body spray that she had on all the time.
“You look
like a two year old that’s having the time of her life,” said Leo, glancing
over to her. She smiled wildly, throwing up her arms and squealing.
“Is it
because of that one book you were reading? Uh…”
“CAN’T LIVE, CAN’T DIE!” she yelled out
the window.
He laughed.
“Must be some book.”
“It is not
just some book,” she said, glaring up
at him. “It is the book.” She hugged
her arms and squealed again. “To have such a simple life like her and live,
love and grow old with Sam…” she paused, settling down a bit and swinging her
legs. “It’s such a good book!”
“You’re
quite the simple person.”
Leo drove on, smiling until it
hurt. “Do you think we’ll be like them?” he asked, sheepishly.
“Hm?”
“Will you grow old with me?”
Ava froze.
Her humming had stopped, her kicking had stopped, and she looked up at him with
wide eyes. Leo pulled the car over to the side of the road.
“Ava?” he
asked nervously. Did he just go too far? Did it turn her off?
“Definitely,”
she blurted, a little too soon.
“Forever and ever and ever!” she smiled, grabbing his face and attacking it with kisses. He took his hands off
the wheel and grabbed her hands, nuzzling her forehead with his own until she
begged for mercy. He laughed, turning the radio on and starting the
engine once again.
“Ooh, I
like this song,” she said squirming.
“Then let’s
let the whole world hear it.”
They stared
at each other with wide eyes and crazy grins, as they both grabbed for the
volume and turned it up high. They drove onto through the empty streets,
jumping up and down and singing, her feet still dangling out the windows of the
car. They sang the song with every word and every tune until the very end,
ending up extremely out of breath.
Ava slammed
the radio off and looked up to Leo. “Let’s have babies,” she yelled excitingly.
Leo swerved on the road, startled by the sudden out-of-place suggestion.
“What?” he
asked.
“When we
get older, let’s have children!” she exclaimed.
He laughed
at her adorableness. And her innocence.
“One? Two?” he asked.
“Millions!”
she yelled.
She smiled,
showing off her bright, golden eyes and her beautiful smiles.
“You sir,”
she began again, “will be all old and wrinkly, like giraffe-jerky when you grow
old.”
“And you’ll
be a wrinkly butt wipe,” he added. “But a beautiful one.”
“Well
then,” she said with her eyebrows scrunched and her lower lip out. “I bet
you’ll still be wrinklier before I die.”
“No way,”
he said defensively, “you wanna bet?”
“Twenty
dollars,” she said firmly, as if the case was closed. There was no room for
arguments.
“Twenty
dollars,” he confirmed.
She turned
away and stared out the window. “I promise,
you’ll live to be a wrinkly old raisin this time,” she mumbled.
“What—”
“Eek!” She squirmed, laughing in surprise. “Oh my gods!” She yelled out the window.
When she
pulled her legs back into the car, a man with a bird’s nest beard pulled his
hand back, riding on his motorcycle with a crazy red bandana on his head. He
had black shades on with a leather jacket with a skull that shouted Kill ‘em all, but other than that, he
seemed harmless.
“He just
tickled my foot!” she explained, confused but laughing.
The man
just smiled and waved, driving side by side to them at the same speed.
“Lovely day!”
Leo shouted at him over Ava.
The old man
laughed, glancing ever so often back at the road. "Yes Indeed! Would you two like a tip?"
"Yes please!" answered Ava.
“When life makes you hit the road,” he shouted in a gruff voice, “don’t hang your feet out of car windows!”
"Yes please!" answered Ava.
“When life makes you hit the road,” he shouted in a gruff voice, “don’t hang your feet out of car windows!”
The two chuckled, shaking their heads.
“Thank you for the tip!” she yelled back, leaning out the car and waving him goodbye.
“Thank you for the tip!” she yelled back, leaning out the car and waving him goodbye.
The grandpa
nodded his head and drove off to the nearest exit, blurring out into a speck of
dust out in the distance.
They drove
on, having silence fill the car.
“Best.
Grandpa. Ever.” Ava smiled. “I’m putting his quote on a bumper sticker some
day,” she promised.
CHAPTER III
The day had been cold, and the night had been long.
