Besides Himself.

He had flawless posture, the man oozed excellence in every aspect of his life. His shirt was always wrinkle-free; his pants always pressed just right and his hair always perfectly messy. Carter had always prided himself on being a put together man. His entire life he strived for the seamless existence. He never lost his cool, drank too much or indulged in the pitfalls of society. Gossip about who slept with whom and who smoked way too much on the weekend never interested him. He was merely above that and refused to revel in the typical banter of his peers.

Carter was eighteen years old today. He had never had a big party with hundreds of people, or a small gathering of intimate friends, he just had dinner with his family and quietly celebrated his birth. Everyone at school thought he was pretentious, Carter was too cool to partake in the immature high school behaviour and that made him different from everyone else. His superiority out casted him at an early age and he had never showed any signs of distress because of this. More often than not he was fine with it, and in fact preferred it that way. This all change at 2:45 this afternoon.

“What is wrong with me? How could she not want me?” Those were the only thoughts that were running through his head at the moment. She was classy, elegant and sophisticated she was also entirely hilarious and sweet at the same time. She had the greatest qualities and everything he wanted in someone, all but one of course; she didn’t want him.

“I think you are a great guy Carter but you’re too serious all the time. I mean, you need to let go and just have fun once and a while, enjoy being young before it leaves you behind, heck my father hangs out with his high school buddies more than you do. My father is fifty two.”
That was her response to his profession of love and he had the sneaking suspicion he’d ever forget those words. They were now tattooed in his brain and he would have to do something about it if he wanted to move on and forget them.

Carter used to pity those people crying on benches, looking to the forest, the lake, or a strangers help, he was now one of them. However on this particular day Carter wasn’t content with being alone, essentially this is why he was sitting on the bench staring off into the trees for the past two hours. He bore a painful expression on his face and anyone passing by could surely see he was a distraught man.

Besides himself Carter found himself experiencing the most typical of high school emotions; heartbreak.