Phillips

[|"All the Same"] Sick Puppies Video: [|"All the Same"]

It’s approximately 1301 miles from Boston, Massachusetts to my family’s new home in Orlando, Florida and in the eighteen hours we’ve been driving my two sisters and I have played every car game that has ever been thought of -counting cows, madlibs, the license plate game, coloring- and even some that haven’t been officially recognized as car games yet, such as bubble blowing contests, and building contests… we still have four hours of driving left and no more games to play, kill me now. The only thing that is keeping me going is my I-pod because I know that if I have to spend any more time with my sisters, my parents are going to have less kids than they had when we started this journey, because not everyone was going to make it to Orlando alive. All I know is I refuse to play Barbie’s with Chloe. I will not stoop that low. We got to Orlando mid-afternoon and stopped for lunch at Jimmy-Johns on South Orange Avenue. I looked around at all of the people and saw that everyone was wearing shorts and short-sleeved shorts, something that would’ve been looked at as crazy if you had done it this time of year in Boston. I quickly took my sweatshirt off in an attempt to look less like a tourist, like I didn’t just move here and was completely out of my league. My family and I ate the biggest sandwiches we could find, since we had only had ‘road-food’ for the last day. After stuffing ourselves we headed back out to our Pilot. It was there that while I held the door open for my sisters that I saw the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my whole life She was coming out of Starbucks and her messy blonde hair that was pulled back into a ponytail looked like it sparkled in the sun. She was smiling and laughing with the two other people with her. I knew instantly that I had to know her, I didn’t care what it took, and I was going to find out her name. Even if I had to sit in that Starbucks everyday until she came back, I was going to know her. The first song that played when I put my I-pod on was my favorite, ‘Drops of Jupiter’ by Train. I knew that this girl was in fact, the most beautiful thing ever. The next three days went by and all I could think of was this mysterious girl thoughts like, ‘what’s her name? Who was that guy with her? Does she have a boyfriend? Does she want one?’ cycled over and over again in my mind for those next days. On the fourth day that we had been in Orlando, school started. I was still getting used to the appropriate apparel for January in Florida, so it took me a little while longer than usual to get ready. I went downstairs to get my little sister, Chloe’s book bag and put it in my car. She’d have to have it when I dropped her off at the Elementary school on my way to West Orange High School. West Orange was the place that I would be spending the next five months of my life before heading off to University of Boston in the fall. The only saving grace I was able to find about West Orange was that they had a spring boys soccer team, and I had not yet missed tryouts… of course there was also the hope that I would see that mysterious girl from Starbucks and she would fall in love with me on the spot. That saved West Orange, but I wouldn’t ever admit that to anyone, especially not the guys back home. I walked into my first class, AP Calculus, a little late because I had gotten lost on my way. Of course all of the seats in the back were taken already and I only saw two seats that were still unoccupied. I had two options, I could sit with the geeky looking kids that were sitting in the front, or I could go sit with the good-looking group that seemed semi-popular and were in the far row by the windows. I opted for the good-looking popular group and was self-assured that that was a good choice when I sat down and the guy shook my hand and said, “Hey bro, I’m Max.” This guy, Max looked very familiar but I couldn’t quite figure out how, it wasn’t like I had met anyone in the four days that I had lived in the area. I didn’t realize why he was familiar until I looked at the people he was sitting with, a beautiful brunette and a drop-dead gorgeous blonde, my blonde. Max was who I saw at Starbucks leaving with the beautiful girl that I hadn’t been able to get out of my head for the last four days. “Sup, I’m Tyler.” I answered him, trying to seem cool since my future wife was sitting beside me. “This is Maddie and Ashley.” He told me pointing to the two girls, but I didn’t quite catch what name went with my girl. Soccer Tryouts were the first day of school as well. I went out to the field after changing into my soccer gear and I saw Max out there. Relieved that I would know someone out there, I walked over to him and sat down to stretch. “So what’d you think of the first day?” “It was just another day, you know, nothing special.” “Maddie seemed to like you.” “Really?” I tried to not seem too excited, but this really made my day. “Yeah dude, I was talking to her at lunch today and she really seemed interested in you.” “Oh that’s cool.” “Dude you like her don’t you?” “Honestly? Yeah bro.” “I’ll put in a good word for you.” We continued talking during practice as we dribbled the ball. At the end of the day, Max and I both made the Varsity team. The next day at school, I got up the nerve to ask Maddie to go out with me. She even said yes! We planned to go on Saturday to the movies and dinner afterwards. We invited Max and his girlfriend Ashley to come along as well. Saturday came along and I was so excited the whole day. I went and picked Maddie up from her house and we met Max and Ashley at the movie theater. On the way to the theater she even let me hold her hand. While we were in the car, Maddie cleared her throat and said, “So Max said that you play soccer?” “Uh, yeah I played back home, so I figured I might as well play here too.” “Do you miss Boston?” I wasn’t prepared for a question like this, I did miss Boston, but there was so much baggage there that I was happy to leave. “So uh,” I tried to change the conversation, “Max told me that you talked about me at lunch my first day.” If she had noticed that I hadn’t answered her question she didn’t say anything, but instead responded with, “ Well, Max says a lot of things.” After the movie we all headed down to the boardwalk. Max and Ashley walked slightly ahead of us, but I didn’t mind, conversation with Maddie came naturally. She was easy to talk to, like a best friend our conversation didn’t lag. “So Tyler Hayes tell me about yourself.” “I’ve seen too