"Happy Ending" by Casey C. Lantz

[Laharl]

Happy Ending

I. Faith

“Tav, you’re such a goofball.”

The rest of the group was rolling around in their chairs as Tavorian made a silly face with straws sticking out of his nose, eyes crossed, and hands formed like raptor claws near the side of his face. He was not able to keep it up for long and started laughing himself very shortly after his friends were short of breath with laughter. Luckily for the friends sharing the table, they were in one of the loudest restaurants downtown. Pulling the straws out of his nose, Tav grew quiet for just a second wishing his date had arrived to share in the fun.

Tavorian’s best friend, a squat blond-haired fellow named George, wadded up a napkin on the table and lobbed it at Tav’s face. It harmlessly bounced off his nose, giving Tav some free ammo to use. Looking around the rest of the table, he tried to decide who the best target would be. George was sitting across the table, and as much as Tav wanted to return fire, that would be breaking the rules of mass dinner table warfare. It is common knowledge that everyone had to be engaged in the table war before direct return fire was allowed. Directly to Tav’s right was James, a scrawny kid with short-cropped black hair, who often wore hoodies of his favorite bands. Next to James sat Damian, the only one at the entire table with a girlfriend. In fact, she was sitting right across from him. Her name was Sahara, and the two made a seemingly perfect couple. Damian was a rather fit guy with a crew cut, almost like a football player, while Sahara was the definition of blonde bombshell. And Tav noticed she had a rather low cut top on that night.

The napkin flew right between her cleavage.

“Oh my God!” she screamed. Sahara’s right hand immediately went and covered the top of her blouse, which Tavorian found funny because he had no intention of throwing something else down there, at least not right away. Her face flushed red, and Damian stood from his chair.

“Damn it, Tav! I told you to stop doing that!” he shouted. He quickly walked over to Tavorian, then slugged him in the arm. It hurt, but the situation was so funny, Tav felt it was worth it. James and George both laughed so hard, people at other tables started to stare.

After Damian returned to his seat and Sahara had removed the napkin from her blouse, things began to calm down. Not one for silence, James was the first to speak up. “So where’s your date, Tav? I thought the whole point of sushi night tonight was so we could meet Faith. She’s all you’ve talked about, for like, a week.”

Faith was the first girl to ever say yes to Tavorian asking her out. All through high school, it was rejection after rejection. She was a transfer student into their high school, though, so Tav felt like he had a chance to at least get a date. She was tall for a girl, although that didn’t matter to him seeing as he was well over six feet tall. After a few months of getting to know her, he felt like he should ask her out. She always seemed so quiet and reserved; he thought it would be a good idea to introduce her to his friends, on a group date.

Tavorian grew silent for a moment and started to rub his hand across his jaw line. “I’m not sure. She said she’d be here at six, so she’ll be here at six.” He looked to his watch as he said it, realizing it was only four minutes until the designated time. Faith was never late to anything, either, a trait she’d picked up from Tavorian.

Conversation for the next half hour continued as normal, except for when people were stuffing their faces with food. Tavorian grew nervous, but did not outwardly show it. George was able to pick up on some subtle movements something was bothering Tav, however. Tavorian was being unusually quiet and glanced at his watch slightly more than usual. They had been best friends since George was born. Their parents knew each other from college, so the two had been raised together. George knew Tav better than anyone, so he decided it would just make Tav feel worse to talk about Faith again.

Another fifteen minutes passed. Damian and Sahara began another one of their world-famous arguments. Tav could only roll his eyes because this happened every time the entire group went out together. It would usually start with Damian accusing Sahara of being a tease because she and James would play-flirt with each other. James was simply a notorious womanizer, and Sahara loved to say things just to get under Damian’s skin. She would inevitably give her boyfriend a dirty look, and then ‘dangerously’ flirt with James. As George had once put it, dangerously flirting meant saying stuff that probably should not be said in front of a mother. The couple would usually end up leaving together soon after, yelling the entire time, as proved to be the case this particular night. No one except Tavorian ever bothered to say goodbye. Their arguing always made him feel like a bad person on the inside, because he counted both as good friends and hated seeing anyone, especially his close friends, unhappy.

