Chasing in the Field

Chasing in the Field
I remember that day like it was yesterday. There wasn’t a cloud to be seen, just a vast ocean of baby blue sky. I could feel the warmth coming down from the bright sun. It felt like a blanket on my skin. I was walking my dog to the fields by my house. Nobody ever comes out where I was going so I would always take my dog, Gigi, out there. I would let her run wild. I smiled seeing her be free. There was nothing stopping her from just being a happy, active dog. She would scare the birds whenever she saw one on the ground. I would throw a tennis ball and just watch Gigi with great swiftness and athleticism go retrieve the ball and return it. We did this for about thirty minutes until she got tired. The grass where we were playing was about three feet high. So I decided to move over to a little hill with lower grass that overlooked the field.Gigi and I just rested on the hill. There was a little breeze that made the warmth of the sun feel just right. The breeze swayed the grass in the field back and forth. The tall grass and the smooth breeze started to become one. It began to look like a deep sea of green.  Not just any green though. It was special. A green I had never seen before. The color of the field that day was emerald. While I was just admiring the beautiful site,Gigi jumped excitedly out of her laying position. At first I was surprised, but when I turned around I saw who she was running to. Savannah was the only other person that ever came down to the field. Savannah and I hung out a lot here over the summer. It was like our little corner of the world where we could just talk and laugh and have fun. I could see Savannah’s smile when she saw Gigi. Everything about her was amazing, but that day she looked like an angel. The sun glistened on her black hair. Her smile shown so bright it was as if I was seeing a lighthouse from a distance. I walked to her a little ways from where I had been sitting on the hill. I said hey to her and she gave me a big hug.

“Hey, I’m really sorry I’m so late.”  She said.

“It’s ok, Savannah,I’m just glad you are here now, and besides Gigi and I haven’t been here too long.”

We sat down on the hill as we had many times before and it was a blast. We just talked and talked and laughed. It was a lot of fun.

“Oh Pascal, it’s almost over. This is the last day of summer.” said Savannah.

“Yeah I know, but it won’t be over. I mean, we go to the same school. I’ll still see you and we will still talk." I said.

“Yeah, but it won’t be like this, just you and me. You know how busy I get when school starts. I’ve got volleyball, school, my friends and all of that.”

“Yeah, we will both be busy, but there will be time for us just to hang. It will just happen sometime. Maybe not as much as it is now, but even a little time with you is better than a lot of time with any other girl.”

“That’s really sweet Pascal. You are definitely the nicest guy I know. I love it.”  Savannah said, with a soft, sweet voice.

I kind of chuckled and told her thanks and said, “Savannah nothing is going to change between us.”

But that was the last day of summer. Now it was the dead of winter in Iowa. The below zero weather was like a slap in the face, and the harsh bitter winds were daggers. Yeah, life was completely different compared to that last day of summer. Now, I am in my room on Saturday afternoon talking with my older brother Gabriel.

“Dude, why didn’t you ask her out that day? That sounded like the perfect time, man.” Gabriel said.

“I don’t know. We were friends then, and to be honest, I really thought it was going to stay the same.” I replied.

I told Gabriel all about that last day of summer with Savannah. He was a little aghast I hadn’t asked her out that day, as if I missed a great opportunity. The more I’ve thought about it these past couple of months and even now, I think I did. I really miss her. I miss just us hanging out, having fun, and laughing, just enjoying each other. I miss her smile.

“Pascal, I don’t know why she ever liked you in the first place, because I mean you’re a nice guy, but she’s definitely a ten and kind of out of your league. But you guys hung out a lot over the summer, so there must be something she likes about you.” Gabriel said.

“Ah, yeah, thanks for that. I don’t know man. She’s going out with Leo now.”

“So what!” Gabriel firmly replied back. “If you really want to get back with her, you’ve got to take a chance.”

“No, bro’ you don’t understand. Leo could eat me if he wanted to. He’s the school superstar in football and basketball.”
“Yeah, probably” my brother said. “Do you still talk with her?” he asked.

“Kind of, but not really. When we pass by, I say what’s up. She usually is with her friends during school. Afterwards, she’s at volleyball or with Leo and his friends. I text her though sometimes. She always texts me back. Actually, yesterday I just happened to run into her. We talked for like ten minutes. She had to hurry to go somewhere. But she said she was throwing a party at her house tonight around seven, and she invited me.”

