11 comments/ 5369 views/ 12 favorites Heal Me Pt. 01 By: chiquinquira David My life is quite boring to the strangers' eye. I start my days taking my border collie Koda, for a morning run in the nearby park. After showering I leave to work and have my breakfast while driving. Then work, work, work and after that I usually go hiking or biking with Koda for an hour or two. When we get home I make dinner and have a nice quiet evening by myself reading books or watching Netflix. I told you it was boring. But to me it has been enough for these past four years after I found my ex cheating on me with his co-worker. A female co-worker. It was quite tough for a long while - after all we had been together for almost five years at that point and I had been absolutely sure he was 100% gay. Boy, was I wrong. Daily routines helped me through the agonizing pain I felt when thinking of the ultimate betrayal. I decided I would never give anyone the power to hurt me like my ex Matthew did. He ended up marrying this girl, and was kind enough to send me an invitation to the wedding. I naturally burned the card and cursed Matthew to the lowest of hells. But here I am, still making every day the same with my routines. Nowadays at least I don't have to remind myself to eat and drink or take my car keys and leave to work. I don't want to seem like I am complaining because I am happy on my own way. Well, I am content with my situation. I have my own house and a dog I love. I live in Waterbay, a small town I grew up in and the only place I consider home. I really like my work and I have a couple of great friends I see almost every weekend for a game of golf and barbeque afterwards. The thing is, for a couple of months there has been this nagging feeling every time I meet my friends and see them with their families. Almost all of the have a child or two and a wife they adore and who adores them. Their life seems... complete. They have all the things I wanted with Matthew. And still want with someone I love. The love part is the difficult part though. It's not like all hope is lost for me. I am still reasonably young at 33 years. I take care of myself so I look nice with my defined figure which shows my active life. I have brown eyes with dark lashes and wavy golden blonde hair hanging just above my shoulders. Someone might mistake me for a surfer if I wouldn't live over 500 miles from the nearest beach. So on the looks department I am okay. Why I am so down on this is because I feel all hope is lost on the inside. I don's seem to be attracted to anyone anymore. I have been on a blind date couple of times just to please my friends, and even though they have been good looking enough, they did nothing to me. I have tried to meet and talk with people and feel something, anything... but nothing happens. I have enjoyed the time I have spent with my dates, but I wouldn't even dream of having sex with them, let alone having something more lasting and meaningful. So I will be alone forever it seems. I don't know if I am capable of loving anyone because it feels like something in me (along with my heart) broke when I broke up with Matthew. The ability to trust anyone new was harmed a great deal, but most of all, I think that the wall I built to guard my heart from further pain is so thick that it buried the part in my brain that makes me attracted to anyone. If I'm not interested in someone, they can't hurt me, right? At least I have Koda to keep me company. Little did I know that this spell that was cast upon me, was about to break. Joey Moving to a new city is always a big step. Especially if you move from a big and vibrant city to Waterbay, a small rural town in the middle of nowhere. It's not like it wasn't my own choice - I wanted a change and that is exactly what I got. Even though I like the quiet little town and the slower pace people have here, I really wasn't ready to be quite this lonely and culture-shocked. But this town has grown into me over these two months I have lived here. And my dog, Lila the siperian husky has loved the change. Long gone are the boring walks in small parks in the middle of concrete jungle I once called home. We can nowadays leave on foot from our home and in five minutes we are in the nature where Lila can be free of leash. I don't have to be scared of the traffic or other people hurting my dog. There barely is any people in the trails where me and Lila hike. Some might think I was escaping something or hiding away when they hear about my drastic move. If I was running away from something, it was boredom. I moved to the big city to study and just kind of got stuck there after getting a job right after graduation. All my friends moved away one by one from the busy city central and settled down in some nice suburban neighborhood. I lived alone in a city full of people but I didn't get interested or excited about anything the city was ready to offer. My ex-boyfriend and I broke up a little over year ago because we just didn't love each other anymore in that way. He is a great guy but we met when we were still in school and we both grew up to be someone different from what we were in the beginning. We were together for over five years, and truth be told, it would have been a lot shorter time if after moving in together it wouldn't have been just easier to stay together out of habit. So after living alone for a while in a city I never even wanted to stay permanently, I figured it was time to make a change. The reason I chose Waterbay was the challenge it presented me. The challenge to start over and try a new path in life. I got a great job offer from Waterbay's High school and now I am the new football coach, PE-teacher and I also teach some classes