Writing A romance songfic I wrote during writer's block. [E]

[asian_tofu]

I seem to be getting really desperate now, huh? I'm putting up every little piece of writing I've got. Um, here's the link to a better formatted version (since I'm too lazy to put in all the required HTML tags):

[url]http://www.fictionpress.com/read.php?storyid=1748199[/url]

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A/N: This story is a little innuendo of mine one night while in the middle of a homework assignment. A little one-shot written during a bout if writer's block. The lyrics were added after. They are from Jay Chou's "Fine Day."

The Forgotten

By Yanzi AKA asian tofu



The rain is inevitable.
It comes clumsily and goes in all its importance, but remains unseen.
I could be the rain, silently falling down, waiting to settle.
I am the rain, almost invisible.

I was fourteen when I first met Nicole. She was the girl who sat second-to-last seat in the row at the back in Ms. Dilroy?s chemistry class. She was my lab partner for a majority of the eighth grade, and our relationship grew from classmates to close friends.
There were times when it felt like she was a stranger again, and our friendship didn?t exist anymore. Sophomore year we drifted completely ? it was awkward. We would pass each other in the halls and not know what to do, greet or ignore. I recall her best friends, Mei and Gwen, tried to trick us into dating each other for April Fools. We spent the night watching kung-fu movies and throwing popcorn at various moving objects.
Now that I think of it, I have a lot to thank those two. Their little ?joke? helped rekindle the friendship we formerly had known.

?Nicole?? I panted from the popcorn fight, collapsing on the couch next to her. Nicole looked at me with her brilliant, blue eyes.
?Ryan??
?Who should we maim first, Mei or Gwen??
?The one with slower reflexes,? she laughed, the gentle sound echoing through the empty house.
I smiled, ?I?ll hold Mei down, then.?

We spared the two the following day, of course, retaliating only when Mei asked if we wanted another ?date.? That girl was the romantic of the three, if I remember correctly.
Then, that very summer, Nicole left.

This day of the typhoon

I tried to hold your hand

"I need to tell you something."
"You should know something."
Nicole felt her breath hitch, the fresh edge in his eyes frightening her. He had been her friend, ever since junior high, "Ryan?"
"Yeah?" he barely whispered, inadvertently causing her to back against the wall of lockers.
She saw the longing - or lust - that had been contained within him seep out, and her own courage crumbling, "I'm moving."
At one moment a dark expression covered his features, eventually subsiding, and a contemplative nod followed. He backed away, hands shoved in his jean pockets. She breathed again.
For an instant, she wanted to apologize and make up, but the moment was gone. Ryan rolled up his sleeves as usual, and smiled.
"Come on, I'll walk you home."

But yet

The rain gradually

Is heavy to the point that I cannot see you

They were at her door, parting words still choked in their throats.
"You're really moving?" Ryan asked, breaking the silence.
Nicole nodded, "To Iceland."
Ryan handed her back her bag, his chest seizing up when a hand brushed accidentally across his.
"Have you told Mei and Gwen?"
"I did," she replied, her friends' faces suddenly foggy. Ryan made half a move to take her into a hug, but his earlier actions had stripped him of the right.

How much longer

Before I can be at your side?

They stood there for a while, the natural order of the world leaving them behind. Nicole finally turned, unlocking the door. Ryan watched powerlessly as she entered.
"Nicole - "
She turned again, scrutinizing him until her eyes watered from lack of blinking.
"Mei says to write," he stared down at his hands, feeling her eyes burn, "and they both will miss you."
"Thanks, Ryan," she said desolately, gripping the door handle tautly. 'Why now? Why did you have to change now?' she thought, biting her bottom lip.

Waiting for that day when it clears up

Maybe I will be a bit better

"I'm sorry," the words brushed absently out of her lips. Nicole wanted to go inside, to hide away from him. 'Why can't we just be friends?'
Ryan grinned somberly, "Send me an ice block and we'll call it even."
She rolled her eyes, a bittersweet nostalgia enveloping her. 'You used to be funny like that,' she thought, "I'll do that."
"Nicole?" Ryan began again, his voice gentler. Somewhere inside she melted, "I'll miss you."
"Yeah?I will too," she said, barely controlling the strangled pitch in her voice.
Ryan took her wrist and pulled her out of the door, "You don?t get it, do you?" The tender agony in his gray eyes relinquished her thoughts. ?When I say I?ll miss you, I mean it.?

In the past, in the past

There was someone who loved you for a long time

She could smell his cologne, the scent of his proximity. 'You?re already gone, don?t start something you won?t be able to finish,' a voice reminded her.
"Will you come back?" His words were so diminutive, as if he was trying to put something else in them.
"No," she forced herself to look at his sweatshirt, the NYC logo vibrating in its yellow glory. She tried over, "No, I don't know." She mentally cried, ?I wish so, so much, that I did.?
"Don't forget to send me that ice block," he whispered.
Nicole laughed, the tears coming unconstrained, and buried her face in his shirt. He unconsciously wrapped his arms around her.
"Please don't forget me," was her muffled reply.
For a time, they lingered like that.

But yet

The wind gradually

Blows the distance so far apart

"Flight 45093 to Reykjavik is now boarding," the voice in the intercom resonated throughout the airport. Nicole grabbed her bag, following her father.
"Ready, Nicole? We're about to start a new chapter in our lives," he said to the girl behind him, handing the attendant both their tickets.
Nicole smiled at him thinly, shouldering her bag. She absently glanced behind her, hoping that maybe Ryan had come to send her off.
The only things she saw were the blurs of people passing through the airport.

It was so difficult

To be able to love a day more

"All right, Dad, I'm ready."

But at the final end of the story it seems you still said bye.

Sometimes, I laugh at the way I let Nicole go. Didn?t have to guts to see her off. It?s been two years already, and I haven?t communicated with her yet. Gwen gave me her email address, but I all I have to show is a document sitting in my laptop that contains the solitary word, ?Nicole? on it. Tomorrow is graduation, and at the prom I flew solo. I?m going to MIT, Mei?s off to California, and Gwen?s going to the University of Toronto. My parents are letting me taking a trip for the summer, sort of for a graduation present.
Maybe I?ll go to Iceland.









~fin






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Yes, I do realize that this story is very general. To tell the truth, I?ve never written a romance this short before. I?m trying to practice writing short stories, since my character development in this form of literature is horrendous. Please leave a comment; I?m open to anything constructive.

--BLUE