Rose Gold Part 1

I sighed as I watched the snow slowly falling from outside my dad’s truck. I nervously squeezed the box that contained the heart shaped rose gold necklace, with little diamonds in it, that I bought for Angel. I haven’t really talked to her since she broke things off with me in August. She said she felt like we were becoming distant since we both transferred to different schools during the summer, and that maybe we should take a break from our relationship. I was really shook up by what she said. Hopefully this gift would change here mind; I spent weeks saving up for it, but it’s worth every penny for her. I can’t wait to give it to her at the Christmas party. I hope she likes it...

“I’m pretty sure she’ll love the necklace,” my dad said, as if he could read my mind. It creeps me out when he does that.

“But what if she doesn’t? Do you think it’s too…”

“She’ll love it, especially the card. It’s really sweet and heartfelt.”

“You read the card!?” I exclaimed, blushing from embarrassment. “That was meant for Angel’s eyes only!”

“I didn’t know you could be so sensitive, kid,” he said jokingly, ruffling my hair.

“Dad, I’m twenty-one.”

“You’ll always be a kid to me,” he responded, as we pulled up to the Donatello mansion. “Well, here we are.”

Dad and I got out of the car and walked into the lavishly decorated mansion. The annual Donatello Christmas party was always one of the biggest events of the year in this town; it had music, dancing, gifts, sleigh rides, the works. We were greeted by Mr. Donatello, Angel‘s father.

“Good evening and welcome to the party. May I take your coats?” he said in his thick Italian accent.

“Good evening to you too Paolo,“ My dad said, handing Mr. Donatello his coat.

“Thank you,” I said, as Mr. Donatello took my leather jacket. “Do you know where Angel might be?”

“She should be in the ballroom, helping serve horderves,” he replied.

“Thank you, sir.”

I walked into the ballroom, scanning the room for Angel. It didn’t take me too long before I spotted her. She looked so beautiful in her red sweater, half of her perfect auburn  curls being held up by a red and white stripped ribbon.  She was cheerfully offering the guest hordervers, with that smile of hers that can light up an entire room. I started walking up to Angel, but then I saw some tall dude with spiky red hair and a goatee, wearing a green turtle neck approach her. Angel was blushing a lot as he approached. He leaned forward and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips.

My heart sunk.

“Angel?!” I exclaimed.

Angel turn towards me, with a look of guilt and embarrassment on her face.  “Hi Malachi. Long time no see. How have you been?"

“Who’s he?” I asked, pointing to the guy, who now had his arm around Angel, while ignoring Angel's question.

“Um, this is Toby…my new boyfriend,” she said, hesitating a little. “Toby, this is Malachi...my ex."

"Ah, yes, Malachi. I remember you mentioning him before. Nice to meet you Malachi," Toby said, with a phony smile on his face, his hand extended to shake mine. I reluctantly shook his hand. I could tell by his handshake he was feeling just as awkward as I was about this introduction.

After an awkward handshake from Toby, I redirected my attention back to Angel. "Angel, we need to talk."

"Sweetheart, I thought you told him about us," Toby mumbled to Angel.

"Now's not a good time to talk."  Angel replied to me. "We can talk later, after the party dies down."

"But..." I started, but Angel was already walking away from me, Toby following behind her.

Oh no! I'm not going to let her get away that easily. I was about to storm after her, but then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see it was my best friend, Matt.

"I was hoping I'll find you before you found out about Toby," Matt stated.

"You knew about Toby!?" I said, grabbing him by his shirt. My frustration was finally starting to show.

"Dude, I'm just as surprised as you are about this whole Angel, Toby thing," Matt said, putting his hands up in defense. "I just found out tonight too. I wanted to find you before you found out about this so I could tell you before you had to find out on your own. That's  always the worst."

"Tell me about it," I replied, letting go of Matt's shirt. "I can't believe you didn't know about it either. My gosh, did she keep Toby a secret from everyone? There has to be at least one person she has told about him."

At that instant, Matt and I both looked at each other and said in unison "Kisha!"

"I think she's still socializing by the punch bowl," Matt said, starting to walk towards the punch bowl, me following closely behind him.

Just as Matt said, Kisha was by the punch bowl.

"Hi Malachi," Kisha greeted with a smile when she saw us approaching. "It's been a while since I last saw you. How have you been?"

"Kisha, you got some explaining to do!" I said, getting right to the point.

"Dude!" Matt exclaimed. "You shouldn't talk to a lady like that."

