Talania - a Trip Down Memory Lane... by Crystal Spears Page A

you like to watch the video? You should have it—,” She scrambles through the piles of DVD jewel cases before I can even finish my sentence.
    “What’s it labeled Tristan?” She’s literally scrambling around.
    If I wasn’t so sad I would laugh, but her angry tone catches me off guard.
    “Tristan, WHAT IS IT LABELED? I know you know.” She is frantically flipping through the cases.
    “The promise,” I whisper.
    Why does this shit have to be so hard?
    “Got it!” She pops up from the floor so fast it makes my head spin. I notice the other part of ‘the promise’ is still in her other hand.
    She turns on the big screen, grabs the remote to turn on the DVD player, and pops the disc in. After she pushes play, she just stands there, waiting.
    I close my eyes, because this one video is all me.
    My voice comes crackling through the speakers.
    “You see all this my crazy-ass beautiful girl? I actually freaking lit candles, set up dinner and everything.”
    I drag the camera around, filming it all.
    “I bet you’re going to be happy I finally found a use for my birthday camera. No matter what happens tonight, you will always be mine, with my love, to infinity.”
    Her sweet voice comes on.
    “Tristan? What is all this”? I set the camera on the stand, focusing it on her.
    “Tristan, what are you doing?”
    Here comes the longest speech of my life.
    “My crazy-ass beautiful girl, I love you. I promise to love only you. I promise to remember only you. I promise to marry only you. I promise to make love only to you. I promise there will be no one else but you. I know we are young and we have our entire lives ahead of us, but I can’t wait anymore. I need to make this promise to you now.”
    I drop to one knee, pulling out a ring box.
    “Tristan! Oh shit, what did you do?” She gasps, throwing a hand over her mouth.
    I look over at Evelyn and she is staring at the T.V, not making any movements. Her face has paled and it doesn’t even look like she’s breathing. I don’t like that.
    “There are a million reasons why I love you, but it would take forever to name them so I will just say a few. I love how you love me as if our lives depend on it. I love your laugh, your voice, your touch. I love how when you get mad at me you don’t throw a fit; you simmer down and fix us. I love how you treat my brother as your own. I love how you call my parents Mom and Dad. I love you for taking one of my most embarrassing moments and turning it into something funny. I love how you just roll with everything. I love how smart you are. I love how beautiful you are but the main reason I love you is for how special you are to me.
    “There is no one in this entire world but you that I could love. I was meant to ogle you and hit you with that volleyball and I will never apologize for that again. So will you marry me my crazy-ass beautiful girl? It doesn’t have to be right now; I just want this promise, the promise that one day you and I will spend the rest of our lives together.”
    It goes quiet.
    “You promise to love me and only me forever?” She whispers in awe.
    “I promise.” My voice lets her know just how serious I am.
    “Yes, I’ll marry you.” She jumps on me and takes me down to the sand with her. “I love you so much!” She says as she showers kisses over my face.
    “I love you too.” I say as I slip the ring onto her finger and then kiss her lightly on the lips. “Hold on!” My voice booms loudly.
    I wiggle out of her grasp and get up to grab the camera off the stand.
    “She said yes!” I yell excitedly into the camera. “This is the end of the video. We’ll have more for you later.”
    The television screen goes blank.
    “That was the last video we made because you left a week later. You had a real bad headache and your parents thought you needed glasses. You left early to go to the eye doctor.”
    Evelyn turns slowly towards me. She is silently sobbing. Her body is shaking and her hands are