The End Zone

by L.J. Shen

He slowed when he saw her, so she picked up the pace. Later in life, she’d learn that this was their special tango. One pulls, the other pushes. One wants, the other gives. One loves, the other hurts.

They hugged in the rain, just like in the movies.

On the eighth night, the girl gave the boy her heart. He took it silently, never offering his back.

“Because, Jolie, baby, you’re the only person I’m looking to impress. Ideally between the sheets.” He winks. Insert an emoji of moi gagging uncontrollably at his tackiness.

The man looks like the love child of Matthew Noszka and James Dean.

Because. My. Best. Friend. Is. A. Whore! I love him, but he is a manwhore

She constantly tells me that STD stands for Sage the Douche. We joke about it, like it doesn’t worry her and it doesn’t insult me.

Jesus, take the wheel…🙈😂

He’s not the type to run in the mud and rain for her. To climb on trees with her. To sit on the sidelines at school and talk shit about people in codes only she and he know. I’m that person. I’m her person.

Sage. Poirier. Is. A. God! That’s why he’s a manwhore in the first place.

“You’ll still get free rent, but for as long as you’re my fake girlfriend, I’ll also pay the bills. You’ll get free access to my truck—anytime you want. Last but not least: you’ll get me. All of me. No other women. No distractions. No games. Just you and me, JoJo. Because it’s always been the two of us, and it’s time we act this way, even if only for a little while.”

I’m your boyfriend. You don’t have to doll-up for me. I like the real you. The girl who snores when she is tired and smells of garlic every Sunday after her grandmama’s special casserole.”

Inhaling the pizza, salad, and beer like food is a foreign concept that’s left me in a carbma (carb coma).

Sage is hungry. And I’m his meal.

Okay, something is poking my ass. Correction: an erection is poking my ass. Double correction: a bare erection is. Poking. My. Ass. Mothertrucker!

‘Died between my legs from lack of oxygen on the same day I had a tuna melt for lunch…’

Erm…what?

“Because I just fell in love. I’m talking love at first sight. Your pussy is just so darn pretty, I wanna marry it. Can I marry your pussy? The rest of your body can stay single, I swear.”

“He is yours. I am yours. We’re both yours. If…” Pause. Beat of silence. Visible swallow. “If you’ll have us.”

It’s not a phase. It’s here to stay. I’m in love with my best friend. With the girl who ran in the rain for me.

I’m in love with Jolie Louis. And I’m going to conquer her. Consequences be damned.

You’re a part of my blood. I can’t change my DNA, but I sure as hell can change everything else to keep you close.

I hate him. I want to kill him. I want to kiss him. I love him. I don’t know what I’m feeling. Everything is wrong and twisted and final.

“Get the hell outta my car, girl. If you’re taking this cheating bastard back, I don’t want to hang out with you no more.” That escalated quickly.

😂😂 I was just about to say “that escalated quickly”. 😂 But, also, Trish knows what’s up! 🙈

“You’re in my blood, in my veins, in my fucking soul. You’re in my heart and in my fingertips and on my fucking lips like a prayer. You’re fucking everywhere, Jolie Louis. Always will be.”

It occurred to me that I can’t even think of being with anyone but you, and when I do have a child, I want it to be with you. I love you, JoJo. But you already know that. I’m also in love with you. Crazy about you. Can’t live without you.”

We’re one entity. Whole and broken. Happy and sad. Lost and so unbelievably found.

“I love you, I love you, I fucking love you. No matter what happens in my life, you’re the constant thing I can count on. The shelter in the storm, the calm in my chaos.”

“I love you, Jolie Louis. The kind of love that burns through the skin.” Hmm. Is it bad that I want to tattoo this on my forehead?

“I love you.” It’s my turn to say. “Every part of you. The broken boy. The strong man. The lighthearted jock and the heavyhearted kid. Every piece of you is loved and cherished, Sage Poirier. Always remember that.”

I never thought it could feel like this.” “Like what?” He takes my wrist and presses it against his pouty, perfect lips. “Like forever.”

I pull her hair up to put her necklace on. Nothing too fancy. A pink gold necklace with one lonely pearl. It takes me a few seconds to fasten it—this is not the movies. It’s real life, and my hands are shaking like a motherfucker.

“I love you, angry boy,” she says, and I answer her with the only thing that pops into my head. “I love you, brave girl.”

The girl got a kiss on the lips from the boy who no longer howled at the moon and cried on a tree. On the forehead. Like friends do. Then he kissed her on the lips, like lovers do. Then he kissed the inside of her wrists, like soulmates do.

“I love you, Jolie. You’re my world, my universe, the air I fucking breathe.

Take a shot every time Sage tells Jolie he loves her! 🤣