The World of Hope

PROLOGUE 

He sat there, unable to move, as she walked away. He wanted to stop her. He wanted to tell her that he loved her. That he had always loved her. That he wanted to make love to her over and over. But he didn’t. He didn’t do a thing.

“Hey! Dude! Hello!”
“Huh? What?” Peter asked.
“Dude, where do you go when you do that? Your eyes glaze over and you just stare ahead. What do you think about?” Becky asked.
“Nothing. I’m fine.”
“You’re thinking about her aren’t you?”
“No.”
“Stop lying dude. Why do you do this to yourself? It’s been like 3 years!”
“2 years and 3 months.”
“Exactly.”

Becky stood up from the kitchen table and gave Peter a playful punch on his arm. She didn’t understand his pain. She had never been in love. She wanted to help him. Make him stop hurting. It was almost as if he wanted to be miserable. She would just have to let him.

From the living room Becky yelled, “I’ve got a date in an hour but I can cancel if you want me to stay here.” She waited a minute but there was no reply. She knew he was off in his little world again. The world of Hope.

Becky had been Peter’s best friend for almost fifteen years. They met in their freshman year of high school. He was on the swim team and she would sneak into the boy’s locker room to smoke during lunch. The first time they met she saw more of Peter than she would have liked. He was upset at first but she assured him that he had nothing to worry about. She liked girls. After about a week of her walking in on him in the showers he started not to care. In two weeks they were inseprable and have been ever since. They were nothing alike. The only thing they had in common was their friendship to each other and their love for Hope. One platonic and the other disguised as platonic.

Of course, Peter and Becky were together when they first saw Hope. She was working as a waitress at café. They knew it must have been her first day because they had been there every afternoon for the past year. It was their first year of college and they met there after classes.

“Wow, now she’s hot.” Becky commented.
“I was thinking the same thing.”
“I saw her first.”
“Shut up here she comes.”

“Hi! Can I get you something to drink?!” Hope sang.
“Yes, you can baby.” Becky said under her breath.
Peter cleared his throat loudly and said, “Yes, two coffees, black.”
“Coming right up!”

When she came back with the coffee Peter noticed that her cheeks were flushed. That was when he noticed that she wasn’t hot as Becky had commented. No. She wasn’t. She was beautiful and at that instint he started to fall in love with her.