The Other Side of the Story

The Other Side of the Story…  narrated by Darryl, written by LaNae


  I still remember the first time I saw her. I was invited by my friend Cindy to go to some local karaoke contest finale and decided “why not?”. The first few performances ranged from okay to almost embarrassing in some cases and I had taken the bad ones as excuses to step out for a smoke. Right before the final contestant was going to sing, I was planning to step out again, until she stepped out on the stage… She had a yellow shirt and pale blue pants on and all I could think was “wow”. She was beautiful and completely out of my league. I decided a cigarette could wait and I stayed planted in my seat to watch her performance. Once she opened her mouth I knew I had never heard such a beautiful voice in my life. I wanted to meet this woman and even though I didn’t think highly of my chances, I decided I was going to try once I found an opportunity.
  My opportunity didn’t come. After her she finished and came out from the backstage area, she was immediately surrounded by people wanting to meet and talk to her. I didn’t want to have to fight my way through them and bother her so I just went ahead and went outside to take that smoke I had postponed. When the judges were ready to announce the winners, my friends and I took our seats and I hoped that she would win because I thought she was the best out there that night. She did. She took it by a landslide. After it was over, I headed home and she was on my mind, but I put it aside after realizing that I probably would never see her again or have a chance to meet her. Even more, I just couldn’t see her being single or being interested in me if she was.
  About three weeks later my roommates had a friend over and of all people, it was her. I couldn’t remember her name because it was different than any name I had heard before, but I recognized her immediately. I kept wondering how on earth she was standing right there in my front room hanging out with my roommates. Later on I mentioned to them that I couldn’t remember her name, but I recognized her from that karaoke contest a few weeks ago. I asked them how they knew her and they said she was dating Kyle and I felt so disappointed. Due to my work schedule I had to be up super early every morning and in bed super early in the evenings so for a little while I only saw her in passing and because I thought she was with Kyle, I didn’t really try to get to know her.
  That changed one day when she showed up just as everyone else was leaving. She was about to go ahead and leave when I said, “oh go ahead and just leave me here all alone” in hopes that she would take the bait and stay or invite me to go with her. She chose to stay and hang out with me. I was sitting at my computer playing games and just talking to her about my divorce that had finalized that previous April and she talked about a guy that had really broken her heart recently too. We talked about how each of us wasn’t looking to date anyone or be in a relationship, but that if the time came when it felt right, we would go with it. Talking to her was just so natural and I felt no pressure and I just couldn’t believe how comfortable it was. There was a sense of ease and understanding between us that I had never felt with anyone else in my life. After a while the roommates all showed up and even though I was disappointed, we parted ways. But I was filled with an excitement and aw of her and of our talk. It had been a long time since I had felt anything even close to that, but this was stronger than anything I could remember. I wanted to spend more time with her and soon.
  One night everybody in the apartment was going to go to the movies and asked if I wanted to go and I did. As we were driving there, they told me that this was a date for Kyle and LaNae and to leave them alone so they could hit it off on their “date”. My hopes were dashed in a second when they said that, but I backed off and left them alone. LaNae sat down and Kyle sat next to her and the rest of us sat the row above them, but I chose to sit in the seat directly behind her. After the movie we all headed over to the bowling alley that had a bar and karaoke machine and some pool tables. Everyone got seated and we all hung out while Kyle and EJ sang boy band girly songs with each other. I wanted to get close to her so I took my chance while their girly songs were going. In an act of being goofy, I walked over and picked her up and over my shoulder. I told her how light she was and she blew me off, but thought it was funny and we decided to go play some pool together.
  That girl sharked me. She played all innocent until she got that stick in her hand and she killed me. Soon enough our fun ended when Kyle lingered near her and it got uncomfortable. I decided to hang out and talk with a friend of mine that had come along named Misty. After everyone else was done at the bowling alley, Misty and I decided to hit the town because I wanted to run away from any chance at seeing LaNae with Kyle so we went to a local bar called Headquarters to shoot the breeze. Misty and I were friends and nothing more so it was fun watching the other guys in the bar ogling at her and teasing them about her. By the time I got home, there was daylight coming so I headed to bed to ignore anything to do with LaNae and slept hard.
  LaNae was starting to hang around a lot more. One night we were all hanging out watching a movie when EJ went over and whispered something to LaNae. The next thing I knew she and Kyle stepped into his room and my disappointment was overwhelming. It was over, she was with him and there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn’t stand thinking about it so I went to my bedroom, closed the door, pulled my mattress off my bed, thru in onto the patio outside and went to sleep under the stars. I couldn’t be in the same house as them if they were together. “There goes my chances” were the last words I thought before falling asleep.
  (LaNae’s side: LaNae was NEVER dating Kyle. LaNae was clueless that Darryl’s roommates were making it up and telling Darryl we were dating. LaNae was completely curious and interested in Darryl and Kyle was making LaNae uncomfortable. The night EJ whispered something to LaNae was to tell her how Kyle wanted to “cuddle” with her and she was repulsed by the thought. It was then that she chose to take Kyle somewhere private where he wouldn’t be embarrassed and explain to him that she wasn’t interested and how sorry she was if it hurt him. When she came out of his room and Darryl had gone to bed, she knew she was in trouble. She was afraid she had lost him before she had ever gotten him when he saw she and Kyle go into that bedroom alone and close that door…)