After Damian and Sahara were out of sight, Tav socked James in his upper arm, who responded with a mischievous laugh. “You have no shame, do you? Manwhore!” Tavorian’s glare could have killed a rat.

James didn’t shrink down at all, though. He simply smiled, saying, “It’s not my fault I’m so damn hot. Admit it! If you were female, you’d so be all over me right now.” George laughed. Tav did not.

“Keep it up, laughy boy. You’ll ruin their relationship if you don’t stop. Damian can’t even look at you now without feeling seething rage. It’s been that way for months! I don’t know how you haven’t noticed.”

James just shrugged, like it was no big deal. “Well, your date needs to show up so I can try and steal her away from you. Then I wouldn’t be all over Sahara.” He then popped his last piece of sushi into his mouth. Tavorian’s glare could now take out a small dog.

George intervened, ever the peacekeeper of the group. “Come on, guys, let’s not do this. That was pretty low, James, and Tav, you should probably call her to find out why she’s so late. It’s almost seven.” Tavorian nodded and started dialing on his cell phone, while James slid down into his seat, throwing the hood from his coat over his head.

Tav drummed his fingers along the table while the phone dialed through. It rang seven times, and then went to Faith’s voicemail. Leaving a voicemail had always bothered him, so he reasoned she was already on her way and thought it a hassle to leave a message. Pocketing his phone, he noticed the rest of the table staring at him, waiting for an update. Tavorian chuckled, “Come on, guys. Think a sec. If I got her instead of her answering machine, you think I’d have hung up that fast? Go back to eating.”

The others both said, “Uh, we’ve been done for like a half hour, dude.”
James flipped his watch off his wrist and held its face out for Tav to see, pointing to the time on it. It read 6:52 P.M. He then said, “George and I were gonna try and make it to the arcade by seven. You want to come along?”

Tav shook his head. “No thanks, I think I’m just going to stay here and wait. She’ll show up. She’ll have an explanation.” He then began to laugh as he said, “I don’t go on dates enough to abandon the chance that this might still work out, even though later than expected.” His friends nodded and left, throwing some money on the table to help Tav cover the tab and tip.

Tavorian stayed for another entire hour before he decided to leave. He muttered under his breath that it was not the first time he had been blown off. As he was fishing out money to cover what his friends had not, his phone started to ring. The display said that Faith was calling, but the number was her home phone which she never used when calling Tav. He flipped his phone open and said, “Hello?”

He recognized the voice of Faith’s mother. “Do you have any idea what you’ve put my daughter through?” Her words were rushed, almost screamed. She continued before Tavorian had a chance to respond. “She just called me, saying she got in an accident. Did you know she was running away from meeting you?”

Tav’s heart tensed up. “Mrs. Graham, I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve been sitting at dinner for the last hour and a half waiting for her to get here.”

Pure spite spit out of his phone. “She complained to me for a week why she ever agreed to go out with a loser like you. Her words, there, but I have to agree.” He could feel his throat tensing on its own, like he was going to vomit. He did not understand where the venom was coming from, because she seemed so nice the day he dropped Faith off from school. “She went and got drunk, all because you forced her to go out with you! I couldn’t stop her from getting in the car, and now she’s gone and rolled her car out on the highway! I hope you’re happy with yourself.”

The phone beeped, signaling the other end had hung up.

II. Hope

Hope was glued to the movie.

Tavorian was not even paying attention to what was happening on-screen. He had already seen the movie once before, which is why he knew it would be the perfect movie to take his new friend to. He had met Hope at work, which was rare in and of itself because she was a local girl and Tav’s job dealt mostly with tourists all day long. He worked at a retail store which sold all sorts of souvenirs. He could not help but ask her for her number because he always had a thing for short red-headed girls. The fact she was fair-skinned with faintly freckled cheeks only added to his initial attraction.

Something funny happened on screen, which caused most of the theater’s audience to erupt in laughter, including Hope. Without realizing it, she rested her head on Tav’s shoulder to recompose herself. He noticed, however. It was always the small little things that made him feel like he was loved. He patted her on the head and mussed her hair a little bit before she sat back up. They both looked at each other with a smile, before turning back to look at the screen. Tav leaned over because he knew what was about to happen and whispered, “I love this next part.”

