Never Forgotten Love Read online

  Mr. Bennett and Harlow helped me carry it home. I couldn’t believe I now have a computer, just in time for high school.

  I was walking on a cloud for weeks after that. I had a great adoptive family; I was in love with Harlow, and I found my passion for work. Everything outside my front door was unbelievably awesome.

  Everything changed when I was thirteen. My mother announced she was getting married to a guy, Phillip; she had been seeing for a few months. I don’t like him very much; he has bright red hair, and light blue eyes and he has a temper just as bad as my mother has. Mix a little alcohol with that, and you have the makings of a massive fire. The fights he and mom had were the worst I had ever witnessed; they would bring their fights into my room in the middle of the night. Wanting me to pick sides they would ask me who was right, each one expecting me to take their side, by the way they were acting, you would think I was the adult. Of course, there is never a right answer to those questions.

  They had just married when they announced we were moving to Bothell, a small community North of Seattle, and as far as I was concerned, it is on the other side of the state. I was devastated; I couldn’t move, how was I going to see Harlow, she was my best friend, we were going to go to high school together. I don’t know how I am going to break the news to Harlow; this is one of the worse days of my life.

  That evening I went over to Harlow’s house and asked her to go for a walk with me. The sky was dark, and the wind was blowing, tree branches were being pushed and tossed, a storm was coming, and there isn’t a bird in sight. I held her hand as we walked in silence; I am desperately trying to think of a way to tell her I was moving away, and soon, but I’m struggling for the words. “Beckett, you are so quiet, what’s wrong?” she asked in a concerned voice. I just shook my head. Her long hair is blowing in her face as the gusts of wind pick up her long strands, and they dance together. We walked to the little park a few blocks from our homes. Growing up Harlow, and I came here a lot, it wasn’t a big park but the edge of the park was lined with trees that in the spring had flowers on them that smelled amazing. It has some cool toys to play on including an old merry-go-round and monkey bars, but we would spend most of our time on the swings just talking. Tonight is no different other than I don’t know what to say to her; we didn’t even swing we just sat there, me with my head hanging. Harlow did the same, but she wouldn’t take her eyes off me. She always knew when something was wrong. She also knew when something had me upset, but she would patiently wait until I was ready to talk. Then she saw a tear fall down my cheek. She stood from the swing kneeled down in front of me taking my hands in hers as she said quietly almost a whisper. “Beckett, please tell me what’s wrong? You know you have always come to me with your problems, tell me please.”

  I raised my head staring down at her through my damp lashes, my eyes shimmering with un-fallen tears as I looked into her sweet little face that I loved. “Mom and Phillip just told me we are moving to Bothell within the month,” I said as another tear ran down my face.

  Harlow is speechless; she wiped the tear from my face. I had taken the proximity of our houses and our relationship for granted; I had never in a million years even thought about either of us moving. Now a tear rolled down her cheek. Trying to be strong for me, she said. “Well, we will just have to stay in touch, we can call each other, email, something, we can work it out,” she said grasping for ideas. “We have to; we won’t lose touch.”

  I slipped from the swing and knelt in front of Harlow, looking her in her now tear-filled eyes, I cupped her face in my hands. “We may not be together, but we will never be through,” I said solemnly as I wrapped my arms around her neck, and she wrapped hers around mine as we each buried our faces in each other’s necks holding each other crying. By the time we had both cried all our tears and wiped away the others, the big wet drops of water had started to pelt us. We held hands as we walked back to our homes determined to stay in touch with each other. Every day after that we spent with each other, from morning to night, if we weren’t at Harlow’s house making cupcakes we were at the park talking about what we wanted to do when we grew up. We tried not to think about the move, but that was easier said than done. Every night before I went to bed I would take my red marker and make a big ‘X’ through the date on the calendar.

  Moving day came to fast. The night before our move, Harlow came over to help me with the last of my packing. It didn’t take me to long; I didn’t have many things, just a few clothes, my computer, my books, and TV.

  We both sat down on the edge of the bed. She sat with one foot on the ground, and the other one curled up under her on the bed so she was facing me. She pulled a little fabric bag out of her pocket and handed it to me. “This is for us, so we never forget each other,” she said. I looked down at the blue velvet bag then up into her beautiful, sad eyes that were filled with tears. My heart felt like it was being ripped in half it hurt so badly. I took the little bag from her; it had a cinch at the top that I pulled open and reached inside pulling out two leather braided bracelets each with a silver medallion dangling from it. I looked back up at her; the tears had now started to fall down her cheeks. I looked at each medallion; separately they were in the form of a half of a heart with jagged edges as if it had been ripped in half, the way I was feeling. I looked at the words on them. One said ‘Best’ and below it said ‘All’, the second one said ‘Friends’, and below it said ‘Ways’, so when they were put together it read ‘Best Friends All Ways’. “I know it is kind of girly, but I thought that with it being made of leather and silver you might wear it.”

  I grabbed Harlow and pulled her into a hug, tears now streaming down my face. “I’ll never take it off.” I took one on the bracelets and fastened it onto Harlow’s wrist, and she did the same with the second bracelet, fastening it on my wrist.

