She (standard:romance, 1483 words)
Author: Derek Heath	Added: Apr 15 2004	Views/Reads: 3662/2401	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A man's first love - but he loses her...

He remembered it as if it were yesterday, rather than almost half his
life ago. The details were so vivid and so strong, etched on his mind 
forever. How could he not remember? Hadn't he spent all those years 
trying to make that dream come true? And he had succeeded, and now it 
had been snatched away from him. 

He'd just turned sixteen and his first paypacket, from his first
Saturday job, was burning a hole in his pocket. £24. Nothing in the 
world scheme of things, but to him, it was like a win on the pools. He 
didn't have to rely on his Mum for anything now. He could buy the 
trainers he wanted and not what she said. And now he could afford to 
buy records every week and not have to save his pocket money. He'd 
already bought a new shirt, and an album, and he was now in the 
newsagents, browsing the magazine shelves. He was flicking through the 
various titles, when he was stopped in his tracks by that cover photo. 

That was the first time he'd seen her. She was lithe, elegant,
beautiful, flawless. She was older than him and he knew that she would 
be way, way out of his league. He thumbed through to the article about 
her. More photos and a history of her life. When she'd first appeared 
on the scene, it seems she had been seen out with everyone who was 
anyone, even the Prince Of Wales. She'd won award after award, but as 
fashions had changed, she'd fallen out of favour. Now it looked as 
though things had come full circle, and she was in demand again. There 
and then, the dream came to be. One day, he would be good enough for 
her. He'd have to save, and maybe it would take a long time, but he 
would be with her one day, and when that day came, well, wouldn't that 
be something? 

That evening, he must have read that article a dozen times. He thought
he knew everything about her now. He also saw, somewhere else in the 
issue, that there was a show coming up soon, where she would be 
appearing. He knew he had to go, just to see her and to see if she was 
as beautiful as she looked in the magazine. 

The day came, and he did see her. If anything, she was even more
wonderful in real-life. It was the best day of the summer so far, and 
maybe that contributed to it, but he thought he'd never seen a sight 
more stunning. She was resplendent in a lustrous shade of mid-blue, not 
as dark as navy, nor as pale as sky, and there was the contrast of the 
accessories that she wore, reflecting that gorgeous August sunshine. He 
couldn't understand how there could be men alive who didn't even think 
her attractive, let alone beautiful. That experience just deepened his 
resolve. He would be worthy of her one day, and he said so to his 
friend who had accompanied him. 

'By the time I'm thirty, she'll be with me', he said. 

'No way!' his friend laughed. 'Absolutely no way will you ever get her.
Why torture yourself with it? There are plenty of others out there.' 

'No. It's got to be her'. 

That's how life continued. Anywhere that he knew he'd be able to see
her, he made sure he'd be there. He took his camera and used most of a 
film every time. Only once, did he manage to get someone to take his 
picture with her. That photo stayed in his wallet for ever. Every time 
he saw her in another magazine or a book, he had to buy it. His friends 
still told him to forget it, that he was obsessed, but he wouldn't 
listen. 

Working as hard as he could, he put every spare penny in the bank. Sure,
there were others during that time. There was one, from Germany, 
younger and fresher, who'd come very close. Sometimes, when he'd been 
with her, he'd almost forgotten about his first love. But the German 
was too flighty in the end, let him down once too often, and he knew 
that he would only be truly happy when his dream was realised. As it 
happened, he failed. She wasn't to be his by the time he was thirty, 
but still he tried to win her. 

He was a few weeks past his thirty-second birthday, when he had the
chance, when he saw her at yet another show. Could he, would she? Yes, 
yes! She would be with him. He was delirious with excitement. That 
first time they got together, he felt complete at last. Sixteen years 
of dreaming fulfilled. He didn't know what to do now. He just wanted to 


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