Always the One (Always and Forever 1)

“Oh, a surprise, good luck!” He winks and heads into the store.

When he’s out of eyesight, I look around, spotting a couple fighting by the pay phone. I’m the worst when it comes to people watching, so I feel no shame when I roll the window down a tiny bit to hear what they’re saying.

“You texted her back? You are such a jerk.” Ouch, cheating bastard, you tell ’em, girl.

“Come on, sexy, it was just one text. You know I love you, cinnamon apple.”

Ha! Did he just call her ‘cinnamon apple?’ No way.

Sometimes I wonder how in the world people think they sound normal and how in the heck they wound up together. They exchange a few more cheap and cheesy lines before she’s putty in his hands and they’re all over each other. Bees to honey, or in their case, flies to shit.

“Those two weirdos, right?” Trey says, jumping into the car and placing the bag on his lap.

“Yeah, babe, he called her his ‘cinnamon apple.’” I laugh when he looks like I just made this up, he shakes his head then joins in on the laugh.

“Some people, I swear. Anyway…” He changes the subject and digs

into the plastic bag. “I got all the classics for project best road trip ever. I also probably won best boyfriend, again, because I got all your favorites, babe.” He’s so cute when he’s excited. Let’s see how good he did.

“Peanut M&M’s because you’re my nut.” He winks at me, and I reply with my own sarcasm.

“Oh, you are just so thoughtful, aren’t you?”

“That sarcasm and smart talk is exactly why I got you the next item. Sour Trolli worms. I got these because you taste sweet and you have a sassy attitude, making you a touch of sour. Boom. Mic drop!” He makes a motion with his hand, signaling a mic dropping. “But, I also got them because I know they’re your favorite. Remember Friday night, movie night? When we were in high school?”

I take the pack from his hand. “How could I forget? I loved it when you and Lana would come watch movies with Kings and me. I looked forward to it. I just can’t believe you remember,” I reply, opening the bag and grabbing a red and blue worm, my favorite.

“Are you kidding? I would bring them every time and you were the only one to eat them. So, I kept bringing them and you would eat the entire bag.” He flicks the bag in my hand.

“I actually always wondered where they went, convinced you would get fat. Then you turned around one day and I said, ‘Oh, there they are.’”

I smack his chest; he did not just tell me I have a fat ass!

“Trey!”

Placing his hand on my wrist, he stops me from making contact with his chest for a second smack, then he continues, “Those things did their job. That ass isn’t fat; it’s round and tight. These big hand needs to be filled.”

Crude much? That still makes my body react though. I love when he grabs my butt.

“Nice save, buddy. Nice.”

“Give me a kiss with those pouty lips.”

Rolling my eyes like a sucker, I give in to my boyfriend’s cheesy charm—again.

“You know how much those Friday night movies saved me?” I ask when we get back on the highway. The trees passing us hold my focus.

“From your mom?” he questions. Nodding, I bite my lip and try to hold back the tears.

“Hey, talk to me, Shay.” I want to talk to him, but I need to rein my emotions back in. My mother and father have been divorced since I was sixteen years old. The split happened after years of my mother using and neglecting my father. Between the affairs and her narcissistic, self-righteous choices, they finally decided to divorce.

Where most families would separate and spend one week here and one week there, I didn’t have to do that. My mom was too busy with boyfriends to care about me, stopping by every Sunday to rub her newest fling in my dad’s face instead of spending time with me.

She wasn’t the only problem though. My dad did everything for her because he was still in love with her. Still is actually, and probably always will be. I can’t help but feel embarrassed that the simple reminder of our movie nights caused me to get so emotional. But in all honesty, it really did help me, we shared so many laughs and it was the perfect distraction from the shit-storm that was my life at the time.

“I never understood why my parents were like that.” He puts his hand on mine, where it’s resting on my thigh. I drag my eyes from the window to where his covers mine. His hand shields mine completely and it feels like a blanket of strength.

“Because she’s selfish.”