By Emma Russell

Chapter 1                   

 I look back now and laugh about how Mitchell and I met. But it wasn’t always that easy. It never is. Times change. People change. But friends are forever. This is the tale of how I, Nicole Karvelini, city babe and redhead met Mitchell Creanell, a boy of small towns and big dreams became what we are today. This is our story… 

The bus smelled like a million people had traveled on it before. It was, of course new, but still it didn’t smell like it. I wondered about things like that sometimes, how things are always different from how they appear. I found my seat just as the bus started to move. I was looking forward to this camp. It would be a nice break from schoolwork and the demands that the senior grades held, as we had just started grade 12 and already it looked like it was going to be one hell of a year. We passed lots of ancient looking farms. Ones that looked like they could be family heirlooms. Some had cattle and sheep roaming paddocks, others had sugarcane fields, but most often there were orchards. The smell of apple blossoms drifted through the clean country air. I rested my head against the window. It was so peaceful out here, unlike the city that my home was situated in. I fell asleep there, my head full with the peaceful thoughts of the country.

 I was jolted out of my nap when the bus pulled up outside a school. I looked out the window. We had stopped at a small country school, Ackes College. I guessed that there weren’t many kids at this school, because there wasn’t going to be much room on the bus for them if there was. Some popular, pretty looking girls, who definitely weren’t dressed to go on a school camp, more like a dinner dance, hoped on and sauntered their way to the back of the bus. After them there were about five or six boys who hopped on, obviously very nervous, as they had their hands stuffed in their pockets and their eyes were wide open scanning for a spare seat. Although still, they went straight pass me without even glancing in my direction. I didn’t care, having the whole seat to myself meant that I didn’t have to make awkward conversation with anyone who sat next to me. The bus started to move when a guy ran up to the front of the bus and said something to the bus driver. The bus driver stopped and opened the door. Everyone started to whisper and chatter amongst themselves, wondering why we had stopped. We found out soon enough, a tall, built boy ran up the side of the bus and mumbled something to the bus diver and his mate who was still up the front. I listened to them as they passed me, “Mate, I’m sorry, but there’s no seats up the back, you’re on your own now.” said the boy who had stopped the bus. Still, he continued up to the back of the bus, hopefully searching for a seat. I looked behind and in front of me. There were no seats left except for the one next to me.

 Sure enough, he came over and said to me, “Ah, can I sit here please?”

“Yep, no-one else will, so you’re welcome to.” I replied looking him up and down. He didn’t seem like one of the popular snobs, but I couldn’t be too careful. He was though, quite cute. His cheeky smile, blue eyes, short ash-blonde hair and built, tall body made him quite the cutie. If he was popular I could see why.

 It was about 5 minute later, when he finally made conversation. He must have been as sick of the stony silence as I. “Hi, my name Mitchell Creanell, but you can call me Mitch.” He said holding out a hand.

“Hi, Nicole Karvelini, but Nic’s cool.” I said holding onto his hand and shaking it.

“So, where you from?” He asked curiously.

“The outer city. It’s nice out here; do you live on a farm?”  I asked him back.

“Yeah, but not a big one. We only keep bees. My Dad’s mainly interested in Motorbikes and such. He has his own workshop,” He said, “What about you, why are you in the city if you like it out here?”

“I grew up in the country, in fact, my parents live out west, I live in the city because my parents wanted me to get a better education, and an all girls school seems the place to go for, and I’m trying to get a scholarship into one of the Universities, right now I’m not sure what career for though, so I have to go to a fairly prestigious school to get one. But once I graduate from University I’m going back to the country hopefully. Maybe for a year or two, then I’ll get a job.” I said.

“Sounds great, but how can you stand having your life so planned?” He asked me thoughtfully.

“Sometimes it gets annoying, but I know it’s what I really want. What about you, don’t you have hopes or dreams or ambitions?” I asked him. He was very nice and didn’t seem at all uncomfortable talking.

“Yeah, but I just like riding the wave. I don’t want to have to follow a certain plan. I like law enforcement and criminology, they’re really interesting. Although I wouldn’t mind becoming an exchange student, it would be a great adventure, and a nice change.” He said.

“Where would you go as an exchange student?”  I asked him curiously.

 “Maybe Japan, although, I would prefer it if I was in a country that spoke English, maybe Britain, or even America.” He said while looking out the window past me. I glanced out too. We were just pulling up outside of the camp. “Finally, this bus trip was ridiculous; I’m going to complain to my father, he’ll sort out the bus company!” I heard Melissa Davies say to one of the other girls. Melissa was the richest, snobbiest and most spoilt girl at my school. “Well, it’s been nice chatting, but I’ve got to go, see ya.” Mitchell said, noticing me looking at the other girls, who were probably his friends, or one could even be his girlfriend. He hopped up and made his way down the crowded aisle.