“Dude, tonight you got to go to that party. This could be the last time you ever get to ask her out. The fact that she invited you means something. I can’t guarantee anything, but I think she still really likes you” Gabriel said.

I thought about what he said, and that seemed to be a far off possibility but still, nonetheless, a possibility. I really started to pick up hope until I got a text from Leo. It read:“I heard that you were talking with my girl yesterday and got invited to her party.  You better not show up or I will hurt you.”

“Hey, is that Savannah texting you” my brother asked anxiously.

“No. It’s just uh... one of my friends.”

“Oh, well are you going to her party?” I sighed for a moment because I knew if I answered “yes” I would be taking a really big chance on something that could easily not workout.

My brother let me drive his red mustang to the party. It started at seven. Typically, I try to be fashionably late, so I got there at 7:30. That wasn’t a good idea. There were already a lot of people at her house. I had to park at least five minutes away from her place. When I finally got in the house, all the lights were out, except for these strobe lights and some colored lights. I couldn’t stand the strobe lights. They made everything look like a blur. The large table that was usually in Savannah’s dining room had been moved so everyone was in one large living room. There were about fifty to sixty people at the party. I knew a lot of them, because they went to my school, but I didn’t know them as friends or anything. Being there was lonely. I still hadn’t seen Savannah.  I was just sitting down on one of the couches. The people next to me and really everyone were laughing, talking or dancing. Everyone was enjoying themselves except for me. I began to think that maybe it just wasn’t meant to be. Fate didn’t have me and Savannah together. We would just never happen. I was thinking about leaving, but then I finally saw her. She was by all the colored lights across the room from where I was. Something funny must have happened over where she was, because she was laughing a lot. I could see her smile from where I was sitting. Fifteen minutes passed and she was still talking with the same group of friends. I was still sitting on the couch just trying to muster up the courage to go ask her to talk in private. Finally, I decided to go and talk to her. I was halfway to where she was when suddenly I heard a loud, deep voice.

“Pascal, what are you doing here, man?”

Just his voice scared me out of my mind. I turned around, and it was Leo. He started walking toward me. I thought about running, but I had come too far for that. The laughing, the talking, the dancing…it all stopped. All eyes were on me and Leo in the middle of the living room.

“Hey I thought I told you not to come,Pascal” Leo growled at me.

I replied back without really thinking. “Leo you don’t own me, and I am free to be me whenever or wherever.”

This infuriated Leo, and he pushed me with all his might about four feet back. When I felt his hands come against me, I don’t know what happened, but I was different. Even though he was 6’2”, 230 pounds, that emotion within side me made all 5’10” 190 pounds of me run relentlessly at him. As I got close to him, I cocked my arm back to throw a punch; I felt his fist on my nose. Then after that, everything was black.

“Hey, are you awake yet?” I heard a soft voice. I was still kind of dizzy and in pain. As I was opening my eyes, I saw Savannah beside me on the couch I had been sitting on earlier.

“Hey, what happened? Where is everybody?”

“Well, after your fight with Leo. I had them all leave” Savannah said.

“No. That wasn’t a fight that was a beat down.” I knew this much, because I could feel the new crook on my nose. Savannah giggled and said,

“Yeah, but you stood up to Leo, something a lot of guys would never do.

“Yeah, but I bet he isn’t too happy about all this with me coming and stuff.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter now. I broke up with him tonight. He’s a superstar and cool, but he’s way too controlling, and after this whole fiasco, it was too much for me.”

When I heard this, I felt a spark inside me. I looked into her eyes. She had beautiful emerald eyes. This reminded me of the fields, that last day of summer and then I knew what I had to say to her.

“Hey, Savannah the real reason why I came to this party was because I wanted to tell you that I really miss you. I know I see you passing by throughout the school day, but that’s not enough for me. I miss talking with you, and laughing with you, and just being together. You are super busy, and I understand that, but I want to try and make time to be with you, and not just leave it up too fate or something. So really I just want to ask: Would you would go out with me?”

The next summer Savannah and I were holding hands, while walking Gigi out to the fields on a perfect sunny day.

Word Count: 1,958