much, it’d drive you away if I told you about myself.” She hesitated, “I doubt that, try me.” I grabbed her hand and took her down to the beach, as we walked, I started to tell her about my past. She didn’t say anything, nor did she pull away when I told her about how I saw my best friend die. She continued to walk beside me holding my hand even when I told her I used to do drugs. “I’m sorry, that’s horrible first date conversation.” “Don’t worry about it, I’m not as perfect as you think I am either.” “Well whenever you feel like you can tell me about it, I’m always here.” Maddie and I walked back up to the boardwalk and heard, ‘All the Same’ by Sick Puppies. Maddie put my arms around her waist, and hers around my neck and started swaying to the music. I held her close, knowing that we had reached an understanding that we were going to be there for each other no matter what. The months that followed went by in a blur; a whirlwind of color and happiness went along with it. Maddie and I were doing great, we were in love, the perfect makes-others-sick-to-their-stomachs, in love. One night while we were at dinner with Max and Ashley, I noticed that Maddie and Max were laughing and sitting closer than they usually did when we’d hang out. They seemed oblivious to us, and everyone else in the restaurant; they seemed like the happy couple she and I were supposed to be. Ashley and I sat having quiet conversation, trying to not become jealous by the seemingly great date that Maddie and Max were on. When Maddie and I got into the car, I tried to keep a cool head, and I was succeeding until Maddie said, “That was a fun night, don’t you think?” “No, I don’t.” “What? You seemed like you were having a great time.” “Are you kidding me Mads?” “Why would I be? Calm down.” I could feel myself getting worked up, “ You didn’t notice anyone other than Max at dinner tonight! How would that have made me think that this was a good night? Why don’t you just go hang out with your other boyfriend? Cause obviously you’d rather talk to him anyway.” “I can’t believe you. Take me home Tyler, I don’t want to do anything else with you right now.” It takes fifteen minutes to get from the Beach Bar to Maddies house, the whole time she sat with her feet on my dashboard, arms crossed, looking out of the window. When we pulled up to her house, Maddie didn’t look at me or say anything, she simply got out of my car and walked inside her house. I drove around for an hour that night, circling the town. I wished I hadn’t yelled at her, I wished that as soon as I had done it. When I got home I tried to call her to apologize but she didn’t answer her phone. “Why would she? I wouldn’t have answered if I had gotten yelled at either.” I tried to call her two more times that night before coming to the realization that she didn’t want to talk to me. I went to bed in a bad mood and hoped that she would talk to me in the morning. When I woke up I didn’t have any messages from Maddie, but I did have one from Max. Max, the traitor, wanted me to meet him at the Beach Bar to talk, so I did. When I got to the restaurant I saw him looking around solemnly, I could tell something was wrong, and I prayed that it wasn’t something dealing with Maddie. “Max, what’s up?” he looked up at me with red-rimmed eyes, “Dude, we’ve got to go see Maddie.” My heart pounded in my chest, I felt my heart breaking and I didn’t even know the situation. Police tape, and just about every law enforcement officer in Orange surrounded her house. Max and I looked around and took in the chaos. I saw her sitting in the tree house her dad had built. She looked small, breakable, like one of those china-dolls; I walked up to her cautiously. “Mads?” Maddie looked up at me for only a second, tears streaming down her face, before she focused her attention back on all of the police coming in and out of her house. Max and I climbed into the tree house, and sat beside her. I held her while she cried, none of us saying anything. I still didn’t know what was going on, but I didn’t want to upset her by asking what happened. What seemed like a week went by with us sitting on top of the house; a police officer came up and said, “Miss. Steris? Can I talk to you for a minute please.” Maddie looked up at him and then at me, while she climbed out of the tree house, she reached for my hand taking me with her to talk to the officer. “Miss. Steris, I know that today is very hard for you, but I’m going to need you to tell me what happened.” Maddie, still holding my hand spoke up and told the officer what happened, “I came home from dinner last night, and my dad was sitting downstairs in the lounge. I said goodnight to him and went upstairs. The next thing I knew, he was yelling for me to come down to the kitchen and that’s when I saw it… He was holding a gun,” she paused, and sobbed a little, “he was crying while he pointed it at me. He told me that his life would be easier if I wasn’t around. I cried and begged him not to shoot me. He didn’t… instead he turned the gun on himself, apologized, told me he loved me and… he pulled the trigger.” I put my arms around her, holding her close. “Thank you Miss. Steris, I know that was hard for you. We’ll be in touch, do you have somewhere you can stay while we investigate your house?” “She’ll stay with me and my family.” I told the officer. The officer walked away, leaving Maddie and I standing in her kitchen. I held her close and hummed ‘All the same’ swaying slightly with my arms around her fragile body. College was supposed to start in just a week. Maddie spent that week with my family, because we were all she had. I was careful around her, trying to not cause her to think about her dad. My parents were equally careful, taking her in as a daughter with open arms. Maddie and I were both going to Boston University, so getting our things together for the trip up there should’ve been fun, but there was a storm cloud that seemed to follow Maddie around everywhere she went these days. The night before we left, she and I went to her house and sat in the tree house. We were quiet as we looked at her home. As I held her and kissed her forehead, I started to sing softly to her, “I’ll take you for who you are, if you take me for everything, I’ll do it all over again, it’s always the same.” Maddie leaned into me whispering, “I don’t care, and no I wouldn’t dare to fix the twist in you. I don’t mind, I don’t care, as long as you’re here.” We sat silently again for a while. “I love you.” I told her. “I know, I love you too, you know,” She said quietly. “Yeah, I know.”