 I got off the bus and made my way to the huge piles of suitcases and duffel bags. Mine had to be on there somewhere. I spotted mine on the very top of one of the piles and reached for it, but just as I did, I heard Melissa Davies yell, “Where is my foot massager?” And with that she grabbed my bag and threw it over my head and against a tree. Man she really pissed me off sometimes. I made my way back down the pile and walked over to the tree. I hauled my heavy bag over my back and followed the rest of the crowd to the assembly area where a young, kind-looking and rather short man was giving us a low-down of all the camp rules. No one was listening to him anyway. I could just hear him say, “You may sleep in any cabin you like, as long as you ask permission from the people who are already in it. And also, in the past I have found that you guys like to check out other cabins, so you may do this, but for this you also must have permission from the members of the cabin that you wish to inspect.” And with that he motioned for us to go find a cabin, and we didn’t waste any time, people were running in all directions.

 I waited a few minutes before I left the assembly area, I didn’t want to get crushed in the group of mad people running everywhere. When I did finally set off I headed towards the lake. Most of the girls had gone close to the toilets so they could have early showers and take longer, so I decided the other way would be best. I saw the lake ahead. There were three cabins; the two furthest from the water were taken so I made my way for the empty one. I jiggled the doorknob to get in, as it was quite stuck. When I did get it open I walked inside and sat with a heavy thump on one of the beds. This cabin was quite dusty; I felt a sneeze coming on as I looked out the window. The cabin had a gorgeous view of the lake, I‘d much rather that than a view of the toilets, even if it meant long waits for the showers and a lot further to walk, about three-quarters of a kilometer actually.

 I thought that I should perhaps start to unpack. This cabin was definitely quiet. It made me unhappy to be alone. I wouldn’t have been if I hadn’t have moved from my real home, my real school, out in the bush at Yoruing. My new school didn’t have people that were as welcoming and nice as the people in my home town.  There were a lot of rich, snobby girls, some were kind, but even they couldn’t be considered a true friend. I had only been at this school about a month, and already I didn’t know that I would ever have a friend. The worst bit was that it was a school that had all girls, so even making guy friends was out of the question. My best friend at my old school had been Sam, he was almost a male skank, and he had every girl’s attention within a heartbeat, yet when I had met him he didn’t convince me at all that he was hot property, so we just became friends. When I first moved to the city he said that he would visit me in a few years, but both of us knew it was unlikely. It would be different then, we would be different people, we were now, but by then Sam wouldn’t have time for me, he’d probably be too busy working to pay for half the towns population of teen girls who had been knocked up by him. Some people got me wrong, even though this is what I knew he was truly like, I still was his best friend; I had the best of times with him and we were closer than the cells in your skin, or rather that’s the metaphor that he used.

 There was a quite knock at the door that brought me out of my deep thought.

“Come in.” I said loudly. The door opened slowly to reveal Mitchell with his bags sitting next to him.

“Hey, Can I stay here? My mates have ditched me and there are no other cabins except this one.” He asked with a pleading look in his deep blue eyes.

“Sure, as long as you’re the only one.” I said looking behind him.

“Yep, it’s only me, everyone else has a cabin.”

“It’s all good then.” I said gesturing at the spare bed. This was a small cabin. It only held two people anyway.

 We both unpacked and talked about our friends and what they did to us, and whether they were even worth having. Mitchell laughed when I told him about Sam. He said he had a friend like that, but his name was Alex. The bell then rang for the days activities, so we went off together and had fun for the rest of the afternoon, discussing everything from Subwoofers to Clothes.

 That night at Dinner we were enjoying a meal of Spaghetti Bolognaise when Mitchell asked me if I had had any other best friends apart from Sam. I placed my fork on my plate, and looked at my food. I wasn’t hungry anymore.

“Yes, there was one, Cassie, she was a great friend, and we were almost like sisters, but one day her father…” I paused. It was a horrible memory that I had tried to erase every day of my life, until I realized that I didn’t want erase Cassie, she had been to dear to me, instead I realized that I was better off cherishing the other memories I had had with her.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” He said concerned.