Kisha sighed. "This is about Angel and Toby isn't it? Ugh! I still can't believe she hasn't told you! I told her she should have told you right away, but no. She wanted to tell you when she was 'ready to' and she told me not to tell anyone until she broke the news to you. I guess ready wasn't until you saw them together. Let's go out on the balcony; I'll tell you everything. You deserve to know about this." Kisha turned to Matt. "You stay here. I don't think Angel wants everyone knowing her business, but Malachi really needs to know about this."

"I understand. It's cool," Matt replied.  Kisha then grabbed my wrist, dragging me to the balcony, leaving Matt behind.

"You need to sit down for this," Kisha said, as she sat down on the marble bench on the balcony. I sat down next to her.

"Okay, so what's going on? How long have Angel and Toby been together?  Why..."

"Shush. Your making this harder than it already is," Kisha interrupted. "I'll just start from the beginning."

"Okay."

Kisha sighed.  "She meet Toby sometime in June. He was in a study group her roommate invited her to.  According to Angel, her and Toby hit it off right away. The more distant you two became, the closer Angel got to Toby; she was starting to fall for him. She was so conflicted because she was still dating you, but was starting to develop feelings for some other guy. Angel thought it would be best for both of you if she broke up with you. She started dating Toby about a week or two after the break up."

"Break up? She told me we were just taking a break!"

"She did? That little liar!  You really need to talk to her about this."

"I tried already, but she told  me she wouldn't talk to me until the party died down."

"Well, you need to talk to her now. Don't take 'no' for an answer," Kisha said, pulling me out of my chair. "Now go; find her."

It took a couple of minutes for me to find Angel among the crowd, but I finally found her chatting with Toby near Christmas tree.  

"Angel, I really need to talk to you now," I said, grabbing her arm.

"Not now!" Angel replied, pulling her arm out of my hand. "Come on Toby." Angel and Toby started to walk away, but then Kisha got in front of Angel.

"Oh no! Now! You've been holding it off for far too long now," Kisha said, giving Angel a stern look.

"Ugh! Fine! Come on Malachi, let's talk in my room."

"Okay," I responded.

Angel and I left Kisha and a confused Toby downstairs as we went up to Angel's room.  She was silent the entire time until we reach the room. I could tell she really didn't want to talk to me about this. Why is it so hard for her? Why was she keeping this from me? So many questions started spinning through my head; questions that only Angel can answer. It seemed like an eternity before we reached Angel's room.

"You can sit down if you want," Angel said, sitting down on the bed, patting down on the spot next to her. I took a seat. I could feel my heart speeding up; it's been months since I've been this close to her. She spelled so nice, like peppermint; must be her body spray. Sitting so close to Angel almost made me forget I was mad at her.

Almost.

"Kisha told me everything.  Why did you tell me that we were taking a break, when you very well had eyes for another guy? Why couldn't you have just been honest with me?  Why did you even wait this long to tell me about Toby?"

Angel sighed, looking down and fiddling with her curls. "I tried to tell you it was over, but you looked so sad and tears were welling up in your eyes. I thought if I told you we were taking a break it would soften the blow. I just couldn't stand seeing you so sad; it wasn't an easy decision to make you know."

"So, I was eventually going to find out about him anyways?"

"I wasn't expecting you to be at the party tonight."

"What!? So you we're planning on never telling me? You were just going to string me along with this false hope of working things out?"

"I thought you would have been over me by now and moved on," she mumbled quietly.

"Oh, like you did with Toby before even trying to work things out between us!" I said, standing up, practically shouting.  "After all we've been through together, after all the good years we had together, you don't even try to mend our relationship; instead you run off to your precious 'Toby'! What does he have that I don't? Or was it just more convenient to be with him than me?"

"Didn't try? Oh you're one to talk!" Angel was now standing up too.  "You could have at least tried to come over and visit me on the weekends every once in a while. I know it's a three hour drive away, but am I not worth it? And you were always so hard to reach; you were either in class, at work or studying. If you ask me, I think you spend too much time on your studies."

"Well, not everyone has rich parents who could pay their way into any college of their choice. I have to work my butt off to keep my scholarships! You have no idea how tough honors classes are. I'm sorry I had trouble making more time for you.  Speaking of studying, you were sure doing a lot of that with Toby..."

"Don't you dare bring Toby into this!  He wasn't the problem; you were!"

I could feel my anger rising now. "Oh! As if Toby is Mr. Perfect! I don't even understand what you see in that poser!"

"Well, at least he's not a big jerk like you are! He's more of a gentleman than you will ever be! In fact, he's better than you are in every way!"

