Christmas love

That’s you

Maria

I have no clue how long I’ve been up here, but I knew eventually somebody would find me and why Tyler had to be there. I hate him. I want him to die.

Maria:”You can stop staring at me, Theo. " I knew I shouldn’t be here, but I had to get away from him, from everyone. I just hate him and the funny thing is that my mom and brother don’t know all that he did to me.”

Theo:” So this is the place your brother said you would be at. It's a lot bigger than expected, but it’s nice. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I’m just sorry he hurt you.”

Theo is a great person, like my mom said, and I know that he is trying very hard to show me he cares about me, but I just don’t know what to do.

Maria:”You know Theo, when you said that you loved me I freaked out because I never thought anyone would love me ever again, but last night I felt like I was loved.”

With that, he came up behind me and sat down. I closed my eyes and breathed in his scent and leaned back into his chair.

Theo:”You know this little hideout is a little bit more like a room than anything, but you need to be honest with me about what happened. I can listen to it or make you forget all the pain.”

Theo

After that, she turned around and looked at me but almost fell off, but I caught her just in time and just held her in my arms while she cried.

Theo:” It’s OK. Don’t worry, nobody is going to hurt you, and you're perfectly fine. Don’t cry. Please come, let’s …”

Before I could finish, Maria kissed me, which was a bit surprising, but we couldn’t. She was in pain. It would be wrong to do that.

Maria:”Theo, help me forget the pain. Please, I need to forget. Please, I need to forget. You asked whether I wanted to talk about it or to forget the pain. I chose to forget to please Theo.”

Theo:”Maria, I shouldn’t have asked you that when you're in pain. I just can’t, because if we do that you will regret it the most, so let’s sit and talk about it OK.”

With that, she nodded her head and smiled a sad smile, so we made our way to the bench and sat down there in silence for five minutes.

Maria

Theo has been nothing but nice and considerate to me and I thank him for that. I want to tell him, but it’s too hard for me to talk about it or mean even my own family know the whole story.

Maria:” So, when I was sixteen, my dad left us and I just met Tyler. When I got crying at him about my dad leaving, he used that as an advantage to get into my head, and he eventually convinced me to move out of my mom's house and I did, but I got home sick, so I moved back. Then I got a letter saying I had been accepted to college. My mother and brother were so happy for me, but Tyler wasn't happy and told me not to go, but I had enough of his attitude at that point and broke up with him. Then my childhood best friend sent me pictures of him and her together. That’s when I knew I was done being controlled by him.”

Theo:”You should never have gone through that and hers together. That doesn’t deserve your attention or time, and you deserve much more than that: you deserve the world.”

Maria:”Thanks, but I’m not sure that the world is what I need. Silence has been nice to me, and you have been great to me. Do you know how we got together?”

Theo:” No, I don’t, but you can tell me if you want. I’m always up for a good story now and then, so go on telling me.”

Maria:”Well, my dad was a big shot at football and my mom was just the assistant to his football coach, and they were in high school. " My dad was afraid he would get rejected by my mom, so he waited until the last football game to ask her out and she said yes.”

Theo:” So what are you trying to say here, that if you wait too long to ask someone out, it will work because, from what I’ve seen in the past, it’s not possible.”

Maria:” No now, let me finish OK, so my dad got a football scholarship to a college, but instead of going to college to be a pro footballer, he went into farming, which made his parents mad. So they did everything they could to try and pull my parents apart and by the time their plan was completed, me, my mom and only a six-year-old son were left behind, so you see people are cruel and punish others if they don’t do what others want.”

Theo:” So you did everything Tyler wanted because you were afraid he would leave you like your dad did and instead of leaving he became controlling of everything you do.”

Maria:”Yep, pretty much that, and I don’t regret a single day that I left the life I had with him behind and that once I got completely settled in at college, I was happy.”

Theo

I was happy that she was finally opening up to me, but I’m also proud that she was able to overcome all that she had gone through and was happy with how her life is now.

Theo:” So you don’t have any regrets about the life you have created for yourself and what you have accomplished, because I have plenty of those in my life and let me tell you that they are not good.”

Maria:”Well, I have some, but the memories I made this Christmas. I have none, and I’m glad I asked you to come along with me and I know my mom has figured out it was a lie that I told her, but if you want, I can listen or make all those regrets go away.”

Theo:”Yeah yeah I get it. You find it funny, but I will tell you and I may help with the last part of the question.”

Maria:”Yeah I’m good. Just go ahead and tell me and I will be fine with that. OK, the other one not necessarily.”

All I could do was laugh at her squirming at the thought of us having s*x again, but I will tell her, and then we can go back to the house.

Theo:” So, when I was in college, there was a very quiet girl who was better at everything than the other students, and I was too cocky to get up to talk with her. So I hung back in the shadows and just admired her from afar and never talked to her and I still regret it to this day, but I eventually got so caught up in my work and trying to make my dad proud of me. I lost contact with everyone I knew. I also regret it, but I got over that real fast, but the biggest one I have is never getting to know you sooner than before now.”

Maria:”What college did you go to?”

Theo:”I went to the University of New York. Why, and that’s where I saw the quiet girl that I never talked to.”

Maria:”I also went to the University of New York and there was a boy there who always looked like he was watching me, but I never had the guts to go up to him and confront him and I would rant about him to my mom, but she teased me and said I liked him, but that would you no wonder when I had the interview with you, you looked familiar.”

Theo:”What are the odds that you looked somewhat familiar to, but I just brushed it off and went on with work as usual and didn’t think our paths would cross again.”

After that, she looked at me and kissed me like her life depended on it.