“It’s okay. Well her father, he used to beat her. She was doing too well at school for her fathers liking and he was worried that she wouldn’t do what he wanted her to in life if she was too smart. Her father’s fears were escalated by not only that but also because her boyfriend made her realise that she was more special than what her father said…” I paused, “…and she didn’t want to do what her father said she had to. She was better than what he said she should be. She didn’t want to become a farmer in the family business; she wanted to become a journalist, or a news reporter. Her father didn’t approve of that and he was half crazy, he had a medical condition, so he beat her every night for a year basically. She used to come to me at night sometimes, after the beatings. She’d be covered in bruises. One day her father had had a bad day at work and he wasn’t in the mood for struggle. She didn’t realise that, otherwise she probably wouldn’t have fought him. All day that day Cassie and I had been thinking up ways for the beating to stop, and how to get her out of that house. Her Mother had died when she was giving birth to Cassie. So it was just Cassie and her Dad. I think our plans about how to get her away made her confident that her dad wasn’t the boss of her, that night; I’m guessing if she followed our plans, she struggled and threatened to reveal the beatings. This probably threw him off the edge, I’m guessing he ran to his gun closet and then threatened her, but I figure she didn’t want to give in that easy, and she didn’t think he would kill her anyway. He still loved her, well that’s what everyone thought. Anyway, that night, at about ten O’clock I awoke to hear a gunshot. I ran to her place, found Cassie dieing and her Dad gone. I’ll never forgive him, that bastard.”  I said I was looking at my hands twisting them around.

 “Cassie’s Dad ‘came home’ that night to find me there and his dead daughter. He faked that he was upset and when the case went to court he said that his daughter had flipped out and that she had killed herself most likely. It was a load of bullshit, he knew, I knew, but the court didn’t. It happens all the time. He didn’t get punished, no one did, and it’s just not fair on Cassie.”

Mitchell sat there stunned for a minute, rolling one of his meatballs around on his plate. He looked up at me and said, “That’s so horrible, I feel so sorry for you. I really do. That’s like one of those stories where you think, ‘that only happens to other people, it’ll never happen to me. It only happens on the news.’ It must have been awful” We shared a stare for a moment and then our thoughts were disrupted by the bell. It was bed time. It really had been a busy day.

 Chapter 2                   

The next morning I woke up to find that Mitchell was   already making breakfast in our cabin’s little kitchenette. Dinner and Lunch were provided by the chef, but everyone was expected to cook their own breakfast. Each of the cabins had a kitchen with a toaster, and electric jug, a small over and stove, a microwave, a sink and a bar fridge and freezer. Everything you could think of was stored in the freezer and fridge and the pantry. There were sausages, eggs, chocolate topping, grapes, oranges, apples, milk, Fruit and Vegetable juices, meats, vegetables, frozen meals, practically everything! Mitchell was cooking bacon and eggs. It smelt good. 

After we had finished breakfast the activities began. This was a good camp, as you could pick which activities you wanted to do and how many times you wanted to do it depending on the waiting line for it. Mitch had signed us up early for tobogganing. He thought that I would enjoy it. We made our way down to the lakes edge. We were first there so we went first. It was awesome, Mitchell was right.  By the time we hadn’t gotten off we were both saturated, and my smile was so big my cheeks hurt. Mitchell was pleased to see that I liked it. He asked me if I would like to go again as the line still hadn’t grown much bigger and I gladly said yes. 

That night was the night of the camp that everyone looked forward to, because we could all just go crazy and have a bit of fun. It was the talent show night that ended with a big disco party. Our cabin had been given the choice of doing a comedy act, making up a song and singing it (not matter how horribly) or doing some other form of entertainment. Mitchell and I had decided to do some sort of comedy act. Mitchell was great at coming up with what we were going to say. I just left it up to him for our script. Then he told me that our costumes would need to be a teacher’s outfit and a schoolboy’s outfit. They were easy enough to make. I just got some of the uniforms that were in the ‘Lost Items’ basket at the edge of the auditorium, got a baggy, old-like dress and made a graduation-like hat to resemble a teacher. I also grabbed an apple and a few books. 

 All of that afternoon was spent rehearsing our script in which I was playing the role of the teacher and Mitchell was the schoolboy. That afternoon the bell sounded for dinner which was lamb and vegetables. Mitchell said to me “Are you nervous about tonight?”

“No, not really, I think it will go well, as long as we don’t forget our lines,” I replied, rolling the vegetables around my plate. I really was nervous, this had always been Cassie’s thing, and just thinking about it reminded me of her. But I was determined to look strong I had already broken down once in front of him. I looked up and saw a questioning look on his face.