Hope gasped at him. “You…! You’re not supposed to take someone to a movie you’ve already seen.” She playfully pinched his arm, her face caught somewhere between a smile and exasperation. Tav tried to keep his chuckle quiet as he attempted to hush her. The people in the row behind them shot the two dirty looks.

“Shh, keep your voice down,” he said. “And just watch the movie. I wanted to see it again and figured you would like it so nyah.” She turned her head back slowly, keeping her eyes on him until her head was fully facing forward again. She was still grinning, so Tavorian assumed he did something right. Figuring it was a good enough opportunity, he then yelled, “Yawn!” and blatantly tossed his arm around her shoulders. Hope’s smile grew for the next couple seconds before erupting in laughter. The group in the row behind kicked Tavorian and Hope’s chairs in an attempt to get them to shut up. Tav tried to keep his grin from consuming his ears as the two enjoyed the rest of the film.

***

As they left the movie, Hope was twirling about like a ballerina. Tavorian could not help but sarcastically quip, “Have a good time? Most girls I take to the movies don’t start dancing until after we’ve made out and I’ve gone home!”

The spunky red-head stopped her twirling, and attempted to kick Tavorian’s shins. He let the kick connect, because it did not really hurt. “I’m in dance at college. This is just how I am!” Her smile turned impish as she finished, “Besides, I doubt you get a chance to make out with many girls.”

Tav conceded on that point. “Yeah… you’re right. I’m just teasing anyway.” Not wanting to sound desperate, he decided it would be prudent to keep the fact this was his first real date in the year since he graduated from high school.

They exited the theater and arrived at Tavorian’s car soon after. He did the gentlemanly thing and opened her door first, letting her get comfortable as he went around and got in the driver’s seat. She was thumbing through his CD binder as he buckled his seatbelt and fired up the engine. “Ooh,” she squealed, “Stone Temple Pilots! I miss the nineties.” She ejected the CD they had listened to on the way up and inserted the new one, then scanned to her favorite track, ‘Big Empty’.

Tav just smiled, glancing over occasionally as he was driving to see her singing along with the song. The entire night had gone very well, which was a welcome change for him. She had shown up, sober no less; two things that didn’t happen his last date. They soon arrived at Hope’s apartment.

He let her out of the car. He then offered her his arm and said in his best Sean Connery impersonation, “Shall we, my dear?” He laughed and she put her arm through his. They stopped at the door, smiling at each other for a little while. Tavorian had a hard time keeping his eyes off her face. He said, “You know, Hope… I haven’t had this much fun with a girl in… well, ever! I think this is the most fun I have ever had with the fairer sex.”

She smiled at him, squinting just for a second to be all the more adorable, then giggled, “Aww, Tavvy! I had a lot of fun, too. We’ll have to hang out again sometime.”

Then, an emotion Tavorian was not used to welled up inside himself. It was as if all the frustrations he had ever felt in dating were lifted from one perfect night, and he had to attempt something now that the chance presented itself. He leaned in for a goodnight kiss.

Hope promptly pushed him back. “Tav, what are you doing?!”

He simply stood there, his lips still half-puckered as he let out a confused, “Huh?”

“Oh my god, you had no idea… Tav, I’m a lesbian.”

III. Charity

Tavorian looked out his dorm window, not sure of what to make of the day. It was as if the skies were grey and silent just so he could be calm as he reflected on his first semester of college. For him, that simply meant thinking about the friendships made and lost. The knowledge gained from class did not matter to him in the long run, not as much as having people to think about to bring a smile to his face.

Although there was one person that confused Tavorian greatly.

His best friend at college was a girl named Charity. They met the first day of school, at the ever so important first lunch in the dining hall. That is the only time people simply sit at a random table. No one realizes the people they sit next to at their first meal will be their greatest friends throughout their whole college lives. She had beautiful blonde hair that reached just below her shoulders, an exceptionally captivating smile, and gorgeous viridian eyes.

