Chapter 4

Luke looked into Moria's eyes, for some reason she began to cry harder. He was confused, this used to be enough to make her stop crying. He leaned closer to give her a kiss.

"NO! STOP!" she shrieked as she hid her face behind her hands. Luke looked wide-eyed at her as she continued to shriek, "I CAN'T DO THIS! I CAN'T DO THIS!"

"Why Moria? Why are you freaking out so much? Here... how about this I won't kiss you." Luke said trying to calm her down but she merely rolled away from him and curled up into the fetal position, still crying. Then he saw a glimmer of gold on the bed next to her. He took a second look at it before grabbing it and inspecting it more clearly. A coldness filled him as the slow realization dawned upon him, he looked stonily down at the distraught Moria.

"Moria... you're getting married?" He asked brandishing the ring. Moria sniffled and peaked out from under her arms at him. She gave a shuttering breath and nodded before starting to cry again. "Moria stop crying damn it and explain this to me!" Luke said firmly to her.

Moria lifted her head and looked at him, as if she was looking at him for the first time in her life. Her eyes were puffy, her nose was red and runny, her hair tousled but Luke still thought she looked beautiful. Her lip quivered as she began to talk.

"Yes... I'm supposed to be getting married..." She took another shuddering breath, as she tried calm herself down to rationalize what she was about to say. "I said yes because he, Hank that is, did it in a big way, with my parents and his parents and all of our friends and I couldn't say no or I'll think about it. So I said yes... but..." A tear trickled down her cheek, as she reached out and took the ring from Luke. Setting it on the nightstand next to the bed, she tried to straighten her hair, before looking at Luke again. "But... as soon as I said it I regretted it, I could only think about you and what you were doing and if you still... if you still... OH THIS IS STUPID I SHOULD NEVER HAVE COME!" Moria threw up her hands in disgust and flopped over on the bed burying her head in the pillows.

She decided to rest against a tree on campus to study for her test. There was a group of guys playing catch with a football near to her but they seemed to have things under control and they were probably frat boys anyway. Deciding not to think anymore about them she buried her nose in her text book.

"LOOK OUT!" Someone called before the football collided with her forehead. Her head slammed against the tree and she blacked out.

Someone was tapping her on the face. "Please wake up..." Moria's eyes fluttered open and met with a pair of warm brown eyes attached to a square-jawed with a little bit of a shadow, clean cut, brown haired boy. He was built like a football player but dressed like a prep. He flashed her a perfect smile when he figured out she was awake. "Oh good you're awake." He said as he helped her to sit up.

"What happened?" Moria asked blinking at him trying to figure who he was and if he had hit her with the football.

"Some frat boys hit you in the head with a football, laughed and ran off when I started yelling at them." He smiled again. "My name is Hank, Hank Barlow."

Hank Barlow... Moria had heard that name before, she thought about it for a minute before it hit her, Hank Barlow, Starting quarterback for the Colgate Raiders, supposedly was going to be drafted into the NFL in the next year. Moria smiled kindly up at him.

"My name is Moria Watson. Thanks for helping me, I'm ok now thanks." She touched the back of her head and hissed in pain. Hank Barlow gave Moria a concerned look.

"Why don't I help you get back to where you live." He said placing a warm, supporting arm behind her back.

A week later... Hank Barlow asked Moria on their first date.

When Luke had first gotten to Green Bay, he didn't know where to go or how to start his own life, but after a lot of struggling he had finally figured it out. He finally had an apartment and was slowly earning a college degree through night courses at UWGB. He also had found a steady job down at the local car dealer doing car maintenance and oil changes. It paid enough and he loved cars so he enjoyed his job.

Every night he'd go home, eat dinner, watch a little TV and then go to bed. He'd lay on his bed with his guitar play a few songs that he had wanted to play for Moria one day, then go to bed. He knew there would never be another in his life like Moria, but he also knew he could never hope to be in her life, she deserved better than him she had too much going for her. He had to try and forget her somehow.