The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 19, 2000, Page A10, Image 10
Quote of the Day
‘Love doesn't make the world go 'round. Love is what
makes the ride worthwhile.’
- Franklin P. Jones
A New York Love Story
Part I **
, A Gamecock fiction
by Ann Marie Miani, Clayton Kale, Brad Walters, Mackenzie Craven, Brandon Larrabee, Todd Money,
Brock Vergakis, Pete Johnso-n, David Cloninger, Kevin Langston, Kristin Freestate, Kenley Young,
Rebecca C r o nic a n
Gamecock Stake
There she was, sitting on her couch crying her
eyes out. Why did this always happen to her?
Why did she always fall in love with men
who wanted to change her? She had been sitting
there for the past three hours, staring at the New
York City skyline and drowning her sorrows in a bot
tle of brandy. She just kept repeating these ques
tions in her mind, but came up with no answer.
Carrie usually loved the city in the spring, but
she wanted to leave it now. She couldn’t drive any
where; she was too drunk. For her, the city reeked
of memories. Memories of her and James in Cen
tral Park and of the two of them riding around the
city in horse-drawn carriages. Memories that were
making her cry, memories she wanted to forget.
She refilled her glass and walked over to the
mirror in the hallway. She stared at her reflection
and realized that people had been lying to her all her
life. She wasn’t beautiful. Her dark brown eyes were
bloodshot from the alcohol and from crying, and her
dark hair had fallen from the clip that had fas
tened it. Her normally smooth, golden skin was puffy
and red. No, she wasn’t beautiful. Disgusted, she
turned from the mirror and walked back to the win
dow.
The radio was softly playing love songs in the
background, but she couldn’t bring herself to turn
the dial. The phone had rung seven or eight times,
but she couldn’t bring herself to answer it. The on
ly thing she could do was sit there and stare out
the window, crying.
The ringing of the phone made her jump. This
time, she decided to answer it.
“Hello?” Carrie said
“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been wor
ried sick!” Laura said.
“I’ve been here,” Carrie said stoically.
“No, you haven’t. I’ve called like eight times,
and there was no answer.”
“I just wasn’t answering the phone.”
“Oh. Are you Ok, sweetheart? James called me
like two hours ago and told me you two had a huge
fight. What happened?” Laura asked in a much calmer
voice.
“NO! I am not Ok. James and I did have a
huge fight, and I told him I was sick and tired of him
complaining, and he said I wouldn’t have to worry
about that anymore and hung up on me. Now he
hates me.”
“You don’t know that Carrie, I mean, once he
cools down, you two will be fine again.”
“Did he happen to tell you why we fought?” Car
rie asked, her speech beginning to slur.
“Let me guess, your drinking,” Laura said.
“How did you guess,” Carrie said. Then her
thoughts turned to James. She wondered where he
was, what he was doing, who he was with. After about
15 minutes, she hung up the phone and walked to
ward the kitchen and poured herself another drink.
C*> ♦> «>
ames sat on the bench in Central Park thinking
about everything that had transpired that night.
Why did I hang up on her, he thought. Why
can’t I call her back? We’ve been through worse times
than this. Why am I so scared now?
He sat deep in thought, with his elbows on his
knees,* and his chin resting on his hands. He stared
blankly at a blade of grass in between his feet. Some
how, this blade of grass managed to escape the rape
of the weed-whacker and grew tall enough to bear
seeds. James contemplated this, and wondered if
his relationship with Carrie could withstand this lat
est fight to bloom into what they both wanted, but
were both too afraid to ask.
James wanted Carrie to stop drinking, and Car
rie wanted James to stop telling her that.
I could have told her that I only worry because
I care. I could have told her that I want to help her.
“Why did I hang up?” James said aloud, as his
anger with himself grew and boiled over.
He wrapped his fingers around the tall blade
of grass and stood quickly, ripping it, roots and all,
from the ground. He walked toward the pond a
few feet from the bench, looking at his reflection in
the still water, and dropped to the grass, distorting
his face.
He turned at the sound of footsteps coming to
ward him. It was his best friend, Mike.
“Hey, buddy, are you OK?” Mike asked.
“Not really I think my relationship with Carrie
is over. We had a huge fight,” James said.
“Hey, I know something that might cheer you
up. There is a party out on Long Island tonight. Want
to go?” Mike asked.
“OK, I guess. It might cheer me up.”
Carrie was alarmed to hear the knock on the
door, even though she’d been expecting Lau
ra since they’d hung up the phone about 15
minutes ago. She blinked the remnants of her
tears away and threw her hair back in one fell swoop
before opening the door.
“Hey, girl,” Laura said, embracing her best friend
in the doorway. “You doin’ all right?”
Carrie sighed. “What do you think? My boyfriend
of two years just effectively dumped me. I’m not
. what you’d call the most excited person in the world.”
Laura took one look around the apartment
“What!?!” Carrie exclaimed, momentarily sober
ing her up. She couldn’t believe what she was
hearing. This guy she just met was talking shit about
the man she loved. Oh hell no. “Would you mind re
peating that, please?