They spent most of that first day getting to know each other. They both shared similar tastes in music, movies, television, books, and just about any other form of entertainment known to man. She was an Army brat who had lived all over the world, while he was born and raised in a city that very few people spent their entire lives in. To Tavorian, it was as if God had dropped the perfect woman in his lap.

Of course, it turned out Charity was engaged to someone from back home.

Sighing, Tav turned away from the window just as it started to rain. He threw on his coat and left the dorm building, heading towards his final class of the semester. Finals were always so easy for him. Something about tests sharpened his mind to an accentuated point of clarity. He only wished it would last fifteen minutes after the final questions were answered so he could sort out his mind.

***

The exam went smoothly, despite the unknowns of what summer was going to bring ringing in the back of his mind. His head hung down, he slowly trod back towards his dorm building. On the way, he saw many people, all suddenly nameless even though so many were good friends. Charity was the only thing on Tavorian’s mind now.

His mind always broiled toward the end of an event of some kind, whether it was a year in school, a night out with friends, or even simple conversations. His thoughts stewed, analyzing every minute detail of the situation that had occurred. This time, his efforts to reach a conclusion were futile. When he first realized he had feelings for Charity, he began to observe the way she would act around other people. Her hugs with Tavorian were longer than with other people on campus, even her own roommate. If her eyes ever met someone else’s, she would quickly glance somewhere else as is human nature, but when she would catch his stare, both would smile and enjoy a few seconds in the closeness of sharing a gaze.

He grimaced as her boyfriend crept into Tav's mind. He knew next to nothing about the man that proposed to her, except his name was Mitch. Tavorian had heard Charity recount stories of dates she and Mitch had gone on. Tav would silently brood every time he heard one, comparing it to times that she had spent ‘just hanging out’ with him. One tale in particular made him frustrated when it would leap to the forefront of his memory. She and Mitch went to see some movie at a theater that apparently had poor heating. Mitch gave her his coat to use for extra warmth, and sat the rest of the movie shivering cold, happy he could be of service. Before he had ever heard the tale, Tavorian did the exact same thing when they had gone to watch a James Bond marathon at the student union on a particularly cold night when the heaters were still on the fritz.

And there she was, waiting at the entrance to the dorms with a big smile on her face as he marched up the steps. She gave him a hello hug, then asked, “How’d your exams go?”

He could not help but smile in her presence. “Cake. I told you that tests were my thing. It’s like everything I’ve ever heard suddenly becomes easily accessible in my brain for the hour the test takes, then it all vanishes and I’m back to my usual forgetful self,” he said. “My brain is awesome like that.”

She poked him hard in the sides, a playful gesture she only did with Tavorian. “Tav, I can’t believe this semester is finally over. I get to go home, back to Mitch!”

Usually, whenever she would bring up the subject, Tavorian was able to fake a smile and offer half-hearted congratulations. Today, however, he had to get it off his chest. “Yeah, I know. He’s a lucky bastard.”

Not expecting the reply, Charity’s face shifted from a jubilant smile into a concerned look. “Tav…? What’s the matter? I hear it in your voice. Aren’t you happy for me?”

He bowed his head for a moment, then looked back up, tears in his eyes. “I’m losing you, Charity. We won’t be able to be the kind of friends we are anymore. You aren’t returning next semester, and will move away. And even if you were here, we couldn’t hug like we do. We couldn’t poke each other. We couldn’t lean on each other’s shoulders if we had to cry.” She stared at him, not sure what to make of where Tavorian was going.

His entire face started to quiver, words bumbling out. “It’s not fair. It’s just not fair. I’ve spent my whole life looking for someone like you, then find Charity. And I can’t have you. If your boyfriend would have waited three days…” He began to laugh, cynically. “Three days!” he yelled. “Three days, and you would have came here without a ring on your finger, without a fiancée waiting for you, and then I wouldn’t have had to spend the last four months falling in love with someone I can’t have.”

Charity had no idea, even though it was obvious to anyone that observed them interacting that Tavorian harbored feelings for her outside of simple friendship. “Tavorian, why are you telling me this?” Charity’s posture seemed to hunch a little, as if gravity had grown stronger. Tav noticed her hands clench, thumb slowly massaging the outside of her index finger.