“Don’t you worry it will be fine,” he said reaching out across the table and slipping his hand in mine, “It’ll be ok.” I knew that he wasn’t even referring to the play, but to the same thing I was thinking about. 

After dinner we went back to out cabin to get changed. I got into my teachers outfit, but because we were having a disco after and I probably wouldn’t get to come back to the cabin, I slipped on my dress underneath. It was a simple cocktail-like dress, a shin length, strapless one that gathered at the side with a round diamante brooch. It would do. Then I slipped on my black shoes and put my teachers outfit over it. It looked so funny, this huge hat and baggy dress. But as I met Mitchell outside I realized that he looked funny too. He had a shirt that was un-tucked and a little dirty and school shoes that were three sizes too big. Together we walked to the auditorium discussing and laughing about how ridiculous we, and other people we passed, looked.  

We got inside and were told that we were going to be up last, which was what I had feared would happen because our cabin number was last. I hated going last because it meant that your act to be very good or it was considered bad because the audience would start getting restless at that point. But we were also told to report to the teacher’s room at the back of the auditorium three acts before yours so that the teachers could make sure that your act was appropriate. That was the news I dreaded. I was sure that the teachers would hate our act. I had convinced myself it wasn’t even funny anymore and that they would hate us and make us sit down and just watch the others. Although that would be good as I wouldn’t have to act, I knew rumors would arise from some kids as to why we weren’t allowed to perform, and they wouldn’t be nice. 

Mitchell saw me staring at the stage and grabbed me around the hips from behind to scare me out of it. It did work, for a while until my brain got to work again. Mitchell seized my hand as the lights were dimmed and we were told to sit down and walked me over to the fourth row to sit down and watch the show. 

The show was great, some of the acts were singing, which was meant to be funny, because they had changed the lyrics so that they were parodies of the original songs. Some of the acts were comedy acts, which were all good, some which were making fun of Steve Erwin, Britney Spears, Madonna and other celebrities. But none like ours. The time came for us to go back to get our script checked over and we slowly moved to the back of the auditorium and to the teacher’s room. Much to my disappointment our school principal Mrs. Crescendo was there. I handed her our script and she read it and spoke to both me and Mitchell most angrily, “You two have produced a fine script, don’t get me wrong, but it is most racist, sexist and is quite inappropriate. It doesn’t say a lot about our school, if you understand what I mean. You must find another act.”

“But miss, how can we, our act is in 7 minutes,” Mitchell pleaded, looking at the clock on the wall, “We can’t get something ready in that time-frame.”

“I’m sorry, but you must, I will not let your racist, ignorant attitude excuse you from this event. Find an act or you will find yourself going home on the hour.” She said and walked over to the door and held it open suggestively.

 Mitchell and I walked outside and said,” I have no idea…what can we do now?”

I looked at him thoughtfully and said “We can improvise, but I suck at that.”

“No I don’t like that anyway, too risky.” He said thinking hard. Looking at him made me realise one other option, but it was risky and involved a lot of courage on my behalf…and that was courage I didn’t have. But I knew that this meant the world to Mitchell and that I should take a risk once in a while, being so secure wasn’t always a good thing.

“I…I, um…I could…” I stuttered. I still didn’t want to do it.

“What?” He asked me.

I looked at him and realised that it was time to start practicing what I preached. If it meant I would have to do this, no matter how much I debated it, I would have to do it.  “I could sing. I’m not great, but back home, I won a few awards, that was the career path that my dad wanted me to follow. But I was always too stage-shy to,” I said looking away.
”That’s great, what do you want to sing? I can play the piano, and I could play the song, all we need is the sheet music off the internet. if I used the piano on the stage we would be set.” He said excited.

“I can play the guitar as well, so if you wanted to get me a guitar I will quickly get you your music, just tell me the website.” I said, actually feeling good about this decision. 

Mitchell told me the internet address and we went back into the teacher’s room to go onto the computer. Mitchell logged me on the site under his username and then went to get a guitar. I searched the site for the music to ‘The Voice Within’ by Christina Aguilera; it was the perfect song to finish off the night with and I knew it by heart both vocally and on the guitar. I found the song, printed the sheet music and then ran out to the end of the stage where Mitchell was. He handed me the guitar and I handed him the music. He nodded and said he could play this easily. Then I looked down at what I was wearing. “Mitchell, ah slight problem…” I said looking up at him, but he was one step ahead of me. He was already taking off his costume to reveal his disco outfit beneath. He was wearing a pair of Jeans and a nice good-casual shirt. Then when he was done he looked at me and told me to do the same. He knew that I had done the same thing by putting my outfit underneath my costume. “Okay, but turn around. I’m not doing it with you watching, because I will probably need to adjust myself!” I said. He just laughed and faced the stage. I removed my costume and fixed up my hair. “You can turn around now,” I muttered to him. He turned around and just looked at me. “Wow, you look stunning,” He said looking me up and down. “Thank you.” I said, blushing. Our moment ended with the stage assistant pushing up on stage. 

