The 1st Cut is the Deepest

With her eyes locked on his face, she took a first precarious step.  And contrary to everyone’s (terrible) expectations, she didn’t fall. She walked into the house, where her boyfriend stood, arms outstretched.

         Carolyn Kelly was a young, smart, and talented girl in the beginning of her senior year at Three River’s High.  At the end of her senior year, she was a broken, jaded, listless girl with nothing to live for. 

So what changed?
Everything. 

         She had the unfortunate experience of coming face to face with a monster, in the form of her best friend’s boyfriend, Lon.  Lon was the all-American guy, quarterback for the football team, cheerleader girlfriend (Tammy), good grades.  Lon also thought that Carolyn was a goddess, and he wanted to have her instead of Tammy.  After seriously considering the consequences, Lon asked Carol if she would be able to help him set up for the Winter Festival, for he was heading up the decorations committee.  Of course she helped, as Lon was a friend in need.

         “Carol, would you be able to help me hold up this banner?” Lon asked.
         “Of course!”  Carolyn walked across the gymnasium floor and climbed up the ladder to hold up the football team’s Fall 2007 championship banner.  Lon stayed on the ground, giving verbal instructions to guide them, but covertly staring up at Carol the whole time.  God, was she beautiful. 

         There was a couple hours before the dance so the whole decorations committee went to their respective homes to shower and change.  Lon took Carol home because her sister was borrowing the car. 

         “How’s everything going with Pat?”  Lon brought up Carolyn’s boyfriend, trying to seem casual, to see if there was an opening so he could swoop in and (finally) make his move.
         “Things are going…ok.  Everything’s been so busy we’ve barely been able to have any alone time in the past month.  But things always have a way of working themselves out, so I’m not worried.  Things will be much more calm after the dance,” explained Carolyn.

Yeah, things have a way of working themselves out...and they’re going to work themselves out so that you’re in my arms tonight, thought Lon.  “That’s too bad to hear, I know how tough it is being so busy.  It must be very stressful for you,” he said, putting his hand on Carolyn’s knee, in a (seemingly) friendly gesture of support. 

         Taken aback at the unexpected contact, Carol shifted her weight in the passenger’s seat, feeling uncomfortable, but he didn't get the hint, and Lon’s hand didn’t move. “Yeah...I guess…but like I said, things will work out.”  They drove  like that, his hand resting on her leg, a forced conversation, which, for Carol, seemed to last an eternity.

         They finally reached Carol’s house, and Carol turned to get out of the car, but before she could, Lon grabbed her hands and confessed.  “Carol, I think about you all the time.  You are the most beautiful girl in school, the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met.  I know that you have a boyfriend and I have Tammy, but I just get this feeling that we’re meant to be together.  It’s a cosmic connection or something, you have to feel it too. I think we may be soul mates.”

         Carolyn jerked back her hands, but Lon held on.  Tightly.  After all, he was much stronger than her.  So instead, in her most courageous voice, she said, “No, Lon, I don’t feel that way, and neither should you.  Your girlfriend is my best friend.  There’s no way that anything’s going to happen between us! Ever! So I'm just going to forget you said anything.”

         “Yes, it will,” Lon stated.  “I know you want it to happen, I can’t say that I haven’t seen you looking at me during 4th period, or the way that you stare at me when I’m talking.”

         “That’s because you’re TALKING. It’d be rude not to pay atten—“

         She never got to finish her sentence because Lon’s mouth was on hers.  He had lunged over the console and had her body pinned in the passenger’s seat.  And with his strong arms, and large, athlete's body, Carol never had a chance to successfully resist.  Lon got his wish that night…he had the most beautiful girl in school, and (in his mind at least), she had loved every second of it.  She was just pretending not to, you know how girls can be.


Carolyn took that first step, and then another, until she climbed through the window into the safety of her bedroom--the attic of her family's 3-story house-- and into Patrick's arms.  If she hadn’t taken that step, eyes trained on her boyfriend, whom she loved with all of her heart, she may have ended up broken on the pavement of their driveway.