Jillian Chantal

This week, the writers of Tuesday Tales are writing to the word prompt, mark. I’ve started a new story called Buried Treasure. It is a contemporary tale and this is the beginning of the story.

Check out the other tales here

My best friend and I sat under the big oak tree in my grandmother’s back yard. Annette on the oval concrete bench, me on the ground. Periodically, an acorn fell and hit the bench with a little ping. The wind was blustery today and a few squirrels scurried about gathering the harvest of acorns as they descended.  “Listen to me, Annette, Levi Brown is going to break your heart.  It’s what he does.”

I poked absently at the dirt with a sharp stick I’d picked up. It sort of reminded me of when I was little and got in trouble and Grandma would make my brother and I pick our own switch off the tree. We learned fast that the skinny ones would whip through the air and sting like a son of a gun. Not that we got swatted often.

“I don’t know why you say that Heather. He’s had a number of long term relationships.”

“But they always end in tears. He can’t stay loyal to one woman indefinitely. It’s always him who ends it. And then he has a new girlfriend within hours. I don’t want you to be the latest in his list of conquests.”

“Mark my words, Heather. He’s not going to dump me. This one will end in marriage. I’m that confident of him. He loves me. I know it.”

I didn’t want to argue with my friend but she was completely deluded if she thought dating Levi would end in marriage. The man didn’t have it in him. He’d been a player as long as I’d known him. Even when he was thirteen. He’d break up with his girl of the month at ten am and by lunchtime in the school cafeteria, he’d be holding a different girl’s hand. It was kind of fascinating really. Like he couldn’t stand to be alone. Always having to have a girlfriend. Always either a cheerleader, the prettiest, or newest girl in school. Our families had been friends for ages so I knew him well. I never was attracted to him because of all the gross boy things he did when we were kids, but I did observe him over the years and knew he wouldn’t be good for my friend.

“You’ve only been dating a few weeks. What is this about love?” I asked.

“You just don’t like him because he never wanted to date you.” Annette frowned. “Is that it? Are you jealous?”

Nothing could be further from the truth but how to make her believe it? If I denied it too strenuously, she’d think I was lying.