I walked up and sat down on the stool next the microphone and looked out over the crowd. It was a larger looking crowd from up here. I looked back at Mitchell and he nodded. I then started playing the guitar. I sang great, better than I remembered ever singing, although it had been ages, and Mitchell played the piano well too. After our act was over we were congratulated by a standing ovation from the audience. It was like a dream. It felt like I was going to wake up any minute now and It wouldn’t be real. But it was real and Mitchell walked up to me and we both bowed and then I walked off stage, Mitchell trailing behind. When I got to behind the curtain he ran in front of me and picked me up and spun me. Placing me back down he said, “That was great Nic, Why didn’t you tell me you could sing like that? It was like an angel’s voice!”  I just looked at him. He already knew the answer. It was that moment that I realised that I really liked Mitchell. I had a crush on him already. As impossible as it seemed to fall in love that fast, it was true. He understood me, and he was one of the only people that ever had. I wished that I could have spun in his arms forever. 

That night after all the festivities were over Mitch and I walked back to our cabin, chatting and laughing madly. When both of us found that there was nothing left to say, I slipped my hand into his, and he didn’t object, so holding hands we just walked the rest of the way in silence. It had been a great night, we had both received much praise and no one believed that our original plan was to do a joke. We got inside and I went to clean my teeth in the kitchen sink. I wasn’t about to walk all that way back to the toilets. Showering could wait till the morning. I had already had a shower before dinner anyway. When I came back to our beds I found Mitchell fast asleep in his clothes on his bed. I looked at him. He was so quite when he was sleeping. The opposite of what he was normally like. I turned off the lights, and walked out onto the back balcony to where there was a view of the water. I sat there for a few minutes until I decided to go down and lie on the sand. So I jumped the balcony and went and laid down by the water. I soon fell asleep. 

I woke up at five O’clock the next morning to feel a body next to mine. Mitchell was lying next to me also asleep. I sat up and brush the sand off his cheek with the back of my hand. That awakened him. I apologized but he said it didn’t matter. We sat there and talked for a while and watched the sun rise in a nearly cloudless sky. It was beautiful, glints of light reflecting over the lake. Then the bell rang. Mitchell got up, looked around and then helped me up to. Then, just as I got on my feet, he kissed me. It felt like time was standing still until we parted because something splashed in the water out in the middle of the lake. We both looked out there searching for movement, but there was none. Then with nothing but a glance at each other we headed back up to our cabin. 

We went back inside and Mitchell cooked breakfast while I went and got ready for the day. It was while I was cleaning my teeth next to him cooking that I realised that today was the last day, we were set off to leave at nine O’clock. Then I wondered how I would ever see Mitchell again. I then realised that I loved Mitch. Then I sat down on the stool at the bench and thought. I would not be able to see him again. I lived in a boarding school and even on the holidays I wasn’t allowed to leave campus as I couldn’t travel back home for them, it was to expensive for my father to pay for me to travel home and back. The only exception to this was the Christmas holidays and I spent them with family. I spat out my toothpaste and went to pack my bags. I sat down on the bed and then went back into the kitchen where I grabbed my plate and told Mitchell that I was going to eat elsewhere. “But, why?” He asked me, puzzled.

“I need some alone time,” was all that he got for a response. That was all he needed. He nodded, still curious but not wishing to push the subject any further, he began to eat.  

I walked outside and down to the lake. It was overcast outside now. My how the weather changes quickly. I sat on the sand and ate my sausages and hash browns. They were good. I looked out over the water. I just couldn’t leave Mitchell. It seemed as though I was being foolish. If anyone else had told me that they were in the same situation before this camp started I would’ve called them ‘hormonal’ and ‘just silly’. But now I understood. But it made sense to me. To fall in love in three days sounded stupid, but it was all but impossible. I thought that I should just go with the flow and just take it as it came. I walked back up the cabin and found that Mitchell wasn’t there, and neither were his things. There was a note on the bench that simply said, ‘Bus’. I grabbed my stuff and ran up to the bus area. I looked for our bus number, put my things in the compartment beneath and got on. Mitchell was waiting, with a spare seat next to him for me.  

