Star-Crossed Lovers

She met him one lonely day in an online game room of all places. She had been introduced to the game a few weeks prior by a friend and became hooked almost instantly. She was arrogant, foolish, innocent, harmless, and believed above all else that she was better than the nameless competitors she played against. This was her game, she was an artist, at least that was what she led herself to believe. The game was called inklink, and it was similar to pictionary. Instead of pen and paper to display their artistic visions, players painted their pictures with a mouse, on their canvas, the computer monitor. She belittled those who were slow, especially those who lacked drawing skills, and stole the show.

In life she was shy, soft-spoken, uptight and humorless, but in that world, that imaginary room in hyperspace, she was so much more. She felt so powerful, loud and alive. She drew attention and turned heads wherever she went, and got the attention she needed and deserved. She loved her kingdom where everyone noticed her and acknowledged her talent. At times she was mean, she realized she could be and act any way she wanted because nobody knew the real her. Although she realized this new-found freedom, she found it difficult to pull away from her real personality. It was tiresome to pretend to be someone she was not. She was still, at times, outspoken, fast, witty and funny, but she did not hide from her true identity. This was how she won the attention of a kindred spirit. She made him laugh, and caught his eye. They spoke the rest of the night, shared their life stories, and exchanged their usernames for AIM. She had found someone she was equally matched with, intellectually, and emotionally. He was one of a kind, intelligent, sweet, and funny.

They continued to talk, starting off slowly, but one missed opportunity would have ended the delightful friendship they had begun to form. It was time to leave for Spring Break, and she took the opportunity to say hi before she left for the week. He was about to take her off his list forever, because they slowly lost contact. She saved herself from loneliness, misery, and most importantly from missing her one true love with the soft spoken words she sent to him.

Their friendship rekindled, they began to talk once more. Slowly their friendship became something more. They felt they could confide in each other more than in their own friends. Her feelings for him grew stronger each day. They swapped pictures, and even began using netmeeting while they were talking. He was quite attractive from what she could gather from the various pictures she saw of him. No matter what he said, or how much doubt he had about how he looked, she loved him and felt he was cute, sexy, attractive, and unbelievable. It was not lust, she knew because she had seen her friends foolishly fall in lust time and again. She had felt nothing like this before. He was her best friend, almost her only friend. She told him everything about herself, and he had done the same for her. She trusted him with her life and believed everything he told her. Some may call her foolish, or blind, but those people have never been in her situation. She felt she would have been taunted by her friends, and ridiculed by her family if they knew where she had met him. She was scared but after a while didn't care how they felt because she had found someone she connected with on a deeper level.

She began to slowly let him know how she felt. She let the words roll off her tongue as she tested the waters, but knew he would only accept her as a friend. She always expected this because he had rightfully told her that he could never love someone he met online. She began to sign her e-mails with the words, "I love you like a friend." He seemed doubtful and reluctant the first time she spoke these words. He was very quiet and didn't seem to know how to respond. She was worried she had scared him away forever, but to her surprise, and content, he stayed. They stayed up night after night, almost until sunrise, discussing their hopes, fears, and dreams.

Of course, all things happy and wonderful come to a fork in the road, a problem that corners any unexpected person and displays his or her worst fears. Their problems began when she seemed to "give him attitude." For a few nights he had left early for the evening because of the way she acted and reacted to what he was saying. She was soon misinterpreted, and came off as though she no longer cared about him, about anything. This, however, was the furthest thing from the truth. The cause of this conflict was no longer important, but the impact it had was disastrous, and devastating. Both were victims, although, they could be seen at fault; both were to blame for the conflict that had arisen. In the end, they were both left upset. He said he would never speak to her again, and left without another word. She was a mess, crying, left hurt, heartbroken, and almost unable to breath. She was in shock, as if in disbelief of what had happened. She couldn't control her feelings, and couldn't think of anything else.

As suddenly as he had come into her life, he had disappeared. As she sat there crying at her desk, she worked up the courage to type up a heart-felt apology. She didn't believe that he would ever reply, he told her not to even think of responding or trying to contact him because he would not read, or reply to anything she said. She had to hope that above all he would at least take into consideration her last words before he was gone for good. She hoped he would gain some kind of understanding from the words she typed. She had never meant to hurt him, but knowing that he was, hurt her even more. She had already known it hurt her to see him upset, sitting idly by, unable to help. She had stood helpless so many times when he was hurt or upset, and she always wished to help. She loved him and wanted his pain to go away.

