No Name

Name: Lisa Preston Marital Status: Single and lonely? Last Work experience: Working at a low class run of the mill fast food joint, why do you want this position? I need money to provide for myself, as my ex low life good for nothing boyfriend left me in the dust for my now hussy ex-best friend.

That was the 3rd application Lisa had scrapped that day. “This is so pointless” she thought to herself as she pulled out the 4th job application form of the morning. Life wasn’t exactly how she had planned it. Her ex low life as she liked to call him, left her for her best friend Chloe. Lisa had caught them making out, at there coffee shop (as in Lisa & low-life’s coffee shop), claiming they were in love and that they had never meant to hurt Lisa in the process. Yeah right, she thought, if you never meant to hurt me then maybe you shouldn’t have cheated on me in the first place! Lisa decided it was time to put it behind her, and what better way then to break in to the box of wine that had not only been on sale but tasted like dirt. She remembered the days, when Derrick would come home with the best bottles of white sweet wine and her favorite flowers, just because. She now wondered if he only ever brought her those things out of pure guilt, it didn’t matter now. In the end of it all wine was wine, and right now it was pushing out the bad thoughts and flushing her brain with the white wine haze she loved. Sitting back down around her scrapped job applications, she wondered how she would handle it all. Finding a better paying job, paying a rent that was meant for two, and taking care of a kitten when she could barely take care of herself, life was already a challenge with him around, what would it be like now? Lisa decided she would continue her job hunt, because if she knew one thing, it was that she needed to eat, and she wasn’t about to go ask anyone for help.

Chloe and Lisa had grown up side by side for as long as she can remember. They were the same in every way, if one grew and inch the other one would grow an inch, if one got a new sweater the other got the matching one, just because the couldn’t imagine ever being different then each other. There tastes were so alike, that clearly that carried over in there choice of guys. Lisa had met Derrick on one of her worse days. From the second she had gotten up that day, she knew it was going to be bad. Still living with her parents, it was the constant nag to do this, achieve that and the occasional what are you going to do with your life? Lisa was grateful for her job at the local fast food joint, even if it was dinghy; she got away from home and escape somewhere that she could focus. On her way to work that day, she remember the hole in her shoe finally breaking through, and how the large semi truck that passed her on the way to work, had soaked her like a drowned rat. By the time she had gotten to work that day, she was frustrated and had figured the world had turned its back on her completely.

She opened the door to overtaking smell of grease and soda, and tried to brush off the aftermath of the puddle left on her clothes and soaking wet feet. During the chaos, she managed to bump in to a tall, brown haired, blue eyed stranger. He looked at her with sympathy and picked up her umbrella that had fallen to the ground, after there collision. “The weather can be cruel here hey?” his voice so deep that, she could feel it all the way down to her toes. She spoke timidly, “It’s clearly not a good day for me, I think I pissed Mother Nature off…” He laughed and introduced himself, “I’m Derrick, and I’m sorry about your run in with the elements, but can I buy you a warm drink to make your day a little better. Lisa was more then surprised, considering her appearance that he had even wanted to be close to her, let alone buy her a drink. Lisa looked at her watch, figuring out that she had about 20 minutes till she started. Lisa realized, she still hadn’t responded, getting lost in her own thoughts. “Sure” she said, “But I work here, so maybe ill drop my stuff off, and grab us something to drink and maybe that will deter you from my drowned rat appearance.” Derrick laughed and headed off for a table, as Lisa scurried into the back room of the restaurant.

Lisa stared back at her reflection, trying to figure out what she could do to make herself look better. Scanning the room for anything remotely better then her soaked t-shirt, she spotted a white t-shirt that someone had left behind after there shift. As Lisa threw on the shirt, she realized her black bra wasn’t doing her any favors, but what other choice did she have. Heading back out, with two coffee’s in hand, she saw him again, and gave him a once over to figure out what she was dealing with. He was tall, maybe 6’3 slim, and well built, so much so that Lisa swore she saw his definition through his tight green shirt. The mere thought of what was under his shirt, gave her a warm wave of feeling that she had never really had. Settling In on the hard plastic seat, he smiled and thanked her for the coffee. “It’s no problem, I have worked here long enough, that I earned some seniority. I’m just not too sure if I should be boasting about flipping hamburgers.” She made him smile, that was a good start. “What do you do for work?” She asked. Derrick responded “I work for a local family run construction company, I have been there forever, and they are like my second family. I started in high school and never really left, because the pay is good and I get weekends off.” Lisa forgot what it was like to have a full weekend off, since working here is shift work, she was lucky if she got to see the weekend at all. The pair chatted for awhile, exchanging where they lived, and what there hobbies were.


Before she knew it, Lisa’s shift was about to start, and she still needed to get changed. “Well, I hate to say it, but I’m about two minutes away from my shift, and seniority or not my boss hates me being late.” He smiled “I know all about it, my boss is the same way….Derrick paused, and It seemed to Lisa maybe his nerves kicked in. “Look, I know this will seem upfront, and if your uncomfortable with this then, I completely understand, but did you want to go out sometime? Even for a movie or something, I’m even free on weeknights.” He smiled knowing that him listening to her had paid off as she responded with a shy smile and a blushing composure. They decided that she was free the following night, and from the night and every night after, she saw him. Before Lisa realized, that were official, and then hitting there one year anniversary. Time had gone so fast, she had completely, given him everything she had, her heart her soul, and then some.


Not long after there one year they were moving into a little one bedroom apartment, which was just close enough for her to walk to work everyday. Life seemed flawless, she though she had it all. The hardest blow of it all is that she thought up until the day he left, they were perfect. They had there fights, but really what couple doesn’t fight? And as Lisa thought about it, she did go through a faze of not wanting to be touched or talked to…But wasn’t that normal? Didn’t every hormonal girl go through that?


The day he moved the last of his stuff out of the apartment, she was at work. She came home to empty walls, the plasma gone and empty spaces where his clothes used to be, it reminded her of what her heart would look like. She cried for days and days, in one fallow swoop, she lost the love of her life, her closest friend, and everything she had worked so hard to keep, including her sanity. She had considered begging him to come back. But she knew she had to be stronger then that. She found refuge in wine and her kitten Boots, who was still so young, and playful and so unaware that there whole world had just crumbled. For the days she didn’t eat, she still made sure boots got his three meals a day, his belly scratch and his hours of playtime. Lisa, had constant nightmares and daydreams, about what she could have done better, where she could have been a better girlfriend. She knew that he would leave her regardless, she knew she had failed.