Girl, 11 by Amy Clarke (best memoirs of all time TXT) 📕

The next hour passed in a blur of food, wine, and pointless conversation. Every single member of Loretta’s family who lived within a hundred miles seemed to have come out for her birthday, and he spoke to each of them. They were to be his family soon too, so it was just as well they got to know him.

Then, at last, his moment arrived, and suddenly DJ felt like he was unprepared. He hadn’t had a chance to speak to Loretta since she’d walked away hurt by his comment on her dress, and now he was unsure whether she would welcome a proposal when they were in the middle of a tiff. Although, what better way to say I’m sorry than with a diamond engagement ring, however quaint the stone might be? DJ threw his shoulders back, straightening up as the cake was wheeled out. It was a six-layer masterpiece, and Loretta’s mother looked even more excited than her daughter as the group of partygoers began to sing.

When the song was done and Loretta stepped up to blow out the candles, DJ raised his wineglass with a trembling hand and tapped his fork on the side, drawing everyone’s attention. Loretta paused and turned to look at him, her expression unreadable.

Every eye in the room on him, DJ cleared his throat. This was the largest group of people he’d ever spoken to, outside of presentations in class, and it occurred to him that he should have prepared note cards. Or would that have been too impersonal? No matter—it was too late now.

“Hello, everyone. Um, as you may know, I’m DJ, Loretta’s boyfriend.” After his eyes swept the crowd, he looked back at Loretta again. Her cheeks were flaming red. She didn’t like being the center of attention any more than he did. “Um, I met Loretta outside our quantum mechanics class over a year and a half ago, and I knew there was something special about her.” The audience murmured pleasantly, spurring DJ on. “I’ve never met someone before who seems to understand the way my mind works, and who so deeply engages with the things that interest me too. Loretta is pure and wholesome from the inside out, and I’m lucky to call her my girl.”

He paused and looked at her again. Her eyes glowed like dark embers in the candlelight.

“Loretta, I knew from the moment I met you that I would be a fool to let you get away. We spend every moment we can spare together, but for me, it’s still not enough.” DJ put his hand in his pocket and pulled out the ring box.

A few gasps and scattered squeals of delight echoed around the room. Loretta’s lips parted as DJ crossed the floor to stand in front of her, and then dropped to one knee.

“Loretta, will you marry me?” He opened the box and held it up to her, a humble offering.

For a moment, her mouth stayed open in shock. It’s okay, he thought. This just caught her off guard. Could it be she didn’t want a public proposal? He pushed that thought away. Women loved big romantic gestures, and besides, he wanted everyone to know how much he loved her, how proud he was to be with her.

Then Loretta bit her bottom lip, and he realized tears had gathered in her eyes. Tears of sadness, not excitement. DJ’s stomach dropped, as if yanked by a new gravitational force.

“DJ, I’m sorry,” she whispered. Her eyes darted around the room, looking at all the people gathered behind him. DJ felt their eyes burning into his back, felt the pain of their embarrassment for him, the same way he’d felt it from his friends when his father showed up to school drunk and screamed for him until he came outside. “I . . . I don’t think we should get married.”

The hand holding the ring box slowly sank until it rested by his side. Unable to meet her gaze, he looked at the ground. “W—why? I thought we were happy.”

“Can we talk about this outside?”

Rage welled up in his chest, giving him the energy to face her. “Outside? You didn’t seem to mind humiliating me in front of everyone; why take me outside now?”

Loretta’s chin lifted in that defiant way it always did when they argued, and the light from the almost melted candles danced across her cheeks. “Fine! You want to know why I don’t want to marry you? Because I don’t want to spend the rest of my life being another accomplishment of yours. You don’t think I know how you talk about me to your friends? In your letters to your father? Like I’m some prize you won. ‘Smart, pure, and beautiful’—like I’m a figurine of a person, not a real woman. But I am real, and I’m more than just a trophy for your wall.”

“I never thought of you that way!” he protested, reaching out and grabbing her shoulders. He was rougher than he intended, and Loretta cried out, backing away from him with an emotion he’d never seen in her eyes before: fear. Then her father was there, along with her brother and several other male friends, pushing him away and out the door. In a haze of shouts and clumsy shoves, DJ was deposited on the sidewalk on his hands and knees.

After catching his breath, he sat back on his haunches and looked at the ring box still in his hand. He lifted his eyes to see through the windows, watching as Loretta’s family and friends surrounded her crying form, offering her hugs and cake and drinks. Then he tilted his head back and screamed.

30

Elle

January 18, 2020

It didn’t take much convincing to get Mitchell University’s weekend security team to confirm they knew a janitor named Eduardo Mendez. They gave Sam a phone number and he called it several times, but there was no answer. Sam left a few voicemails, but