He threw his hands up, shaking his head. “I have to get it out. You remember that first week you were here and we were the only people in the student union watching Moulin Rouge? When you started leaning on my shoulder during the parts that made you cry? What about that time during intramurals where we were on opposing teams during flag football, and as you tried to run with it, I picked you up by your waist and carried you into my end zone for a touchdown where we fell over into the mud and laughed?” Tavorian’s fingers shook, not able to hide the adrenaline coursing in his body.

She began to cry herself. “I-I can’t think of you like that, Tav. I just can’t. Don’t you understand?”

Tavorian refused to believe her. “What about when we were studying and you fell asleep with my arm around you? What about all the times we sat together at lunch, and dinner, and we would catch each other glimpsing at one another? What about that time–” Tavorian’s lips quivered as he tried to get the rest of his words out, throat seized by the pure force of anxiety.

She simply stood, mouth partially opening every few seconds as if she was going to say something and closing again as no words came. He took a deep breath and continued, “Charity, you made me forget. You made me forget I’ve never had a girlfriend. You made me forget that all my relationships failed before they even started. You made me forger the years I spent crying, feeling alone.” Forcing the tears away, Tavorian looked straight into her eyes.

“I love you, Charity.”

[Grandiagod]

Very smoothly and well written, I liked the subtle humor.

[CypherToorima]

I enjoyed it alot. Alot alot. Although, I would like to have seen something happen to Faith and her mother. Although, I'm not excatly sure if I would have enjoyed as much if something had happened. I mean, the car wreck happened sure, but it would have been nice to see Tav get some kind of revenge or something. But still...I'm not sure if that would have added to the enjoyability to the stroy or not. Either way, I really liked it.

[Laharl]

Originally Posted by CypherToorima

I enjoyed it alot. Alot alot. Although, I would like to have seen something happen to Faith and her mother. Although, I'm not excatly sure if I would have enjoyed as much if something had happened. I mean, the car wreck happened sure, but it would have been nice to see Tav get some kind of revenge or something. But still...I'm not sure if that would have added to the enjoyability to the stroy or not. Either way, I really liked it.

Well, for the record, the person that I drew heavily from to create Faith now has a child out of wedlock that's like a year old, and has been jumping around between guys, seeing multiple at once. Her mother was actually really cool. The person I created in the story was not, however. I kind of don't like the ending to part one, but I just can't figure out how to make it click.

[xObserveRx]

Wow, very interesting story Case.

It's definitely something I couldn't imagine myself writing; at least not at this point. However, it was done quite well, aside from a few gramatical errors and a spelling mistake.

It felt complete overall. I liked how the chapters were dived, I thought the description of feelings were portrayed perfectly and I found myself remembering a few of the verbs you used- definitely a good thing. I do have a few criticisms though.

For one, there are a few paragraphs that could be rewritten quite easily and quickly if you'd just look them over again. It's not that they have errors or anything, I just think that maybe they could be worded better to keep the reader's attention. A few points left me thinking about the quick, short sentences rather than what was going on in the story.

and Second, I do this a lot myself too, you use names a little too much. This, at least I find, is something that you don't really notice as you're writing something the first time. If you go back and read it over, you'll notice points where you can see Tav too much. This isn't horribly bad or anything, it's just that it tends to lead to overuse of an idea. It's hard to explain... let's see.

Let's look at these couple of sentences:

Originally Posted by Laharl

He grimaced as her boyfriend crept into Tav's mind. He knew next to nothing about the man that proposed to her, except his name was Mitch. Tavorian had heard Charity recount stories of dates she and Mitch had gone on. Tav would silently brood every time he heard one, comparing it to times that she had spent ‘just hanging out’ with him.

The entire thing makes sense and is definitely readable. However, call me a nazi if you will, but when I read something that, to me, doesn't sound exactly right, I tend to change it as I read it; to get it to sound better. (Don't feel bad, I do this at least once every couple paragraphs for my own work.) So when I read this, I well... I thought this:

(Since we already know the subjects from the finish paragraph before...)