  “And I won’t ever take mine off either.”

  We went back to Harlow’s house, staying up all night. We made promises to each other to stay in touch, and talked about the future some more and what each of us wanted. She wanted to be a pastry chef, and I wanted to work with computers. We reminisced about our young life together, and how she was always my protector, I was still a scrawny kid; I told her that one day I would be the one that protected her. She just looked at me and smiled, and we promised that when we were old enough for a car, we would visit each other.

  When the sun came up, I knew I had to get back and help load the moving truck.

  Harlow was standing there when Phillip shut the back of the truck. She was trying so hard to be strong, but the tears just kept falling. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett came out to say their goodbyes to me too. They both gave me a big hug and told me to call if I needed anything.

  Mom had already started yelling, “Hurry up Beckett! We don’t have all day.”

  Harlow walked over to me and handed me a cupcake box full of my favorites, chocolate malt ball with chocolate malt butter cream frosting garnished with pixie dust and a malt ball and lemon with a lemon curd filling and toasted meringue frosting garnished with a sugar coated lemon slice. I gave her a hug as my mom continued to yell at me to get into the car. I kissed Harlow on the cheek, wiped away the tears that were falling and I leaned in close to her ear inhaling her floral fragrance that was all Harlow one last time trying to imprint it in my mind, and then I whispered in her ear, “I love you.” Although that was the first time I had ever told her that, deep down we both knew we loved each other. I turned and got into my mom’s car, turning to look out the back window, Harlow’s hands covered her face as her parents pulled her into their embrace, and like that, we were gone.

  Nothing improved when we moved; my mom hadn’t changed, and neither had Phillip. I stayed locked in my room most of the time, reading and working on my computer. In the evenings, Harlow and I would email and chat on Facebook. Staying in my room just made life easier, out of sight out of mind. If they forget I’m there, I won’t be yelled at as much.

  I haven’t made many ne
w friends after transferring to Bothell High School; I didn’t feel like I fit in, but I never did, I always had Harlow, she was all I needed. I was thin and hadn’t grown in height for a couple years. I have a runner’s body, but at five feet five inches, I look like a shrimp. It was hard to make new friends. I hadn’t had to worry about that before we moved, I had Harlow, we did everything together, but here I was starting to get picked on by the upper class, and to be honest, I didn’t care, I missed Harlow immensely.

  Mom and Phillip still went out all the time, but when they decided to stay at home for a home cooked meal, I was always expected to join them. I don’t know why, it isn’t like they like me or say anything nice to me but it was never is a good thing, all my mom could do is yell and belittle me, degrade me and call me names. That was never truer then one day about a month after the move.

  One evening, my mom had planned a nice sit down meal, as we sat around the dining room table; my mom was in rare form that evening. I don’t know how many drinks she had while cooking dinner but she had her glass refilled before we sat down at the table. After my mother and Phillip had stacked their plates high with food, I took a spoonful of each dish that was offered and that’s when it all started. “Stop being such a hog! You pig! Why are you taking so much food, are you trying to make us poor by eating us out of house and home?” I looked down at my plate then at theirs, I thought that maybe she wasn’t talking to me, but who else would she be talking to like that. “I thought fagots didn’t like to eat, after all that is what you are, you don’t even have a girlfriend, all you do is sit in your room reading or playing on the damn computer, are you playing with yourself too? And what’s with you wearing jewelry, are you gay? You little gay boy, playing with your little dick.” I just sat there with my head held low. I tried to block her out, but there was no way to block the cruel names she was flinging at me. I don’t know what I had done for her to hate me so much, for her to sling such vile names at me. “I can’t believe you were crying like a little baby when we moved, men don’t cry, only pathetic little weenies cry, what an imbecile! It’s not as if we moved to a different country. You are so stupid. It’s time for you to grow up!”

  I admit it, I had a hard time with the move I missed Harlow. The insults went on and on for over a half an hour. All I could do is sit there and take it. I had seen and felt how violent she could be. It was just easier sometimes to take it then it was to be hit, kicked, or slapped. Finally after her ranting wouldn’t stop Phillip for once in his life, stood up for me, “Ok Cheryl, that’s enough, your just being mean and cruel, leave the kid alone, we’ve only been here a month, give him some time to adjust, I can’t even enjoy my meal,” he said.

  “Don’t you Goddamn tell me how to raise my fucking kid!” she yells back at him. “He’s my fucking kid and I’ll talk to him any Goddamn way I want to.” She picked up the crystal butter dish that was sitting beside her plate and hurled it at Phillip, but he ducked in time for it to hit the wall, the crystal dish shattered into tiny bits raining glass shards everywhere as the soft butter globbed on the wall and slowly plopped onto the floor. That’s when all hell broke loose, she is really pissed now, she picks up anything around her throwing it at Phillip, but nothing ever hit him, maybe a little food, but he had quick reflexes. There are china shards, silverware and food spewed everywhere. The walls looked like one of those contemporary paintings where the artist stood back and threw paint on a canvas. It was a kaleidoscope of colors and textures. Phillip just shook his head, brushed off some of the food that had splattered on him with his napkin, turned and walked to the bedroom. After grabbing a suitcase, he packed his things, and he walked out, never to be seen again. That is when she really crossed over the crazy bitch line, now everything was flying, more food, glasses, and dishes flew through the air. I tried to leave, but got backhanded for leaving my plate, the only plate not broken, on the table, which she proceeded to grab and threw at me. By the time the food had settled the room looked like a garbage dump, and we had lost half of the china and crystal. There was even a fork stuck in the wall. Thank God, I wasn’t in the line of fire for that I thought.