“I said that guy is such an bastard.”
“That’s what I thought.” Carrie said calmly. With
her hands at her side, she made a fist, cocked her
arm back and punched Ryan in the right eye. The
impact of her punch made him stumble back and
fall to the ground. “And if you thought that was bad,
say another bad word about James and that will feel
James contemplated this, and wondered if
his relationship with Carrie could withstand
this latest fight to bloom into what they both
wanted, but were both too afraid to ask.
and knew that Carrie, normally a meticulous clean
er, had let the place go more than a few days with
out care. Her work clothes were strewn on the couch
along with a few pages of newspaper and some
Kleenex, and there was the bottle of brandy, sit
ting almost totally empty on the coffee table right
beside the clock radio. It was time to get her out of
there, Laura decided.
“C’mon; I know what we can do to get you cheered
up,” Laura said. “The boys from NYU are having a
party out on Long Island tonight, and they invited
us both out there.”
Carrie smiled. “Is Ryan gonna be there?” she
asked. Laura had been telling her about Ryan for
weeks. It was a well-known fact that Laura and James
didn’t get along.
“Yep, Ryan’s gonna be there. The boy has a crush
on you, whether you believe it or not. You see the
way he dotes on you. I think his attention is what
you need to get yourself out of this funk and help
you forget about the asshole for awhile.”
Carrie smiled and nodded. “You’re right. Let’s
get the hell out of here.”
As Laura and Carrie drove out to the party on
Long Island, they sang along to the music on Zioo
FM. Laura kept tiying to cheer Carrie up and pulled
out two smokes for them. Carrie began to ask ques
tions about Ryan.
“So, how do you know he likes me?”
“Just trust me, he’s always checking you out!”
Laura said.
“I want specifics. I mean, come on - wouldn’t
you want to know?” Carrie said as she readjusted
her dark locks in a silver clip.
“OK, OK, whenever he sees you, he drops his
jaw and becomes speechless,” Laura said.
“Fine, you made your point!” Carrie said, un
derstanding her friend’s sarcasm.
They finally arrived at the party, and the thick
smell of pot hung in the air. People were scattered
across the lawn, some puking, some talking, but it
was assured they were all sitting around doing noth
ing associated with school.
They walked inside the heat of the party as Car
rie anxiously awaited to meet up with Ryan.
' Laura pointed him out and pushed her friend
toward him. “I bet you any amount of money it
will turnout great!”
Carrie came up with a casual line and approached
him.
“Hey sexy, I lost my number, so I wanted to
know if I could borrow yours?” Carrie asked with a
sarcastic smirk.
As the two started to talk and have fun, Carrie
spotted someone out of the corner of her eye.
It was James. He was over in the corner drink
ing a beer. As soon as he spotted Carrie with some
one else, he nearly flipped out. James threw down
his cup and stormed over to where Carrie and Ryan
were standing.
“What’s this?” he asked, suddenly confused.
‘Get away from my girlfriend!”
“Look, you hung up on me,” Carrie interrupt
ed. “So now it’s your turn to get the shaft!”
Laura rushed over and swooped James away.
“I’m not finished with you, Carrie!” James said
as Laura dragged him upstairs.
Why the hell was he doing this to her, Carrie
thought. Her alcohol-soaked mind was reeling from
what had just happened. It was then that she
beard Ryan say something.
“That guy is such a bastard.”
like a joy compared to what I’ll do to you. Don’t mess
with a girl from New York.” She turned on her heel
and stormed away. She really didn’t know where she
was headed, but she wanted to get away from Ryan.
She had to find Laura...
»>❖❖
James had come to the party to get away from
the whole situation with Carrie, and now she
was throwing the whole thing in his face. He’d
thought about not coming here at all. He knew
she might come, even thought that on a normal night
she probably would. But he thought that, after all
that had happened, Carrie would have stayed home.
Oh, well, he thought.
What was Laura saying?
“... it’s all your fault that you two broke up... ”
Nothing.
They were standing on the balcony on the sec
ond stoiy of the house. Across the water, he could
see the city’s skyline.
How did he get here? Mike had driven by the
park and picked him up. Depressed, he’d agreed to
go along to the party, if for no other purpose than
to get drunk.
"... so why don’t you just leave her alone for a
while?”
She was done.
“Why don’t you just leave me alone?” he shot
back. “Listen, I know you want to listen to and be
lieve all of her side of the story, but why don’t you
try listening to me again?”
“I’ve heard both of you, and both your ‘sides,’
and I’m just sick of the whole thing,” she replied.
“I just want you both to shut up about it.”
“Oh, so that’s why you brought her to the par
ty, right? You know she has a drinking problem. Why
did you bring her to a place where there would be
a lot of alcohol?”
“I brought her here to cheer her up. How the
hell was I supposed to know you’d be here?” she
asked.
“Oh, that’s right. It’s Saturday night, time for
me to program my VCR,” he snapped.
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