They walked
into the house after the long ride hugging each other tight, not knowing what to do about the
coldness of the wooden floors of the house. The two lived in a giant
two storey house with hard wood floors and big comfy beds, and walls which were
mostly made of windows. All of it would have been pleasant for anyone, if not
the freezing temperatures and ice cold floors at night. The house had been built without many rooms and walls inside, so everything was open, and very, very comfortable.
Immediately, Ava plopped herself on the bed in the living room and fell asleep. Leo took her bags and hung it on the coat rack, folding her jacket in half and placing it on the chair. As he put his own things into place, he turned around and heard a snore.
Leo took a
step back to observe his sleeping child/girlfriend, who had been passed out in
the middle of his bed. It must have been why he wanted to protect her so much—she was naive enough to
fall asleep in a guy’s bed, and was stupid enough to let her guard down. It also showed him how much she trusted
him, which he had sworn himself not to break, even though he would admit it was tempting to
jump right in next to her and sleep. He understood it though; they've had many sleepovers together since they were little. Of course she would let her guard down, it was normal for them.
He laid out
a mat on the floor and slowly slipped out the pillow that Ava had between her
two legs, replacing it with a blanket. Just then, he slipped a glimpse at her
sleeping face.
She looked…
completely unattractive.
He silenced
his laugh to keep her from waking, but he wasn't successful; her eyes fluttered
open as she rolled herself into a human sushi roll with the blanket that had
been tossed over her.
“I heard
you laughing,” she said complaining.
“I wasn't
laughing,” said Leo, barely cracking a smile before breaking into chuckles.
“Ugh,” she
cried, sitting up to look more like a caterpillar than a sushi roll.
“You look
like a sleeping sloth,” he said softly, smiling at her face hidden under the blanket.
She sighed,
laying down and unrolling herself from the messy sheets. “Flame boy,” she
growled. “Get over here.” She rolled her eyes and got up, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Yessir.”
She waited
patiently as the long legged boy walked slowly towards the bed. He was scared
to sit down, nonetheless go anywhere near the bed with her in it, having little trust in himself.
“You know,” he said, “this is very dangerous.”
“I know, but i'll take my chances.”
He shook his head and sat down
next to her, trying to hold his breath. “Ma’am, I am completely sorry about
calling you a sloth, but—”
“ATTACK!”
she yelled, throwing a pillow at his face.
Instantly,
the room exploded into pillow fights and play-wrestling, followed by intense
tickling and series of sorry’s and no way’s. They played, resembling two little kids at a sleepover until they plopped back down on the bed, exhausted from the fight.
“You were a worthy opponent,” Ava said,
out-of-breath.
“And so were you,” Leo answered back,
kissing her forehead.
“You know,”
she started, “you would've been dumped or slapped to death if you told any
other girl that they looked like a sleeping sloth,” she told him.
“I know,”
he said obviously, “and that, my lovely girl, is why I stay with you.”
“You know,
I’m pretty special.”
“oh?” he
asked. “how so?”
She turned
over to the side to see his face. “no matter how much I get burned by the flame
boy, I never leave you.”
He stopped
his breath and smiled. “Honey, you only get burned cause I’m so hot.”
She
laughed, kissing him on his cheek. “that too.”
They laid
there in silence as an icy breeze flew past their skins. They both shivered
against the chills, too lazy to attempt a trip to the thermostat to turn on the heat.
“Jeez, it’s
cold,” said Ava, grabbing the blanket and putting it over herself. “I wonder
how cold it is outside.”
Leo scooted
closer to her, sliding underneath the warm blanket beside her. “Hot pack, at
your service.”
She faked a
gag, staring at him in disgust. “Oh, get over yourself.’’ He smiled, pecking her on the cheek. “You little girl.”
“Ewww,” she
complained, wiping her face. “Now I have cooties all over my face.”
“but they
are hot cooties, am I right?”
She glared
at him. “I am not a little girl. I am a sophisticated, independent woman who has a great sense of humor and
is undoubtedly sexy and hot from any man’s point of view; Angelina Jolie would
have been jealous of me if she saw me, and I’m sure Channing Tatum would've
fallen for me.”
“You sit on
a throne of lies,” he chuckled.
“Oh yeah? I
suppose I didn’t tell you that I’m Tom Cruise.” She said.
“and I’m
Scarlet Johanson.” Leo answered.