I plonked myself down next to him. “Where have you been? I was starting to worry that you would miss the bus.” He said.

“How will we see each other?” I said totally disregarding his last comment.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“Well I’m in a boarding school and don’t get let out except for Christmas, which is when I go to my family’s place and then there’s you living out so far from the city and…” I just blurted out the words that were on my mind.

“Hey…”He said taking my hand in his, “It’s okay; we’ll work it out, “ he said soothingly, “Its okay.”

“Yea,” I said claming down a little. 

The bus trip home was sad and what was worse our school transferred buses half way through which was un-planned, but another bus had broken down close to Ackes College and they needed to pick up the passengers, which would be easier if our school transferred buses. Our principal broke the news and I looked at Mitchell, tears in my eyes. “Hey,“ He said when I looked down, “It’s okay.” He gave me one last kiss on the cheek and then I walked down the isle.  

I got off the bus and looked up at him and then I saw both him and I realise at the same time that neither of us had the others number, address or any means of contact. He reached up to the small window that you could open at the top but it was jammed no matter how much he yanked it, it wouldn’t open. He gave up as the bus engine started and then sat and looked at the front of the bus and then out the window at me. Then the bus began to pull back onto the road. He put his hand on the glass of the window and just looked at me as I waved, crying.  

Then he was gone. His bus a faint dot on the road in the distance. Our new bus pulled up and we boarded, where I sat against the window watching the rain falling on the bus windows, my tears falling with it. I placed my head against the window and fell asleep, to upset to resist the tired feeling that was starting to overcome me.

 Chapter 3               

About two years later I had moved on from my school and had what seemed like no memory of Mitchell whatsoever. After getting a high O.P which then led to getting scholarship offers to several Universities around the city, I had decided to take a course in Business, majoring is Hospitality, as my dream was to own my own restaurant. I was a full time Uni student, but when I did get a break from Uni, which was mainly on the Weekends and a large portion of the holidays, I worked at a local Italian restaurant called “Tama Rita”. It was a nice place and a nice little Italian couple owned it. It was like family there.  

It was one fine morning when I woke up to the usual drone of my alarm clock. I slowly climbed out of bed and made my way to the shower. After that I got out and got dressed in my bikini top, and some towel shorts which I always wore because I got so uncomfortable sometimes during the day that on my lunch break I would go down to the local pool for a swim. I did my hair and make up nice and put a green halter top and denim skirt on over bikini top and the shorts. Then, realizing what the time was, I ran to the front door and got into my car. 

My car was a result of my parent’s hard savings. They knew that I would need one once I started work, so they had been saving since I was a little girl. They had saved a small fortune and it had definitely come in handy in buying my first car, which was a red Holden Ute, something that I had wanted since I was a little girl. It was good, because if I ever had a lot of stuff there was plenty of room to put it somewhere. It had also come in handy when I had moved into my current apartment. It was good when I went out west to my hometown too; any other fancy car probably wouldn’t be able to hack the long journey.  

On my way to work I stopped and brought a Mars bar and a Powerade drink. I needed the energy because I had forgotten to have my morning coffee and toast. I also brought the latest copy of my favourite magazine, Woman’s Day. Then I got back into my car and drove to work. 

When I got out of my car at work I didn’t notice because I was reading my magazine but there was a large pothole and I walked straight into it and tripped. The contents of my handbag flew absolutely everywhere. A man ran up to me from behind and asked me if I was alright.

“Yea, I think so…” I said scavenging the contents of my handbag back up into a pile. The man was fetching my heel from a crack in the pothole, but to much of my disappointment, he couldn’t get it out. I hobbled over to him, and told him not to worry about it, but he said that he almost had it. Then, without warning he went flying backwards and landed square on top of me, toppling me to the ground.

“I am SO sorry miss, really.” He said and passing my heel to me he said, “Here’s your heel.”

“Thank you. What is your name?…” I said looking at his face for the first time, “Mitchell?”

“Nic?” He said, before hugging me. “What are you doing here?” he said to me finally releasing me from his tight hug.

“I could ask you the same thing. I work at Tama Rita, what about you?” I asked him.

“I was making my way to the solicitors across the road,” he said. In an attempt to impress me he added, “I work there.”
”As what?” I said raising an eyebrow; I was picking up what he was trying to do.

He looked at me laughing, “An Assistant. Not a bad job though.”  

We talked for a while, and then we both realised we were late for our jobs, so we said our goodbyes and started to walk away when Mitchell turned and said, “There’s nobody, is there?”

“No….” I replied.

