(photo credit)
She met him picking up her script.
Later he saw her upset over the death of a friend. He didn't know her, but he reached out to her and offered compassionate support. Not answers or solutions, just a listening ear and a willingness to sit with her.
Rehearsals began. She had the lead, and he was a minor player. Drama ensued as it always does in the theater. He was a port of calm. She found herself drawn to him. Totally out of character, she went straight to him and poured out frustrations, while he listened and wondered about this girl/woman.
He wished her luck on opening night, nearly breaking her ritual bottle of Perrier. She didn't care about any of that with him.
After the show they saw each other on campus. He helped her return some stage equipment. Later he asked her out on a date. She said yes. Why not?
He wasn't who she expected to fall in love with. In fact he was everything she wasn't looking for. He had that one quality though -- absolute honesty. He was guileless.
She didn't know it at the time, but it was what she needed more than anything else. And she fell for him. Even though her sister said he was controlling. Her dad didn't like his lack of convention. That scared her too. She'd built her life around fitting in; being what she was supposed to be. He scattered that concept to the winds.
She was pulled to him. Was it love, or was it just a change she so desperately needed?
She went out on a limb and said it was love. She said yes when he asked her to marry him. He let her have the conventional wedding her parents wanted, but he didn't understand why she couldn't tell them it wasn't the wedding she wanted.
Years of marriage and children. Confusion and pain for both of them. They were so right together except when they weren't. And then the light bulb moment. He pressed hard for introspection; for discovery; for answers. And when they came -- the repressed memories of horrible abuse -- he stood by her, when her parents fell away. When they failed her, he stood taller than the rest.
That meeting. Walking up at the same time from opposite sides of the building to pick up scripts that held their roles? Was it just coincidence or was it fate?
link up at Write on Edge
This is a great piece. I'd love to see what you could do with it if you didn't have the word count limit and could show these events in more detail. Nice job!
ReplyDelete"They were so right together except when they weren't."
ReplyDeleteI love this line. It speaks to the beautiful imperfections of relationships.
Nicely done!
You fit in a huge amount in those few words. Even though we never know their names I felt that I knew them as a couple. I'm not sure that for those two it makes any difference at all whether it was coincidence or fate, the end results perhaps being the same.
ReplyDeleteI think sometimes people are meant to be. Sometimes, despite when things aren't exactly right, they are right...if that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteGlad you found that anchor, that person to stand by you.
This was beautiful.
ReplyDeleteSome people call it fate. I call it God-- actively working in my life. I am so thankful.
ReplyDelete