Lizzie

I am sitting in my car it’s February 14th St Valentine’s Day and am staring at a store window in absolute awe of an old friend named Lizzie who I met when we were both 14. We both went to the same school in the North of England and lived opposite ends of the city. Since leaving school at age 16 we kind of went our separate ways and would only meet up when we bumped into each other from work and spontaneously go for a drink and a catch up. After wondering about Lizzie and what had become of her I finally found out 5 years later.

Lizzie and I had become fast friends she had confided in me that she had got expelled from a girls private college for making up grand tales and for having an over imagination. She would tell her class mates that the handsome Latin teacher was in love with her and he had sent her numerous Valentine cards. When she was expelled her parents sent to the secondary public school where she would fall into a similar pattern of having an over imagination and would spend hours day dreaming in class where teachers would exclude her and make her stand in the corridor until she was ready to focus on her studies.

Lizzie approached me one day after class and asked me if I had ever been in love?

I told her “no”and she smiled and said “when your in love all kinds of magical things happen”

“Like what” I asked, Lizzie just stared at me with her enormous blue eyes and said “your heart beats twice as fast and your stomach feels like it’s dancing like mine is now, she whispered.

She dragged me to the gym door and we both peeked through the screen window where a bunch of older boys were playing football. Lizzie said “see that boy there with the curly hair?” I am going to marry him.

“Lizzie he is a 6th former, two years older than you and you don’t even know him.” Just as she was about to say something the door swung open and Lizzie was almost jammed behind the door, the curly haired boy asked Lizzie if she was alright and winked at her and walked off with his friends.

Lizzie clutched her stomach and jumped up and down almost ecstatic that she had almost been squashed behind a door by the curly haired boy she earlier had professed would be her future husband.

Lizzie became obsessed with the curly haired boy and she would check the gym schedule each day to find out when the indoor football was, most days I would find her peeking in the door watching him and he oblivious to her gazing lovingly from a distance. Sometimes she would be late and she would skip into the classroom, clutching her stomach doing a quirky little dance like she did not have a care in the world, only to be told to stand in the corridor until she could focus on her school work and stop with her day dreaming and dilly dallying ways.

It was during the second week of February and she became so jittery I thought she was drunk, she ushered me into the playground and took out of her hymnal a Valentine card she said had arrived through her door. The card had a big red heart on the front. When I asked to see the inside of what was written she refused to show me and excitedly told me it was from her admirer the curly haired boy whose name she found out was Christopher.

I began to feel sorry for Lizzie and suspected she sent the card to herself, especially as she would not let me see the handwriting, knowing only too well I would recognise it as her own handwriting and that would be very sad. All I could think was poor dillusional Lizzie she is starting to be over imaginative again, making up stories like she did at the private school she was expelled from.

Summer was approaching and the 6th formers were about to leave school to go out into the big world which included Christopher the curly haired boy, the whole school at assembly cheered and clapped for the school leavers about to depart on their new chapter in life. What on earth would Lizzie do now? No more peeking in the gym door and being late for class, no more day dreaming and being made to stand in the corridor. Poor Lizzie what will become of her with Christopher no longer in in the building no longer within her gaze.

During the following year Lizzie became quieter but she was still relatively happy she never mentioned Christopher the curly haired boy until around the same time Feb 14th she showed me another Valentine card she received. It was exactly the same as the one she showed me the previous year, Lizzie said it was posted through her letterbox and again she refused to show me the inside of the card. Lizzie was still convinced it was from the curly haired boy Christopher.

I was totally upset and increasingly dismayed by her dillusional behaviour about this boy and we grew apart because of it. One weekend on a Saturday I was in the town centre and I saw the curly haired boy Christopher with a girl named Kim who I knew briefly because she was a model who worked at a fashion boutique called Bus Stop. I had bought a few items from their and she had served me helping me choose a top to go with a pair of wide legged pants. I knew her name because she wore a staff badge with her name written on it. My brother also knew her through friends who fancied her because they saw her photo in a fashion magazine and many a boy admired a model especially when they were featured in a magazine. I watched them briefly strolling along the Main Street t holding hands looking happy and so well suited they were a perfect match, and even their names sounded good together Christopher and Kim. Poor Lizzie what will become of her when she finds out.

I decided not to say anything to Lizzie about seeing the happy couple walking hand in hand, as I felt it best she find out in her own way. The following week at school I ran into Lizzie in the corridor she would smile and link arms with me and ask me if I knew what it felt like to be in love? She would then describe the feeling “ your heart beats faster and your stomach feels like it’s dancing. She would then repeat “I am going to marry Christopher my curly haired boy” instead of blurting out “you silly fool he has a girlfriend, I stayed quiet.

It was not long before our own school leaving month now it was our time to go out into the big world, we both had interviews for various office work in the city centre, it was a good time for school leavers to secure employment especially with the amount of vacancies in an office environment, most of our skill set at school was learning to type and write shorthand which during this time was in high demand.

Lizzie and I never saw each other when we left school, to my knowledge Lizzie got a job in a big corporation and worked in a different part of the city, I often wondered about her especially when February came along, I thought about Lizzie and her Valentine cards and I would hear her voice saying “ its from Christopher the man I am going to marry” poor Lizzie I wonder what has become of her.

On the way home from work one early evening I decided to stop by the fashion boutique Bus Stop. I was curious to see if Kim still worked there, so I asked the sales assistant and she replied that Kim had left a few years ago to get married. Poor Lizzie I thought, what in the world has become of her and her longing to marry the curly haired boy she admired from afar.

It was the Sunday before Valentines Day and I had become engaged to be married and my boyfriend had arranged a night out at our local bar to celebrate. The place was crowded and I saw a few familiar faces I recognised from school days, across from the bar I saw Kim and right away I looked for Christopher but he was nowhere to be seen. I moved closer and saw she was holding hands with a man with a short crew cut almost like an army cadet would wear. My boyfriend handed me my drink and shouted over to the man that Kim was with “Hi Jimmy, congrats on your baby.” Kim smiled and Jimmy raised his glass.

“Who is that man with Kim? I asked, he replied “that’s Kim’s husband Jimmy, they were married few years ago and they just had a new baby girl. Kim met Jimmy after dating this guy called Christopher, but Christopher met a girl called Lizzie and fell madly in love with her and within a week of meeting her asked her to marry him. So now Lizzie and Christopher have got married and emigrated to Canada. What a crazy story eh? I think Kim was a bit heartbroken when Christopher told her he had fallen in love with someone else, but Jimmy is a good guy and he loves Kim and they seem quite happy. Do you know Lizzie? I think she may have gone to the same school as you.

I stood there and my heart began to beat faster than it ever had and my stomach felt as if it were dancing, I threw my head back and laughed until I cried. My boyfriend took me in his arms and kissed me tenderly and wished me “Happy Valentine,” is’nt it wonderful to be in love,” he said.

“Yes, it’s a great feeling, my hearts beating faster and my stomach feels like it’s dancing, I replied.