of basic photography and film making. I love to teach, and I find it's even more enjoyable when you don't have over 1500 students in your school. Now I have more time in my hands and less students. I get to know the kids more and actually help them when they need help. That's why I wanted to be a teacher in the first place. The kids seemed to like me, which is important to me. I think me being only 27-years-old and reasonably good looking doesn't hurt in a school full of hormone filled teenagers. The shy glances sent my way make me smile, but luckily I know the charm will fade when familiarity kicks in. I have short black hair and a permanent five-o'clock shadow. My dark eyes have been called expressive and I have heard my dimples melt hearts. Due to my profession I naturally have a good physique, and I keep sure I maintain it so I go to the gym several days a week. So all in all there are more positive things in Waterbay than negative, but I wouldn't want to be so lonely on a Friday afternoon that I don't have some kind of plan for the weekend. I want to have something to look forward to during the week. Now my weekend will be the same as every other weekend. I have tried to google some events or activities I could do, but all Waterbay seems to offer are yoga classes in the park and reading club for the elderly. I didn't even find a gay bar when I googled it. But knowing this town I wouldn't be surprised if the local businesses simply didn't have websites because information seemed to move here from person to person. All I needed to do was ask if I wanted to know something: people here knew everything. ***** I hope you enjoyed my first try at writing. Please leave feedback if you want to see how these two make it through :) English isn't my first or even second language, so I am sorry for the typos and such. Heal Me Pt. 02 David It had been a stressful week at work. All I wanted was to go home and rest. The every-weekend-barbeque had been cancelled due to sudden fluvirus outbreak in the kindergarten where the host family's children attended. It was okay though, I was more than happy to rest in my own way - go to an overnight hike to mount Grenich with Koda. The hike would help me forget about my work week - and hopefully distract me from thinking about my miserable loneliness. I do enjoy my work most of the time. Sometimes, like this week when my business partner was on sick leave due to a minor dirt bike accident, it gets a little too stressful. I am a partner in a "small" business which sells ads for apps. I say small, because the company has only five employees and is managed by me and my business partner Sam. But it does quite well actually money-wise, we were one of the first companies in the market when smartphone apps came and we were able to catch few big app companies which still make us a decent buck every year. In just five years I have been able to buy a nice house, a cabin and change my old Volvo to a newer fancier model. Not that I need all that, but I decided to make some investments when I had too much money just lying around. At least I didn't buy a yacht! Saturday morning I left early with Koda. One could hike to mountain Grenich in a day, but I had decided to take the long way and stay a night in a tent. I had all things packed in my backpack and I started the journey up the mountain. Koda was enjoying himself immensely. He was running around the trail, but stayed close enough that I could see him almost all the time. We had stopped couple of hours before for a lunch break and I was thinking of making some instant coffee and giving Koda a change to rest for awhile. I started to unpack my travelling cooker from my backpack so I could heat some water, when Koda barked a few times and tried to get permission to run to whatever he was barking at. He was restless but excitedly so, because his tail was going mile a minute. I guessed it was another dog he was sensing and sure enough, a beautiful husky came from around the corner and ran straight to play with Koda. Soon after the huskys owner appeared jogging the lane and shouting for his dog. He seemed to physically relax when he saw the husky with us and ran rest of the way. "Oh, thank god she's here! I got so worried when Lila just took off and didn't come back! She has never done this before and I was worried something might happen to her if she got lost in the forest." The man explained and grabbed the husky and gave her a tight hug. He was crouching and petting the husky when Koda decided he wanted some attention as well. Koda put his head between the pair and licked the man's face. "Hey, Koda, down!" I told my dog and he instantly backed away. "I'm sorry for that. He wants to be in the center of attention... always." I tell the man with a grin and continue. "I think your dog got excited when he smelled Koda here and couldn't resist. Is she still a puppy?" Koda was inviting the husky to play and soon enough they were running back to the forest together. The stranger stood up and looked at me straight in the eyes for the first time and said something. For the life of me I couldn't tell you what he said because I was dumbstuck. Like in the sappy romantic movies I used to watch and laugh to with Matthew. I never believed in love at first sight but the feelings I was feeling when looking at this stranger were scarily close to those of love or adoration. The man was simply gorgeous. He was a bit shorter than me but more muscular. His clothes fit him like a glove and I saw a little chest hair peeking from his V-neck t-shirt. I wondered if the hair continued to go all the way to his treasure trail. I wanted to know how would it feel like to run my fingers through his short black