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Writer's pictureDanielle Amerena

The Trouble with You

Updated: Oct 23, 2023


Our story has nothing to do with love. We were built on lust and lies. No trust, no understanding; just a passion all so wrong. I’m surprised it went on for as long as it did; however short the fuse between us was. One month. One month of absolute torture of the heart.

I should’ve known on our second date how wrong we were about us; that night in the woods by the swampy water. You weren’t much of a romantic. When you told me we were going by the water, I had pictured an open field or a sandy beach near a clear lake. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

You grabbed me by hand, pulling me through the branches into what seemed like some refuge from the world. But what was revealed behind the rotting trees was a desolate area not even fit for a quick stop for a traveler to piss. I should have taken this as a sign for what was to come of our silly fling.

We sat upon a dirt covered, jagged rock, facing that sad excuse for a lake. The water was black, with specks of green algae floating on the top. If it wasn’t for the mix of my axe cologne and your perfume, I’m sure each one of my senses would have experienced the sheer atrociousness of our little hideaway. You slid in closer to me and held my hand on your lap, as if it would somehow add to the romance of the lake. That disgusting lake.

Our conversations always steered towards you. Well, you and your ex-girlfriend. Again, I should have known. She came up every other sentence. It came to a point where her name made me sick. Similar to the way my stomach turns when someone mentions your name now. I wanted to know you, but I didn’t need every dirty detail of your past relationships. Maybe it’s a lesbian thing…I don’t know.

After a half an hour you finally turned your attention to me. The sun was beginning to set in the distance and a summer chill washed over me. Or maybe it was just your breath on my skin. You leaned your forehead against mine, our lips barely touching. The one part of you that made all your faults hide away? The way you kissed me. Gentle and slow, and the world seemed to fade away until it was only you and me, two breaths as one. But it all comes crashing down eventually. We were unstable and ready to collapse at any given moment.

That night stays buried in my mind; dug out every time you come up in conversation. I don’t regret us. If anything I learned to steer clear of girls like you; only in it for themselves. But you see you were my biggest mistake, my greatest downfall. It’s you who left a small scar upon my heart.

Copyright © 2013 by Danielle Cooper, published by Endicott College


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