“Well do you want to go out tonight?” He asked carefully.

“Sure. Do you want me to pick you up from work? Sometime after six?” I said gesturing at my car.

“Yea, otherwise I’d have to pick you up in a cab.” He said and then spun on his heel and started to walk to work while whistling a merry tune to himself. 

That night came quickly. I had served more customers today than usual, as the holidays were now here and people had to celebrate that. So it had been a busy day, and it hadn’t helped that one of the waiters had taken a day off sick. As I hung up my apron and said goodbye to Gus and Roberta, who were the owners of the restaurant. Then I went outside greeting Sarah on my way, who did the night shift at the restaurant and was one of my closest friends. We talked for a few minutes and then said our goodbyes before I left to go to my car. I climbed in and then drove across the road outside the office where Mitchell said he was working. I honked my horn a few times and then stood beside my car with my door open waiting for Mitchell. About a minute went by before a window opened and a head poked out. It was Mitchell.

“I’ll be right down Nic, just one sec.” he shouted down. I nodded and then he pulled his head back in. 

About five minutes later he finally came down and then we got into the car, and I drove out of the carpark and to the traffic lights, him commenting on my choice of vehicle.

“You chose a Ute? I thought you would’ve chosen some other car, like a…oh I don’t know, a sedan of some kind, just not a Ute.” He said without any insults implied.

“Yea, but it is good for when I go home. Not only that, it reminds me of home. Plus, I have always wanted one since I was a little girl.”

“Cool. So where are we going?” Mitchell asked, “I don’t know this place all that well I only moved out here a few weeks ago because this job was offered in our local paper. “

“How about we go to a place I know, it’s nothing special just a club.” I said.

“Sound’s great. Anything’s better than the two minute noodles I have been having lately.” Mitchell said with a laugh.  

We arrived a half hour later, and we were both starving. We walked up to the main desk and I asked if we could have a table for two. She said that she would be with us right away if we would pick a table. I told Mitchell to close his eyes as I took his hand and led him through the restaurant and onto the balcony. Then I sat him down on a chair and sat across from him. “Open your eyes.” I said.

“Wow,” he said looking around, “This is beautiful.” I had taken us both to a surf club that was a restaurant at night. The balcony that they had went way out onto the sand and had a beautiful view of the moonlit sea. A single candle in the middle of the table was the only other light that we had.

“I like it here; sometimes I just come here by myself and watch the sea all night. It sounds so pretty,” I said to Mitchell looking out over the beautiful body of water, “It reminds me of the lake at the camp we went to now that you’re with me.”  Mitchell smiled and leaned across the table to kiss me on the cheek.

“I missed you. All the girls back at my school were so annoying after you were gone. Before I would’ve done anything to get the attention of some of those girls, but after camp it just seemed like they were using me.” Mitchell said looking me deep in the eyes, as though he was searching for something that had been missing in his life up until now.. 

Dinner was great and our conversation was never-ending. After we had finished our deserts and Mitchell had paid the bill; which only happened because he insisted; I drove us to a public beach. We walked down to the water and Mitchell sat down on the sand. I walked into the water, to about shin length and looked out over the calm water. The water was cool, which was especially nice because it was a hot summer night. I ran back up to Mitchell and said with a cheeky grin, “Do you wanna go for a swim?”

“Huh?” He said with a puzzled look.

“I’ve a singlet on underneath my top and you can swim in your boxers, c’mon it’ll be fun!” I said pulling off my sweaty and stained waitress shirt. Mitchell laughed and pulled off his shirt and pants to reveal the fact that he had a pair of ‘stubbies’ shorts on underneath. “As soon as I get home everyday I rip off my work clothes, and voila…instant comfort!” He said with a grin.  

By that stage I had pulled off my skirt leaving my singlet and toweled shorts. Then not waiting any longer, I ran down into the water and plunged into the first wave. I swam out a bit under water and then popped my head above the surface. Mitchell was still standing at the waters edge. “What are ya, chicken?” I yelled to him. I knew that would edge him into the water. With that he waded out to waist length water and dived under. I waded for what seemed like forever, waiting for him to come up until something grabbed my leg and made me scream. Then Mitchell popped his head above the surface and started laughing hysterically. “Hey, that’s not funny!” I said splashing him playfully. “Who’s chicken now, huh?” He said splashing me back. I brushed the water off my eyes and then jumped on top off him tackling him under a wave. Not wanting to defeat him so easily I gave him a few seconds to react when we both came back up for air, but instead of tackling me back he pulled me towards him from the waist, hoisted me over his shoulder so I was sitting on it and carried me back onto the sand. He placed me gently down on my feet on the sand and then passionately kissed me. Then, with his arm round my hips, we walked back to my car, sopping wet. Everything was the way it had been before, perfect.
 