  According to my mother, this was all my fault and since it’s my fault that the fight broke out, it’s my responsibility to clean up the mess plus I had to work to pay for the dishes that were broken while my mom went to her room crying, blaming me for Phillip leaving. Life sucks!

  Chapter Three

  YEARS PASSED BY, AND I PUT that part of my life behind me. My mom and Phillip divorced, and she and I moved again, this time down to Oregon. I had lost touch with Harlow girl, that one fateful night; my mother grounded me and took my phone from me throwing it at the wall in a loud crash as it hit a mirror shattering both the mirror, my phone that housed all of Harlow’s information and my life. I stood there stunned; all my hopes and dreams smashed against the wall. The next day when I returned home from school, everything in my room was gone. My computer that I had built, my TV, books, and pictures. The only items that remained where my clothes for school. It was worse than the move from West Seattle, I knew now I wouldn’t be able to see or talk to Harlow for a long time if ever. I don’t even know her address to write a real letter. I looked down at my bracelet rubbing the medallion; she is going to think that I forgot about her and the promises we made to each other. I was distraught, but there wasn’t anything I could do, but wait. I wanted to curl up into a little ball and die, but I kept thinking of Harlow and what she would do if she ever found out I was that weak. Rubbing the medallion again, it will be Harlow that gives me the will and strength to continue, she is the only thing I am living for, and she is still my protector.

  I never have stopped thinking about her and what she was doing. She is always on my mind, every day, every decision I ever make, I make it thinking of her.

  While I was in high school, I had heard about a guy that was starting a tech company. He was looking for a hard worker that knew about computers. My computer tech teacher told me about the job and told me to call and get an interview with the owner of the company. I was excited, for the first time in a long time; it was as if a little spark inside of me was rekindled. I loved working with computers and hoped I would get the job; it would give me something to think about other than my pathetic life. My teacher let me use his phone; I’ve never had mine replaced after my mother broke it. I scheduled an interview for after school; I must have done something right because the guy, Richard, hired me on the spot. We talked for a long time about how I learned about computers and my love for fixing things and working with my hands. I started working for him the next day. Richard didn’t live too far from the school so I would walk there after my last class. At first, I am just doing menial jobs, but once Richard and I developed our friendship, he starts to trust me with other jobs. I am sixteen and his only employee.

  Richard is in his mid-thirties; I would guess. I could tell that he had taken care of himself at one point but must have stopped; he was looking a little soft. Don’t get me wrong, for an older guy he looks to be in good shape. He has broad shoulders and a trim waist; he is about six feet tall, and he had brown hair and blue, green eyes. He isn’t the typical computer nerd looking person, but then neither was I. He kind of looks like Rob Lowe, just taller. However, there was sadness in his eyes, maybe one day he will tell me why.

  Richard took a strong interest in me, he didn’t know what my family life was like, but from some of the bruises he had to have seen on my face, I’m sure he knew it wasn’t good. He would ask me about what happened, and I would play it off as if I ran into something, yeah someone’s hand, with fingers marks and everything.

  Richard could see something in me that I couldn’t see; he said I had a fire, determination and a desire in my eyes that he hadn’t seen in most kids my age. He was surprised at how much I knew about computers. Richard started to teach me more of the business, teaching me how to write apps for phones to start and I loved it and writing code, it looks so foreign when you write it
but when you see the result it’s awesome. It’s like putting a puzzle together; you need all the pieces to make it work right. I’ve always loved taking things apart, and figuring out how they work and putting them back together, thanks to Mr. Bennett, he saw that I had an interest and helped me develop it. It’s funny how they could see what I was good at when I didn’t even know myself.

  The day I graduated from high school was the day I moved out of my mom’s house. I had to lie to get my first apartment because I wasn’t eighteen, since my mother put me in school a year early I graduated at seventeen; Richard was more than happy to co-sign for me.

  Finally, that summer I started to grow, I grew almost a foot in a year’s time. It was almost like watching one of those shows that use a time-lapse movie of a plant growing. I stood six feet three inches by the time I finished; I still had a runner’s body, but I was lean and muscular. I start to take Krav Mega training after school. I figured that at least if kids were going to pick on me I would be able to defend myself. It also started to build my self-esteem and confidence.

  Before long, I was so entwined with the company I thought about not finishing college, but when I mentioned it to Richard he got pissed, I don’t think I have ever seen him that mad before, but Richard wouldn’t hear of it. He said, “Beckett, if you think you are going to keep this job and not go to college, you better think again. The day you quit school, is the day I fire you,” he said sternly.

  “But Richard, I could devote more time to the company if I didn’t have to go to classes all the time, you have taught me all I need to know,” I tried to explain.