Final Short Story (based on the song "First Love" by Murs)

Sam Higgins

Period 2

From the moment their eyes met, there was an immediate connection. He didn’t understand it. It was Luke’s first party during his first week of his freshman year in college. He had anxiously looked forward to this night for a long time and he wanted to take full advantage of his new sense of freedom. Sweltering hot air, alcohol, and raging adolescent hormones made up the atmosphere of the party. Luke looked through the hazy air of the packed dance floor and saw her. He didn’t know who she was but that didn’t surprise him because besides his roommate and the guys who lived in the rooms next to his, he didn’t know anyone. With a little help from the liquid confidence, he walked across the room and introduced himself. They talked for the rest of the night but it didn’t escalate into anything serious. They exchanged phone numbers and he went home that night feeling good about the party. His mind was racing.

Over the next few weekends, the two started to hang out a lot and would have long conversations. It was starting off just like any other relationship. Luke was really starting to like this girl but he wasn’t looking for anything too serious because after all, it was his freshman year and he was just looking for a good time.

One night at a party, the two were hanging out and talking like normal when Luke went in for the kiss. It was all downhill from there and things started to get hot and heavy. One thing lead to another and Luke found himself waking up next to her the next morning.

Luke rubbed his eyes and got out of the bed. She was still asleep for he figured that she needed her rest and Luke left the house to walk home. On the walk back to his room, Luke just shrugged off the night before like no big deal. “It was just the booze, nothing serious” he thought to himself. Later that day, Luke got a call from the girl asking him to go to lunch with her. He said yes without missing a beat because he really liked spending time with this girl. They got to the restaurant and it started off with just some normal conversation. Everything was going smoothly until she started asking questions about the two of them and where their relationship stood after the night before. These loaded questions frightened him so he tried not to answer them. He danced around every one of them and ate as fast as he could so he could just get out of there.

Over the next few weeks, Luke started hanging out with this girl much less frequently because of his fear of commitment to her. He was afraid to be tied down by just one girl and stopped answering her phone calls. He started casually going out with other girls and kept true to his motto “Nothing Serious”.

On the day before winter break, Luke was walking by the lake and his phone slipped out of his hand. The silver Blackberry Curve hit the concrete sidewalk and bounced into the lake. Luke was pretty upset about the loss of his phone but he figured he’d be able to go a few weeks without his numbers. He’d go home and get a new one over break and then come back and get everyone’s numbers again.

During his first night of being home, something happened that Luke never would have expected. He had a dream about his first college party and the girl he met that night was in it. He woke up the next morning and remembered the whole thing. From that point until the end of winter break, she consumed his thoughts every day. He couldn’t get her off of his mind. A feeling of regret kept coming over him because I couldn’t believe how badly he treated her. Luke finally decided on the last day of break that he loved her and he needed her in his life.

As Luke stepped out of his car and was finally back on campus, his heart was racing. He couldn’t wait to see her. On the walk back to his dorm, he walked by her best friend and stopped to talk to her. Luke explained his phone situation and asked her for the girl’s phone number so he could call her and talk to her. But as soon as the girl’s name left his lips, tears started flowing from the best friend’s eyes. What came next devastated Luke and changed his life forever. She started to tell Luke the story but the only words he could understand were “accident”, “drunk driver”, “no one survived”.