Chapter I

This one chapter took me five days to write. Looking for enough feedback to make it worth reading.

There were so many stories of a fairytale ending for every girl out there, but I doubt that there is one out there for me. Well, I did until I met the man of my dreams, what seems like yesterday.

This is the real deal about how I met the very one; my soul mate and other half of myself.

The man of my dreams was the good ol' country boy, after all. I had always made fun of the boys that wore cowboy boots and faded jeans and a tank top with a plaid button-up shirt every day to school. Little would I admit that it made my stomach drop to see them. The guy that would hopefully steal my heart had to have manners of a rich boy, but also knew how to a good fun time in the barn, so to speak.  He needed to know how to treat me like I was the only girl that he would know, or even acknowledge, from even before we met. This guy needed to respect the troops because of how much of my family had served in the military at one point; but he couldn't think that he was a know-it-all about military life, no matter if he was a military brat himself.

I had given up on love, well true love, and was going to deal with nothing but infatuation until my senior year of high school. Things hadn't been going too great, but they were bearable and not too horrible either. I was sitting outside on a bench waiting for my ride to arrive when a tall guy walked out with one of my friends.

I hadn't noticed him before, but I wasn't at school this year to make friends. I was really there just to hurry up and finish my dreaded final year. He walked with a certain air that I didn’t like. He seemed way too confident of himself and needed a reality check. I was the type of person who enjoyed putting males in their place because I was raised with the mentality of ‘almost anything a man can do a woman can do, and possibly, even better. Later on, I would find out why he had acted that way in front of me.

His personality and mine clashed tremendously. I had envisioned myself shoving a six inch stiletto heel into his jugular vein to see how far his blood would project. However, I would've never actually done it because deep down, I found something strangely compelling about him.

His personality and mine never matched. It wasn’t that he and I had really ever gotten into some sort of disagreement, we just never got along. I think that it’s more along the stereotyping lines that caused the friction between us, but I am not entirely sure why he and I couldn’t get along and be civilized towards each other.

He and I continued on the path of violent trash talking and other stuff that showed everyone we weren't interested in each other, when the truth was quite the opposite. We had strong feelings for each other that we would not let on to. We refused to let ourselves believe that we were falling for each other more quickly than we ever wanted to.

This went on throughout the last month and a half of our senior year. I knew quite a bit about him, but I didn't know what all he knew about me. That's what really worried me---

I knew that he was originally from Central California, raised as a military brat, from the age of eleven to now, twenty. He had lived in Washington and Alaska before coming to Texas. He had a way with the ladies in the school because it seemed they all wanted to be with him, but he showed them all no interest. I could not help but wonder if he was already taken.

There were some things that I could tell by the way he looked at people. His childhood hadn’t been an easy one. It was one filled with lies and deceit. How could someone at a young age of seventeen know that look already? I had been through it a few times with my family members already. I didn’t need to be told that not only did he needed a female strong enough to handle with his outbursts and his past, but someone who could help him learn to cope and forgive those that had hurt him in the past.

I kept finding myself running over the events involving him whenever I had time alone at home to think. I needed to process what was happening between him and me. I didn’t want anything really to become of him and me. True love for someone at my age just wasn’t possible.
I sat back and waited for the guy that I desired and despised at the same time afterschool. I was hoping that he would be walking with my friend again, but it was a faint chance that he would. To my surprise he was walking her to her bus again.

Today seemed different. His appearance had changed and so had his aura around him. He had a calmer air; he had trimmed his hair, from the shaggy hair to a crisp cut and he had shaved his facial hair. He wore work boots (rather than his normal tattered tennis shoes). He had a nice short sleeved button up black shirt with a silver cross on the upper right hand corner, a dark pair of worn jeans, and rather than his baseball cap, he held a cowboy hat. Oh, how my mind went wild seeing him.

Seeing him so calm being around several girls as my nerves went racing, it was irritating! Did he not feel anything towards me? What was going through his mind as he saw me?
Because of me having a baseball game that evening I was staying afterschool. Since the last bell had already rung, I didn’t have to be in dress code anymore. I had taken of the shawl to my top, leaving my arms bare, wearing a thin spaghetti strap tank top, that was a bright orange in  contrast to my tan skin tone. My blue jeans hugged my curves, as well as they could, since the face that I had none and was about as straight as a board and about as skinny as a twig. I had already put on my marching shoes since we had outside rehearsal this morning too. It was too late in the year for football season but I was in color guard and pep band so we went to all the home games for all sports.

He saw me, smiled and walked over. “Catherine, isn’t it?” He seemed hesitant, almost as if he was crossing some sort of boundary by talking to me without our friend near us.

“Yeah, Timothy, right?”

“I’m surprised you remembered my name. What are your plans for later on? I was going to stay around for the game, but I’m still undecided about that.”
“Well, I was about to walk up the street, get something to eat for dinner, and then by six, be back here to get warmed up for the game tonight.”

“Oh�"“ He paused; there was almost disappointment in his eyes.

“I have no one going with me for dinner, and if you’re free, you are welcomed to join me.” I was surprised that I had offered him the chance to dine with me. I wasn’t normally this free going with most people, especially those that I despised, such as him.
I started walking around the corner to head towards the crosswalk.

After I had gotten a few paces ahead of him, he started following me. I had gotten enough space between us originally that his strides were lengthened trying to catch up with me. He still didn’t really have to strain to catch up to me, me being as petite as I am.
Silently we walked closely together, but not too close. There was enough room that a medium sized dog could still fit between him and me. I made a turn to the right, cutting him off and headed towards the door of the fast food joint.