Chapter 4

 For the next few months Mitchell and I were inseparable. Every waking hour I had free was practically spent with  Mitchell whether it be at beaches, parks, clubs, restaurants, even his flat or my townhouse. We had the best time together and both loved each other to death. But it was all about to come to an abrupt end. 

One stormy morning I woke up to find that I was sleeping on my couch still in the clothes I had worn the day before when I went to a 21^st birthday party with Mitch. I sat up, feeling slightly groggy and hung-over when I saw that there was a letter on the coffee table. I picked it up and read it aloud. “Nic, I couldn’t tell you this in person because, well, I’m not good at goodbye’s and I didn’t want you to spend these last few weeks we had together worrying about how much time you had left with me. I am leaving. You see, the catch with this job was that it was an ‘exchange job’, and if after a few months I proved I was good I would get sent to America to work for a law firm over there for two years. I am so sorry I didn’t say goodbye. Forgive me. I love you.

Mitchell.”  

I sat in silence for about five minutes. I couldn’t believe it. The one person I had truly loved in my life had just left me, so quickly and suddenly, and without me even realizing. I understood that there were things that you just had to do in life, no matter how hard they were, and he had just been brave enough to one of the hard things in life. But that didn’t mean that it hurt any less. Tears started to run down my face as I buried my face deep in my hands. I didn’t sleep well at all that night, or the nights in the weeks following for that matter either. But instead of pursuing him I felt that it was best to let sleeping dogs lie, and to let him make this decision on his own. 

About a month later I was still recovering from Mitchell, but was moving on, as I knew that there was no use dwelling on the past. The first few weeks after he was gone was traumatizing, but eventually things started to look up and it felt like there was something else worth living for.  I was to have lunch that day with a friend, but she had cancelled, so I just went out to one of the local bars for a drink and a meal, as I couldn’t be bothered cooking. I sat down at one of the stools and looked at the menu sitting on the bench. I looked around for a bartender to order to. I spotted one in the corner whose back was facing me.

“Excuse me?” I yelled to him. He turned and walked towards me. I noticed he was very attractive, with dark black hair and bright green eyes. He lent onto the counter with his elbows in front of me.

“Now what is a pretty lady like you doing in a bar all alone? You should have company. “ He said smoothly.

“I wouldn’t be alone if I could find a half descent guy around here, now would I?” I snapped at him, I was in a bad mood.

“Now that ain’t fair. You cannot tell me that you have dated every guy that is within a ten mile radius of you now, have ya?” he said, pointing out the little flaw in my statement. It was to true. I had almost given up dating. It seemed that every guy I walked into didn’t seem half descent or even worth dating.

“Given up have we?” he said, looking at me square in the eye, “I’ve been in this bar plenty long to know what someone’s thinking by the look on their face.”

“No I have not given up, well not entirely; I just can’t seem to find the right one.” I said looking down to avoid his stare.

“Well do you need a date?” he asked, “Is it a necessity?”

“Actually, yes, I have a function to appear at tomorrow, I’m the manager of this restaurant, you see, and it’s been nominated for an award. So a date is sort of a must-have.” I said gloomy. I really didn’t want to attend the awards night.

“Well, I’ll go with you then. I’m free. It’d be no trouble at all, and you may actually enjoy yourself at this thing.” He said. I looked at him, about to refuse, but there was something about him, whether it be his good looks or his attitude, that made me say yes. “Pass me a piece of paper and a pen.” I said motioning at him. He passed me the pen and a napkin. I raised an eyebrow, questioning his class and he said, “Hey, it’s a bar, what do you seriously expect?” I wrote down my address, phone number, the address of the function and the time and dress sense. He looked at the napkin and folded it before placing it in his pant pocket. “I’ll pick you up then.” He said.

“Yes, that’d be great. Well I’ve got to go,” I said, glancing at my watch, I had gone over, and I hadn’t even eaten.“ I got up and started to walk away and out of the bar before he said, “Ma’am, I don’t even know your name.” He yelled, leaning over the bar to see me.

“Nicole, Nicole Karvelini. What yours?” I yelled back.

“My name’s Charles, but Charlie ‘ill do.” He replied.

“Nice to meet you Charlie.” I said, and with that, I turned around. 

The next day came fast. I was looking forward to seeing Charlie. He seemed like a nice guy, and he was very attractive too.