That really stung. I could feel tears starting to well in my eyes. I couldn't tell whether they were from anger or sadness. I can't believe...how could she say such a thing.  I grabbed the cross necklace from around my neck, the very necklace that she gave me years ago after we became friends. I ripped it off, breaking the chain, and flung it against the wall. Angel's eyes widen. I don't think Angel has ever seen me this angry; she actually looked a little frightened, but I don't care. My anger had gotten the best of me.

"Well anyone would be a lot better than a heartless brat like you! You know, I got you a gift," I pulled the gift out of my pocket. I then slammed it down on the floor and stomped on it. "But you don't deserve it!"

"Mmma...Malachi..."Angel started nervously, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"NO! Not another word from you! You already said more than enough tonight!" I yelled, as I started opening the door.  Angel ran up to me and grabbed my arm.

"Please don't make a scene," she muttered. "Not tonight."

"Watch me," I said, snatching my arm out of her delicate hand and started to stomp down the stairs. As I was stomping angrily through the ballroom, people started staring and whispering.  Toby ran up to me.

"Dude, what's the hell's your problem?" He asked. I'm guessing Angel must have told him what happened.

"Out of my way!" I muttered angrily, pushing him down.

Without even grabbing my leather jacket on the way out, I stepped into the harsh, cold winter night. The wind felt like needles against my skin, but I didn't care; I have so many emotions welling up inside, so many scrambled thoughts in my mind that I can't think straight.  All I know for sure right now is that I need some whisky, and a lot of it.

I barely remember walking to the liquor store and grabbing a large bottle of whisky.  I don't really remember the walk home either, but here I am now, in my old bedroom, sitting on the floor and chugging a third of the bottle down.  The whisky burned as it went down my throat; there was always something about that burning sensation I enjoyed. I was starting to feel a little light headed as tears started streaming down my face.  I don't think any amount of alcohol could take this pain away. It feels like my heart has been ripped out, stomped on, and then thrown in the trash. I know I called Angel a "heartless brat" and stomped on the present I bought for her earlier, but I didn't really mean any of it; I was just really angry at her after what she said.  And heartbroken. In spite of how angry I felt towards Angel, I still love her.

And I don't think anything is going to make me stop loving her...no mater how much I want to.

I was about to take another swig of whiskey, when someone knocked on my door.  Before I can even ask who was at the door, they lightly opened it.

"Can I come in." It was my dad.

"Sure, whatever."

"You forgot your jacket when you left," he said, placing my leather jacket over my shoulders. He sat down right next to me and took the bottle of whisky out of my hands. I didn't even have any fight in me to take the bottle back from him.

"I heard about what happened at the party.  Do you want to talk about it?"

"What is there to talk about? Angel dumped me for some other guy months ago, leaving me a lonely, desperate loser."

"You're not a loser. Angel's the loser if you ask me; she's really missing out on an awesome guy."

"That is such a dad thing to say."

"Well, it's true: your smart, charming, and a fun guy to be around.  Any girl would be lucky to have you."

"But I don't want just any girl, dad. I want Angel," I sobbed. "No other girl could make me feel the way she does. She's the only girl I ever truly loved; I thought she was 'the one', but she obviously doesn't feel that way about me. I can't believe I was considering transferring schools next year so I can be closer to her. There's no point in doing that now; whenever I see her with Toby, it'll be a constant reminder that I would never be with the woman I love."

"If Angel really is the one, she'll come around, you'll see."

"I sure hope she is..."

"And if she isn't, I'm sure God would bring you through the pain and help you grow through this experience," my dad replied, putting his arm around my shoulders, pulling me in for a side hug.

"Yeah..."

"I know it doesn't feel that way right now, but you will. All you can do at this point is leave it in God's hands," my dad said, getting up and stretching. "I think I'm going to head off to bed now.  Good night."  And with that, my dad left the room, leaving the whiskey bottle behind.

Even though I still had my whiskey, I didn't drink anymore of it; it wasn't what I needed right now.  Instead I plopped down on my bed and began to pray.

"God, I don't understand what's going on right now, all I know is that I'm hurting and just want this pain to go away. I really, really want Angel, but if she's not the one for me, please help me to move on and let her go.  I hope that's not the case; I love her so much and I don't know if I would be able to move on.  But then again, you are a God of miracles.  If she is the girl for me, please help her to see that; please let her see how much I care about her, and how we are perfect for each other. I'm willing to make things work between us, if she is. I hope she is... I can't imagine my life without her..."