It took many e-mails, apologies, and explanations before they began to speak again. As normal as things became, guilt still plagued her, like a dark cloud that would not go away. Her worst nightmare had occurred and now she carefully watched what she said, not wanting to tread on a sore spot. She only wanted to please him. She didn't want to lose him again. Time went on once more, and again they were talking like they had when they first met. She was in for a shock one day when he revealed his own feelings for her. At first, she thought he was only joking, but he sounded sincere. She had said something to the effect that he was right once again to whatever he had said. He then told her that she was right, that she was always right and he had fallen for her, in fact, he was in love with her. Those words played through her mind continuously for days. She was so unbelievably happy and felt as if she were floating on air. It was what she had dreamed of. Nobody had ever told her that they loved her.

It was the beginning of something more. They discussed their dreams of a better future together. They talked of their long withheld feelings for one another. It was something they had never expected, something neither of them could control. It was all so amazing, so fresh and new. Neither had experienced a love like this before. They had their own pasts that they had unveiled to one another, but now they were writing their present and future together. They took things one day at a time and promised to save themselves for one another. He said he would understand if she chose to be with someone else, someone closer. The only predicament such a decision such as this would have made was that he would never take her back. He would never want to be with her if she chose to be with someone else. Who could blame him for not wanting to be second choice for anything? She understood the way he felt and agreed that this decision was fair. He wanted her to be happy and she wanted the same for him. She said she would always love him, and would never want to be with anyone else.

Fate has a cruel way of taunting and teasing the unknowing person. A sad fate awaited he who trusted the one girl he loved with all of his heart. Call it what you want, lust, greed, gullibility, innocence being taken advantage of, but do not feel sorry for the so called heroine of this story. She acted and did not think of the consequences. She was selfish, went with the moment, and hurt the one she truly loved. She kissed another; she had been pushed into suddenly believing that they could never be. They were so close and yet so far. Although only a state away, it felt as through the entire universe held them apart. She hurt him again, more than he hurt her with an e-mail he sent her once she explained what had happened. She thought she had truly lost her love, and that there were no more chances. Once again, she was wrong, but she was shocked to find out how wrong she was. He took her back, but she had to work for his trust.

She couldn't believe that he could ever take her back. She was sick and disgusted with herself, and feared he would never trust or believe her again. She almost lost him by accepting an invitation to a movie by a guy she had only met while out dancing one night with a group of her friends. How could stupidity cloud her judgment the way it had? She told him about this invitation and said she would not accept if he said he truly loved her. She would do whatever he wanted her to do. She would never understand her thoughts and actions. All she understood were the feelings she had for him. The invitation was denied, and things went back to normal, as normal as they could. He was hurt by her actions, and her lack of thoughtfulness.

She would dwell on the past far too often, but hated to look back on the painful things she had done or said to him. She cried each time anything was brought up against her, it felt as if a knife were piercing deep inside of her. She felt as if she were the only one to blame, of course she was the one that brought all of the heartbreak into his life. She felt guilty for everything she had done and didn't believe she deserved to be with the one she loved. Slowly time went on, but open wounds that would not heal still stung when salt was poured into them.

They finally had an opportunity to meet over her spring break. They prepared plans for weeks, and even convinced a friend of hers to take her to see him. She told her friend she had fallen in love, and her friend became curious as to who the lucky guy was. She bragged for hours about how wonderful he was, how cute, sweet, smart, and unique he was. They fit together like missing pieces of a puzzle. They were alike in so many ways it was sometimes a little scary. They thought alike, and shared a lot of the same ideals. They decided to meet at an aquarium to appease the friend she was dragging along. She was always so positive about their relationship, that things would work out to their advantage for once. They both seemed to have terrible luck when it came to life at times. Nothing went the way they wished, which was probably the reason he was at times so negative.

On the drive down, she became slightly nervous, what if she didn't look the way he had hoped, what if she was too ugly, too quiet, not smart enough? What if she was not what he had expected? She wanted to exceed all of his prior expectations about her. They finally made it there, and stepped into the building, her palms were sweating, and she was short of breath. She saw him, smiled, and waved nervously from where she was standing. She wasn't sure if he had already bought his tickets for the aquarium, so she signaled him to follow them into the line. She was so nervous she could barely say a word. He didn't seem nervous at all, but that was far from the truth. He was more nervous once she walked away from the front door. He thought she was ignoring him, walking away, unhappy with the way he looked in real life.

This was far from the truth, if only he knew how she felt. She felt silly saying that she was nervous in front of her friend. This was the first time she was seeing in person the one she truly loved. How else was she supposed to act? They bought their tickets and slowly walked around, looking at the beautiful fish swimming around in their tanks. He walked slightly in front of her, and started to name and point out the various fish he saw. She wanted him to not be nervous, she had been told she would have to make the first move to let him know how she felt. She came up to him and put her arm around him, but became worried she was going to scare him away. He was more nervous, in fact, as soon as she had done this. She even went as far as to tickle and tease him as they walked around, in order to get him to put his arms around her.

