Wilson Mooney, Almost Eighteen Read Free Page A

nothing to write home about. People eat up
that trendy crap. All it took was a couple of movie stars and
sports figures, and all of a sudden, it was the place to be.
Anyway, Cindy was an okay person; needy, but who wasn’t
sometimes.
    “ I was just thinking about
the test in trigonometry tomorrow; you ready?” Small talk was never
a strong suit of mine. But being roommates with Cindy for the last
three and a half years I’ve started to master the
concept.
    “ No, I was thinking, this
weekend I’m flying out to see my dad in Aspen; aaannd… you’re coming with me.” Her
eyes rounded, hoping she didn’t cross the line with her demands.
“I’ll teach you how to ski. You have to say yes, because I won’t go
without you. Please. ” She flung her body on my bed. The folded love letter from
Max catapulted up off the comforter and down onto the floor,
landing between the bed frame and my nightstand. Panic rushed my
body as my eyes followed its flight.
    Was I really going to get a
chance to say no? After she whipped out a ticket in my name? I took a deep breath and held it before I
answered her.
    “ When are we
leaving?”
    She squealed bouncing up and down on
my bed.
    “ Oh, we are going to have
so much fun. We fly out on Friday night and come back Sunday
afternoon.” She jumped off my bed, grabbed her iPhone and texted
her dad that I was coming with her.
    What that must feel
like. Not the texting part, but the part
where she got to tell her dad that I was coming. An experience that
was foreign to me. I envied her, not for her money, her things, or
even her looks; I envied that she was her daddy’s little girl.
Something I will never be. We’re all dealt different hands in life,
she got a full house and I busted with a pair of twos. Point was if
I sat around feeling sorry for myself I wouldn’t be going to Aspen
this weekend with my roommate.
    “ O-M-G, do you know who has
a cabin in Aspen?”
    “ No idea, but I assume
you’re going to tell me.”
    “ Yeah, helloo our one and only, Mr.
Maximillain Goldstein.” She looked me square in the
eyes.
    “ What?” A knot clogged my
throat and captured my breath.
    “ I guess his family has
owned their cabin since he…” her voice warped into the teacher from
Charlie Brown. Wah, wah… wah, wah,
wah...
    My mind spun into a vision of Max and
me finding each other; stealing hidden time from his family and my
roommate to be together. Oh My God, what if he is up there this
weekend, what was I going to wear? What was he going to think if I
showed up there? What did the note say? What if the note was his
number in Aspen? I gotta look at the note.
    “ Excuse me Cindy. I need to
go to the bathroom.” I reached down swiped up the note and pushed
it in my pocket on the way to the bathroom. My heart was
leaping and excited, I couldn’t wait to
read it. I slammed the bathroom door; making sure to lock the knob.
I couldn’t open the note fast enough. The folds were tight and the
corners stuck together. My pulse fluttered rhythmically before
betraying into beats that thrashed cruel.
    I was totally confused. Was this a
joke? What did this mean? I stared at what he wrote; blinking to
clear my eyes, I looked again. I mouthed it slow as my eyes took in
what my mouth was saying.
    “ Matt Gladstone 555-2129.
Who the hell is Matt Gladstone; another damn counselor?” My heart
shattered. My dreams burst before my eyes. I didn’t understand. I
replayed in my head, him handing me the paper; the love note . He quivered as he
handed it to me. He told me; call me, if you need to talk. That’s
what I remembered. Call me— that was what he said. I am such a fool, like he would even want to be
with me. What a frickin idiot. I crumpled
the note and tossed it to the ground. I didn’t cry. Fire could have
burned from my eyes, and I still would have held it back. I learned
a long time ago, nobody was worth crying over. Nobody! There was no
Prince Charming to save me from my depressing life.