He grimaced as the thought of her boyfriend crept into his mind. He knew next to nothing about the man that had proposed to Charity, except that his name was Mitch. Tav would brood silently every time he listened to her recount a story about a date with the guy; comparing it to a time she had spent with him, "just hanging out".

So yeah, I dunno if you don't think that works, or even makes sense... but I tend to do that a lot. Maybe it's a good thing, maybe it isn't. However, it doesn't really affect the overall impression I get from a story. I read stories for the sake of the story, not the grammatical nuances or spelling mistakes, or even the wording, I read it to be entertained. You'll be glad to know I found your story very entertaining, as well as very good work. I hope to see more of your stuff as it comes out. It was really cool to get that kind of perspective on "Tav's" life.

I have some questions to ask you now... :P

[Laharl]

It's definitely something I couldn't imagine myself writing; at least not at this point. However, it was done quite well, aside from a few gramatical errors and a spelling mistake.

Where and what? Must have missed them. I pretty sure there aren't any spelling mistakes. I'm aiming for 100% perfection at this point, so if you see anything that makes you go "I don't think that's right," let me know.

For one, there are a few paragraphs that could be rewritten quite easily and quickly if you'd just look them over again. It's not that they have errors or anything, I just think that maybe they could be worded better to keep the reader's attention. A few points left me thinking about the quick, short sentences rather than what was going on in the story.

Quick, short sentences grab attention. That's what they're for. I'm not saying I always used them to good effect, just explaining the purpose of the simple declaritive sentence.

Oh, and I agree some paragraphs could use a rewrite. The stuff I originally had in thier from my rough draft is now pretty good, but I added in quite a lot from the inital writing and didn't have a chance to see it printed first. (Once it's printed, I find it's really easy to edit it. It's a lot harder on screen.)

and Second, I do this a lot myself too, you use names a little too much. This, at least I find, is something that you don't really notice as you're writing something the first time. If you go back and read it over, you'll notice points where you can see Tav too much. This isn't horribly bad or anything, it's just that it tends to lead to overuse of an idea. It's hard to explain... let's see.

Let's look at these couple of sentences:

The entire thing makes sense and is definitely readable. However, call me a nazi if you will, but when I read something that, to me, doesn't sound exactly right, I tend to change it as I read it; to get it to sound better. (Don't feel bad, I do this at least once every couple paragraphs for my own work.) So when I read this, I well... I thought this:

(Since we already know the subjects from the finish paragraph before...)

He grimaced as the thought of her boyfriend crept into his mind. He knew next to nothing about the man that had proposed to Charity, except that his name was Mitch. Tav would brood silently every time he listened to her recount a story about a date with the guy; comparing it to a time she had spent with him, "just hanging out".

So yeah, I dunno if you don't think that works, or even makes sense... but I tend to do that a lot. Maybe it's a good thing, maybe it isn't. However, it doesn't really affect the overall impression I get from a story. I read stories for the sake of the story, not the grammatical nuances or spelling mistakes, or even the wording, I read it to be entertained. You'll be glad to know I found your story very entertaining, as well as very good work. I hope to see more of your stuff as it comes out. It was really cool to get that kind of perspective on "Tav's" life.

Hm, you've got a point. I tend to use names quite a lot in initial drafts because I'd rather overuse a name than have the reader confused as to whom I'm referring to with pronouns. Thanks for the pointers.

I have some questions to ask you now... :P

I drew heavily on actual experiences for influence, but it's all made up and fictitious, honestly.

[Dracoowl]

hiii casey ^_^ i read the story and i think its great and funny ...poor tavorian xD well i hope you written other stories cos im looking forward to it !! see ya laters candy xxx

[DDRAngel]

Not good with criticism. ; )

[Laharl]

Not good with criticism. ; )

I'm not good with criticism when people are attacking me as an author like your lesbian friend. She didn't even bother to read it before telling me how badly she thinks it sucked. THAT will piss me off, greatly.

Also, people tend to take criticism in stride a little easier with the person who's doing the criticising isn't an annoying arguing fuckhead.

[DDRAngel]

Like yourself?

[FoJaR]

whoah whoah whoah, did i miss something?