hair, and if his scalp would be sensitive to the touch like mine. His eyes were dark and telling me a story which I didn't quite understand. I could have stared at those eyes for an eternity and not get tired of them. I realized I needed to get a grip of myself and get the hell out of here as soon as possible. If I stayed there would be a change of me getting hurt or making a fool out of myself. My brains were shouting "flee, flee, flee!". It finally registered that the stranger was looking at me funny and I realized I had been staring at him for awhile now. "Shit! I have to go." I muttered embarrassed and ripped my eyes off of this gorgeous man who was standing in front of me. I started to pack my things from the ground and shouted for Koda to come to me. "Where are you going?" The stranger asked. Did I hear a bit of desperation in his voice? "I'm sorry, I just need to go." I said not even looking at him. I didn't dare to look at him. I was making myself busy when I felt a hand on my arm stopping my movement. "Did I do something, or say something wrong?" The man said and finally I let my eyes find his again and then he continued "I am sorry if I offended you, but I would like to chat for a while. I am new in town and I really don't have too many friends. I'm Joey". Joey *Please don't go, please, please don't go* I was chanting in my head while looking at the man in front of me. I had stretched my hand for a shake while introducing myself. I know I sounded desperate, but I didn't care for the time being. The man looked at my hand skeptically for a while and finally snapped out of it and took my hand. It was a warm and strong handshake and I could not hide my grin. He smiled back at me and exhaled loudly while letting go of my hand. "I'm David. I'm sorry for going a bit crazy on you just now." David. It suited him. I don't know why, but ever since I looked at him I have had this feeling of knowing him before, or at least being in his presence before. Even his mannerism seemed so familiar. I don't know what made him want to leave before, but I was relieved that he wasn't running away anymore. He looked at me and I couldn't help but appreciate his form. He was tall and in a good shape. He had that swimmers built: broad shoulders and narrow waist. His longish golden hair was like a curly halo making his masculine features a bit... softer? I liked what I saw but forced myself to disregard all my attraction to this amazing man. I needed a friend more than a fuck. And David quite possibly wasn't even gay. So no more of this kind of thought, I told myself and let my gaze go to our dogs playing again in the woods. "It's okay. We all have our moments. Anyways, it's nice to see Lila enjoying herself so much. It has been a while since she last played with other dogs." I told David and laughed when Lila came storming from the woods with Koda right on her tail. "Yeah, they seem to get on quite well. Would you like to have some coffee? I was just about to take break and have a cup." David told me and started to unpack his primus. He barely glanced at me and I was feeling a bit uneasy by his stand-offish behavior. I am not one to really dwell on negative vibes and turned to him with a grin. "That sounds wonderful thank you! I realized couple miles before that I didn't plan this hike as well as I should have. I thought I was taking the shorter round but apparently I missed the path and we have been here already more than we were supposed to. So yes, coffee please! It will give me strength to make it back to my car." I laughed at my own foolishness and hoped David didn't think I was some city-mouse who doesn't know a hill from a mountain. "Where is your car?" David finally looked at me and sounded a bit worried. He checked the time from his watch. Damn, how can anyone be so manly and sexy just checking the time? "At the east entrance of the trail. You know the parking lot in front of the barn?" I asked and became a bit worried myself. Mount Grenich wasn't really that big, and it had well lit big trails which were clearly marked so one couldn't get too lost on the trails. That was why I had chosen that hike as a newbie in town. "Is there a problem? I can easily just go back the same way I came from." "Yes you could. But it takes at least four hours going back that way and it will be dark in three hours. The trails are lit, but most of the lights are unfortunately damaged. I take it you haven't done this hike before? It might be a bit risky to take that trail in the dark as a first-timer." "Oh..." I didn't know what to say. "Well... shit!" I muttered and rubbed my eyes with my hand. "Then I think I really should get on with my hike. I wouldn't want to hike in the dark for too long. Thanks for the heads up, man. There is no short cuts?" I was getting a bit antsy and felt foolish for getting in to this situation. "Not to the east entrance. But you can go down the mountain quick enough, but then you would be at the west entrance and it would be a longer way to your car." David told and was being too calm and reasonable and I liked him too much for that. "Right. Well, thank you for your help. I think we are going to go." I was calling for Lila and making a hasty leave. Lila came to my side and I turned to David. "It was nice to meet you. I am sorry it was cut so short." I started to the way I had just come from when David jogged to me. "Hey, if you want we can take the short cut to my car and I can drive you to yours." ***** Thank you for all the comments. I really enjoyed reading your suggestion. I hope I answered some of your question in part 2. Keep the comments coming. I am new at this so every comment helps and hopefully makes this a better story for you guys.