Forever and Almost Always Read Online Free PDF Page B

remembered to put on a pair of shoes.
    I quietly made my way through the house and back into my bedroom. I slid under my covers, resting my head on my arm that was now behind my neck. I lay there staring at the ceiling in awe. They say when you meet “the one” that you’ll know, and now I found myself questioning everything I had ever been told about love. I barely knew this girl, but she was definitely getting under my skin. Since the day I met her, I had this sudden obsession with needing to see her. It’s not as though anything traumatic had happened in a past relationship to where I didn’t want one ever again, but I was only nineteen and wasn’t sure if that was even something I wanted at this point in my life. I was perfectly content with being single. I didn’t have to answer to anyone. I could come and go as I saw fit, and I didn’t have to put my heart out there to possibly get hurt.
    ~ ~ ~ ~
    My alarm started blaring like it always did at six in the morning during the week. I stuck my arm out from under the sheets, fumbling around to find my alarm clock. When I finally caught it, I slammed my hand down on it to stop the obnoxious sound it was making. I thought about chucking it across the room, but then I would have to go out and buy a new one, and that was the last thing I wanted to do.
    I pushed the sheets down to my feet and stretched my body out the length of the bed. I so wasn’t looking forward to work today. I rarely if ever called in sick, but today might just have to be a personal day. I was a welder. I have been since I graduated high school. It was good money and an even better trade to have, but it was exhausting work. I love doing what I do, but some days I wondered what it would be like to go to an office everyday, instead of sweating my ass off under a metal helmet in the blaring Arizona sun. The end product was always what made the job worth it. I had done everything from simple fences to freeway over pass railings, and even a barn or two. It always amazed me the beautiful structures that could come from a few tons of metal and a simple welder.
    I forced myself out of bed and over to my closet. I begrudgingly began dressing for work, cursing my life every second it took to get myself together. I knew I had to get Ernie soon, so getting out of work today didn’t really seem like an option anymore. I gathered up my work shit and headed out.
    When I pulled up to get Ernie, he was in annoyingly chipper mood.
    “Morning.” Ernie shouted.
    “Dude, it’s only six fifteen, can we not be so loud for at least another hour or so?” He knew I was joking, but I instantly felt bad for being so shitty about it. “Sorry, Ernie. I didn’t get the best night sleep. How was your night?”
    “It was good. We went to dinner and then watched a movie.”
    Ernie had been with his girlfriend for almost ten years now, and I had to admit, I was a bit envious of what he had. He had someone to go home to every night. Someone who was always there for him and loved him unconditionally.
    “Sounds fun. You ever gonna marry that poor girl?” I teased.
    “What do you mean?” He replied with his thick Spanish accent.
    “Nothing, man. I was just messing with you.”
    “Oh.”
    The rest of the drive to work was quiet and uneventful. Once we got to the yard to start work, I couldn’t concentrate worth a damn. All my welds weren’t holding, and they looked like shit. I couldn’t help it though; my mind was being overran with thoughts of Charlee. Charlee and her amazingly perfect body. The way she would lick her lips when she was trying to think of something to say. Charlee and her perfectly tanned, freckled skin that I longed to touch. I was lost in my thoughts when I heard a loud banging on the piece of metal I was working on.
    I ripped my helmet off of my head and glanced in the direction of where the banging was coming from. “What the fuck?” When I turned, Ernie stood there, taken aback by how I was