romance and tragedy

Erica was a small but pretty young woman of about 20. Her long brown hair was one of her best features- so she thought. In fact she was  very concientous when it came to her looks.
Every morning she would follow the same ritual. She showered, got dressed, straightened her hair and ate a quick breakfast. Breakfast being the only meal she ate at home. It was usually cereal or toast, which she ate with peanut butter.  It had always  been her favorite topping for toast ever since she was a little girl. Her mom had tried on several occaisons to introduce something else into her diet; But failed every time. Erica found that jam was too sweet and cheese wiz was too salty. After a particular inccident where Erica had thrown the plate of jam topped toast at her mother, did she finally receive peanut butter without interruption.
Being older, Erica had learned to eat a more diverse range of foods. She had never considered herself a picky eater, she just knew what she liked.
Today was Erica's day off. She was very excited becasue she had a date with Albert; The wonderful man she had met at her cousins birthday. He was tall and handsome, the way she pictured her perfect man to be. She had laughed at all his jokes and had actually found them funny! Erica realized that she was falling for this man; And quickly. They had only had three dates in two weeks. He Hadn't even kissed her yet! She hoped today would be the day.
Erica especially loved her days off because she got to sleep in. Working at a hotel was mentally tiring. Always standing, always smiling, being polite to rude people. She did however like her job. She felt important. Today she got a break. She slept in til eleven in the morning and decided to not shower just yet. Her date wasnt for three hours still. Erica watched some television programs and even though she slept in, fell asleep on the couch.
She woke up to the sound of her cellphone ringing. " uh, hello?" She was still groggy.
" Hey there, what happened? Did something come up?" Albert sounded nervous. Not exactly the kind of phone call a guy wants to make to a pretty girl he likes.For all he knew she could be ditching him. He wasn't particularily insecure, but he really liked her and he knew things could happen.
" Oh, Albert hi! no I- she glanced at the time and swore- I was just grabbing something to eat. I'll be right there." It wasn't too far past their agreed time so this was a believable lie. She put her phone down and jumped up. She needed a shower and she was starving. Erica then realized she hadn't eaten all day. She quickly hopped into the shower and tied her hair back. She threw on her prepicked outfit, made a PB and J sandwich and ran out the door. They had picked the coffee shop just down the street from her apartment - luckiliy. She ran, or rather jogged the whole way there. She found Albert at a table close to the back window. He had an iced drink of some sort and it looked like he had ordered for her already.
" Its cold." Albert said nodding. He felt a litte annoyed. He was second to food.
Erica was taken aback by his abrupt greeting, or lack thereof.
"I'm sorry Albert. I lost track of time." She tried to explain. He just looked at her. Very intense green eyes. Erica loved those eyes. She wasn't sure if she should sit so she decided to go order a fresher coffee, she was craving hazelnut. When she got back she sat down.
" So, ho-how have you been?" She could not believe he made her stutter.
" Oh i've been great. work has been a little hectic but i know you understand that." He smiled. Erica was a little shocked at how easy he came back from his mood.
" That's great. I had a hectic work week too." She smiled back.
They spent  the next hour talking about this and that. They decided to go to the pier for a walk, as it was also close. They talked some more and both Erica and Albert were falling for eachother. It could have been the summer air that made them so succeptible, or the beautiful scenery, all they knew was eachother.
They walked for some distance, at some point earlier Albert had taken her hand, which had made Erica smile so big that the older couple they passed sped up and kept looking back over their shoulders. When they reached the small grove on the east side Albert let go of her hand and stopped walking. He turned to her and looked at her with intense green eyes. It made her nervous but she couldn't look away and she was glad she didnt because the next second Albert got very close and kissed her gently on the mouth. She was in heaven. She kissed him back. He pulled her closer and they kissed eachother for about a minute when suddenly Albert pulled away. His eyes were wide and he was opening and closing his mouth like a fish. His hands shot to his throat and he fell to his knees. His hands started to move across his body frantically, as if searching for something. Erica didn't know how to react. She went quickly to his side asking him what was wrong. He couldnt make a sound. His eyes then rolled into the back of his head. He fell to the ground and twitched until finally there was no movement. Erica kept shouting, only now it was for help. She tried to wake him up but he would not  move. It wasnt long after this that tears formed in her eyes. She hadnt realized just how alone they were in this grove. She didnt understand; But she understood that Albert was dead.


They closed the doors on the ambulance, and the medic came and talked to her.
" Miss, uh, I'm sorry for your loss. How, how do you know the deceased?" Straight to the point. Ericas eyes were all red still.
"He wa- we were... dating." Erica said softly.
" Ah, ok. So i guess you didnt know about his allergies?" The medic looked relieved. Erica had been avoiding looking at the medic but her head snapped up.
"Aaa...allergies?" She was surprised.
" Yeah, he was severly allergic to nuts."