“Really? Here?” There was a thick sarcastic tone in his voice, almost like he disapproved of eating here.

“What? It’s cheap and I like eating chicken.”

“Never figured you for the fast food type of girl unless it consisted of salads.” He chuckled at that, probably because of how skinny I was.

“I am going to go order. I don’t know about you though, but I am a little more than starved!” I ordered a large sweet tea, three rolls, and ten chicken tenders, along with mashed potatoes, fries, and gravy.

When my food was ready, and while Timothy was waiting for his food to be placed on the tray, he looked at my food gasped.

“You must be starved, but I don’t honestly think that you can eat all of that in an hour without getting sick.”

“You truly want to bet me on that? If so, I will agree to that bet.”

“What’s the wager?” I could almost see the playfulness in his eyes as this deal was being discussed.

“If I win, then you must tell me everything that is going through your mind about me for the next forty-eight hours. If you win, I will tell you how I feel about you.” I was taking a huge risk. I needed to win this bet!

“You’re on!” We shook hands; I proceeded to eat my food.

Throughout the course of dinner, we talked and I learned some more about him. He confirmed some things that I had assumed already.

I strangely found myself enjoying his company. I hadn’t expected to be glad to have someone near me to socialize with. I wasn’t really a social butterfly, but when Timothy was around I wanted to be more conversational.

I guess Timothy took notice that something different about me today. He asked, “Why do you seem so much more confident today than you did yesterday, or even the day before that?”
I was unsure of what he was asking exactly. I didn’t feel more confident, but rather more inquiring and off centered than anything.

I could almost feel his heart racing from across the table. Something was on his mind, but I decided not to bring it up quite yet. I stopped eating, not realizing that I had actually eaten everything ordered.

Timothy looked down at my plates. "Wow! I hate to say it, but I didn't actually believe that you would be able to eat all of that!"

Catherine smiled and blushed slightly. "Honestly, I didn't believe I could either, but I guess that I could and did. Are you ready to head back so that I can get ready for the game?"
Timothy nodded and hesitated. He really wasn't ready for his time with her to be over. He never thought that she would even be willing to give a guy like him the time of day.

They stood up; he took her trash from the table and threw it away for her. He was trying to be respectful of her even though throughout the year he had done nothing but that. He even opened the door for her as they were leaving the building.

Walking back, they stood a little bit closer, but still not practically on top of each other. Without thinking about it, Timothy reached for her hand; surprisingly, Catherine didn't pull away from him.

Catherine smiled unaware of what she was doing; her hand felt so natural within his grasp. His hands were warm with passion, and firm with protection.

Timothy didn't know what caused him to reach for her hand, but he was glad he did. Her hand was warm and inviting, wanting company and wanting someone to complete her.

Author's Note

This is the third version of this...I am needing more feedback on this piece to make it the best that I can...

Reviews

[Tex]

You really have something here. This is a great story, and if it really is true, so much the better.

You really pull us in. we (the readers) read faster as your heart starts to speed up. I want to let you know that when you shift to the third person "she" "Catherine" "her" from the first person "I" "me" "my" it forces us to hesitate and shift gears. I suggest you pick one or the other so we can move as fast as we can through this fast paced section of your book.
You may want to step back... and force us to do the same at some point, like in a flash back, then it would be very helpful to make the shift to show us something has changed. But IMO (do as you think best... who am I ;-) this change would make this a fantastic read.

There are a few grammar kinda things that will get caught and fixed when you do a fine tooth final check... but I only point it out in case you think the final check has been done... many people wait until all the chapters are done before cleaning that kind of stuff up and I am guessing that is your style as well.

The whole paragraph starting with: The man of my dreams was the good ol' country boy after all. ... is wonderfully done. so many screw this up and say to little or too much. You Nailed it.

LOVED THIS: His personality and mine clashed tremendously. I had envisioned myself shoving a six inch stiletto heel into his jugular vein to see how far his blood would project.

there is so much good here that i can't put it in or I will be coping all your work.

Wonderful, I mean really really good... as in ... where can I buy this book, good...

btw I have dyslexia so almost never read writing. I stick to Poems cause they are so much shorter when I have to re-read stuff because my brain screwed it up the first, and second time so I can get through it...

I intended to just read the first part of this so I could give a review of something. But was forced to read it all, because I could not turn away!

Great write.

Nick

[SnuggleBunnyQueen]

Nicholas,

Thank you for your kind words. I am glad that you did finish reading it because your review was helpful. I went back and made some of the changes that you had suggested. Tonight was the first time my husband has gotten to read the story himself and he had suggested the same thing. This is partly the true story of how him and I started out. I have elaborated on somethings to make it a little bit more interesting, and in protection of the people that were involved in the evolution of our relationship.

--SBQW

[Tex]

nice... as you know I loved it.

[Daniel Eckert]

A very good story and well written too. I enjoyed the read thank you for sharing it.

[SnuggleBunnyQueen]

There is also chapter two. If you want to read that too. :)

[C.C. Marx]

I like this a lot, I like the way the two of them started out the way they did and then ended up together nice job :)

[SnuggleBunnyQueen]

That is actually how me and my husband got together. We hated each other originally. There is a quote that I am going to be throwing into the next chapter that explains a lot.

[C.C. Marx]

Aww that is so sweet! It makes me want to write about how my parents got together lol they met in high school when my mom was 16

[SnuggleBunnyQueen]

We met our senior year. He was 20 and I was 18...we actually started dating the day of our graduation. That's why I call this the elaborated story of how we got together. lol

[C.C. Marx]

That is so cute! My dad was 18 and my mom was 16 and they were working in the same store so they met there and then went to the same college and married when my mom was 22