I remember it as if it happened yesterday. I was walking around the beach, being bored as usual, with absolutely nothing to do. I had been staying with my dad and his new wife for the summer. The fact that my dad had seriously left my mom for the human version of Frankenstein still made me shake my head at times. The woman had literally given me the cold shoulder the whole week, instead of trying to get to know me, like my dad had promised she would. My dad had told me she was just stressed out and tired, but I didn’t believe it, so I decided to just leave the house, so I wouldn’t fall subject to her disapproving looks.

That’s how I ended up at the beach. The crashing waves of the sea and the sand beneath my toes had always had that soothing, calm effect on me. I was walking along the shore when I saw him. He was laughing with his head thrown back. It wasn’t just his laugh that made me notice him, though. His eccentric, blue eyes, his amazing pearly white smile, and the way he seemed so sure of himself pulled me towards him. My feet, all of a sudden, had a mind of their own and started walking, and no matter how hard I wanted to turn around and steer my feet away from him, I couldn’t.

As I stopped in front of him, I was suddenly mesmerized by his eyes. I couldn’t look away, even though I was aware about how much I was embarrassing myself. He didn’t seem to care though, because he smiled and said, “Hi”. I managed to squeak out a simple, but almost inaudible, “Hey”. He chuckled, eyes squinting cutely in happiness, and said, “You new here?” I managed to catch my breath long enough to say, “Actually yes, no, well in a way, I mean I’m staying with my dad and step mom for the summer, because my dad wanted me to get know her better, so yeah I guess you could say that I’m new here….”, I trailed off awkwardly.

I rambled, and I never rambled. I guess he just had that affect on me. He chuckled again. “Wow, new girl, you really have a lot to say”. I blushed, and he continued speaking. “I like a girl who isn’t afraid to talk. It’s cute”. He ducked his head and started rubbing the back of his neck, the universal sign that he was nervous. My heart started beating quickly, because I had no idea that a guy would get nervous around me. He looked back up again, staring down into my eyes. “I usually don’t do this, but I was wondering if you, maybe, wanted to get dinner with me tonight. It must scary being new and not knowing anyone, so why don’t I make it easier for you?” I nodded my head, quickly and muttered out a yes. He winked and said, “Cool”. We swapped numbers. He then proceeded to walk over to a rosebush and plucked out a very nice looking rose. He walked back over, and placed it in my hands. “Well, I guess, I’ll see you tonight, new girl”, he said walking away with a new found air of confidence that just made me like him even more.

It was until after he was gone out of my line of vision that I realized that I didn’t know his name and he didn’t know mine.

He called later that afternoon to tell me to wear something nice so I did. He also told me that I should meet him at Bristol’s, the new Italian restaurant that had just opened, so I did. He also told me that his name was Craig, so I told him that mine was Ashley. He told me it was a very beautiful name, and I put hand on the receiver of the phone so he wouldn’t hear me squeal loudly in happiness.

At the restaurant, he presented me with a bunch of red roses as a present and I loved it. He was the perfect gentleman. He pulled out my chair, let me order first, and paid for the entire meal. Craig made the conversation light and comfortable, and his voice was like a sweet melody in my ear. At the end of the date, I knew I wanted to get to know him better. I wanted that opportunity to fall in love with him. He was everything I liked in a guy. Beautiful eyes, wonderful smile, great sense of humor, muscular, and athletic. He was the complete package.

As we were walking out of the restaurant, he kissed me on the cheek, winked and said that he would call me later and he did. As the weeks went by, we grew closer and closer and we became boyfriend and girlfriend and I loved every single minute of it. He made me happy, he made me feel beautiful, and that was all that mattered to me.

But, I had started to notice that he would be more assertive towards me and that he would try and control whether or not, I could see my friends. It was not that noticeable at first, just judgmental glances and questioning looks. At first, I thought it was fine, he was caring about me and that was okay. Then, it became more frequent. Every time I even mentioned that I would be hanging out with a guy he would freak. He would punch walls, scream at me, tell me that I was cheating on him even though I wasn’t. Those fights always scared me. But, the next day he would always give me a red rose and all would be forgiven.
That didn’t happen last time.

I had wanted to hang out with this new friend that I had met, Trey. We had similar interests and we bonded quickly. We were just going to hang out and get coffee, but Craig didn’t like that.

He wanted me to stay with him and go to the movies, but I told him that I couldn’t just cancel on Trey like that and that I was going to hang out with him no matter what. Craig didn’t like that answer.

He freaked. He started throwing things on the floor, yelling at me that I deserved him, and not Trey. I tried to explain him that I loved him, not Trey, him, and then Craig snapped. He walked over the mess he had made and slapped me. He slapped me. No matter how many times I say it, I still can’t believe he did it. I stood in horror, as I held my bruised cheek and bleeding lip. The air around us was tense, and everything was silent. Even the birds outside had mysteriously stopped chirping.

I remember looking into his regret filled eyes, like he couldn’t seem to fathom what he had done to me. It made me realize that I didn’t know Craig, I only knew the person he was pretending to be.

He tried to apologize and tell me that he would never do it again, it was a spur of the moment thing, he was just angry, but I didn’t want to hear it. Craig had put his hands on me to inflict pain onto me, and that was simply unforgivable. I had turned around and walked out of his house, as he was still screaming apologies and promises, but I knew those things didn’t matter to him or mean anything to him. They never did.

After I got home, I collected every single red rose he had ever gotten me and threw them out. They were worthless to me now.

Days and days passed and we barely had contact with each other anymore. Whenever he saw me, he would smile and wave, as if he had no recollection of what he had done to me. I would always turn away from him and walk in the opposite direction when he did that. Craig was the only boy to make me feel as if I was worth something, and for him to be the same reason why I had a swollen lip and bruised cheek, hurt. It hurt a lot.

It was the last day of summer and I was finally leaving my dad’s. I was putting my luggage into the trunk and I saw Craig standing across the street talking a girl, her eyes looking deeply into his. I didn’t really feel anything at the fact that he was talking to another girl. I felt a little sadness for the girl, because she had no idea what she was walking into. I tore my eyes away, and was about to board into the truck, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw Craig looking at me. I rose my head and we just stared at each other for what felt like hours until, finally he rose his hand and waved. I didn’t wave back.

I got into the trunk and as we drove off, I shifted in my seat and saw that he was talking to the girl again. I sighed and put my ear buds in. I also felt remorse. A little part of me had wanted to wave back at Craig and a little part of me wanted to figure who the real Craig was. But, I knew I was never going to find that out.

I was flipping through my play list, trying to find a song, when I saw something in my book bag. Due to my general curiosity, I picked it up and in my hand laid a small red rose.