“that would
mean I’m captain America .”
“I’m his
grandmother.”
“I’m an
alien from outer space.”
“Now that,
I would believe.”
She smiled
at the ceiling and let out yawn. “God, you’re perfect.”
He turned
around and held her hand. “God, I love you.”
They stayed close as
they laid still, quite exhausted from battling each other with pillows and
tickles. His eyes became heavy as they started to close shut, but he forced
them open to watch over her.
“Flame boy,” she whispered into the pillow, “no matter how many lives I live, I will still love you till death.”
“I know.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
He slid off the bed laid on the floor, falling asleep in an instant.
The sun peaked in from over the trees, which had covered the
wide windows that spread right across the bedroom wall, exposing them to the
outside world. The old evergreen tree did help them keep their privacy, but
unfortunately, it had its disadvantages.
Leo
shuffled from under his blanket, groaning as he poked his head out towards the
window. “Damn those early birds,” he said in a groggy voice.
“Morning
already?” asked Ava, rolling over and covering her eyes with the blankets. “I
want to sleep more.”
“That,” he
said mimicking her actions, “I can agree with.”
They refused
to get up to greet the morning, hiding underneath their blankets to block out the
light, but the sound of the birds chirping had not been filtered out. After ten
minutes of trying (and failing) to fall back asleep, Leo got up from the floor and
washed himself up, while Ava slowly rolled off the bed, still half asleep.
As Leo changed and got out of the
bathroom, Ava had accomplished the standing-up-and-walking part of the morning,
but did not bother to change her pajamas, or let go of the blanket that had been
wrapped around her like a cape. “Leooo,” she called with a soft, tired voice.
“What are you making?”
“Boiled chicken brain and crocodile
tongue, mixed with diet coke and a pinch of flaming hot peppers from the
finest.” He held out a spoon. “You wanna taste?”
“Oh ya, definitely,” she said
sarcastically, taking the spoon. “You better be lying about the peppers cause I
cant take spicy stuff at all.” She smiled, playing along with his lies.“Oooo, I love that pinch of croc
tongue.”
“Tastes amazing, right?”
“Definitely.” She kissed him with
her saucy lips.
“Ewwww, gross.” He made a face of disgust, wiping his cheek on his sleeve. She walked away and sat on the dining table.
“What are we going to do today?”
Ava asked quietly, picking up the desk-calendar on the dining table.
“Hmm,” Leo thought out loud. “How
about… spending another day with hot stuff and watching movies all day upstairs?” He waited for her rejection.
“Sounds like a plan.” She said
bluntly.
He paused, turning away from the
stove. “Sounds like a plan?”
She looked up and smiled. “yes.”
He whistled a victory song,
bringing the pot to the dining table. “Well this is a first. I thought you
hated movies.”
“But I love you.” She said winking.
He shuddered. “You never fail to
amuse me.”
They ate in an awkward silence,
listening to the birds singing outside their window. Leo glanced over to her
plate, surprised to see that her food was still there.
“Not hungry this morning?”
She looked up, broken from her
trance. “Not really.”
“Silly girl,” he said picking up
her spoon. “Must I feed you so you can survive the day?”
“You’ll have to do a lot more than
that,” she said with a chuckle.
“What does that mean?" he asked laughing.
She took his hand, still holding
the spoon, and drank the soup. She shook her head disapprovingly.
“No, no, this won’t do.” She
grabbed the whole bowl and drank everything inside in one shot. Leo felt a wave of shock, throwing the spoon on the floor and stopped her from finishing.
“What in the world are you doing?!”
He ran to the fridge and grabbed cold juice. “You’re going to burn yourself!”
She winced, just barely opening her
mouth to let some air inside. “I get burned by you all day; this is nothing,”
she said with a painful laugh.
He sat down silently and passed her
a glass of juice, not knowing what to say. Finally, he mustered up his words.
“What’s wrong Ava? You’ve been
weird since this morning.”
She didn’t respond immediately. He
searched for her eyes, but her usual shine was gone. “I’m just not fully
awake. There’s nothing wrong with me.” She laughed. “Although I have one request."
"Whats that?"
"Don't ever leave my side today." she said, staring at her bowl.
“Alright,” he said giving up, “fine
by me.”
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