She wished the night would never end, while he probably wished she would talk far more often. She was too quiet, at least that was how it seemed at the time. It would take quite a while to crack through the invisible shell she hid herself inside. He seemed to have more in common and talked more often to her friend than to her. He began to tell the story of his life, of everything he had been through all of these years. He was amazing, such a wonderful story teller, she was drawn to him even more. They walked out of the aquarium afterwards to get something to eat.

There was a chill in the breeze as they walked around outside. It was a cool spring afternoon, and they slowly made their way to a pizza restaurant. On the way he was so kind as to share one of his gloves with her. Her hands were freezing, and she gladly accepted. She hooked her other arm around his, and slid her cold, bare hand in her coat pocket. They walked on, and she was as giddy as she could be. There she was, hooked onto the guy she loved, the guy who had always made her smile when she was down. They finally made their way to the restaurant, sat down, and decided on what they would eat. The food was delicious, and the company was even better. He talked some more, answering her friend's questions as he went along.

After dinner, they went out to tour the city. She had been down there before, but never on that side of the city. They walked over to a place that had a Ferris wheel that they decided to ride. They started to shake the seats they were in a bit, but the friend was more reluctant. She seemed afraid that it would break or that she would fall out. They walked around some more inside a building nearby. They took two pictures before it was about time to leave, as a reminder of how wonderful the day had been. He walked her back to her friend's car, and gave her the most memberable kiss ever. He was so sweet and wonderful, and she sighed as she sat down in the front seat next to her friend. She was once again floating on air and could think of nothing more than the day she had just had. She was smiling from ear to ear, as happy as could be.

When she got home, she noticed that he had e-mailed a note to her and her friend, thanking her friend for bringing her down. They talked about the day they had for hours afterwards. They discussed how nervous they had been and how they felt. She found out that he thought she was not talkative enough, and wasn't sure if it had been nerves or if that was how she really was. He relayed the events as he had seen them, how she had made him more nervous by walking to the line as soon as she had seen him. She tried to explain what she thought she was doing, waving him over to join them in line. She had never meant to make him more nervous. They had proven by meeting in person that their feelings were in fact real.

They began to discuss a second meeting, one where he would come to visit her. On the night of April Fools, he told her that things were not working out and that he had decided to cancel his visit to see her. He claimed she wasn't what he was looking for, that she was too quiet, and not what he had expected. She became scared, and as gullible as she was, believed every word of it. He of course was joking, and soon admitted to teasing her because it was April Fools Day. She was relieved and they again continued to discuss their next encounter with one another. He would visit her in the dorms, and they would probably sit around watching TV, and talking, as long as her mouth permitted her to speak more than she had. They even discussed their next kiss.

He came and brought her flowers, a sweet gesture, she had never experienced before. Nobody ever gave her flowers, and she was happy to accept them, they were beautiful. He was so handsome when he walked up to her that day, and she smiled and said hello. She walked him up to her room, and they sat down on the futon to watch TV. Of course once again they were more nervous, and talked slightly to one another as they sat there. He had told her that they needed to talk more or that they would be seen as incompatible. How could they talk less in person than they did online? She believed it was only because they were more nervous in person, and were no longer hiding behind a computer screen. He even asked her, while there, whether they were a couple or not. He said it in such a sweet and caring way, unsure of how she felt. She told him of course, she wouldn't have it any other way. She was so happy that he had asked, and even more happy that they were officially together.

They went most of the night without a kiss, but that soon ended when he asked her for one. They attempted to kiss, but nervousness came in. They were more worried about what one another would think. Their first kiss had been short and sweet, this was a little more complicated. Each time they got closer, they began to laugh. Afterwards, she found out from her friend, that he thought she was a pretty bad kisser. She was shocked and mortified that he told her friend before he let her in on his little secret. She was so embarrassed that she was so bad that time, of course she didn't have enough experience, or feedback from anyone else saying she was much better. She felt terrible after their discussion about kissing, though he promised her with practice she would improve.

This of course is not the end of their journey, their adventures still continue today; however, there is far too much that would have to be said to bring justice to the lives they lead today. Things of course are still wonderful, they are head over heels for one another. They care deeply for one another, and continue to talk about their hopes and dreams for a better future together. Sometimes they find little to say to one another, and other times they could talk for hours. They've had small complications along the way, but nothing severe enough to break them apart. They went out to prove to the ones they know and love, their family and friends, that love can exist in a chat room of all places, at least in their case. Their love is strong and has lasted, but they have many more years to go before they can truly say that they will be together forever.

To be continued...?

Please let me know what you think of my story. Of course I know I need to add a little more to the character development, and give the people of my story names. It is hard to develop certain things more because the events that led up to this came from my memory. It is a true story, please do not pass judgment on me or my life. If you read this please rate or give me some form of feedback, please. It's really annoying to know that so many of you have already read this and have not given me anything in return.