Born on May 5th 1978, Erin Lynn Malone was welcomed to the world by both of her parents, Oscar and Danielle. She was their first, and as it would turn out, their only child. The two new parents held their daughter, smiling down at her, laughing as she wrapped her little fingers around their own. Things were wonderful for the three of them, for a while. They watched Erin grow into a beautiful little girl, and brought her to the office with them quite often. She would sit and watch them work, cracking bones, and fixing people. It was absolutely amazing to her! Both of her parents had this occupation, and by the age of 5, she had decided that she too would be a Chiropractor…and when Erin is set on something, she’s set. She’d ask questions about what they were doing, sitting on a chair swinging her legs back and forth. Yeah, everything was perfect. That was until her Mother got sick. She was diagnosed with cancer of the lungs, when she hadn’t smoked a single day in her life. The news was…devastating to Erin and Oscar, but Danielle didn’t seem phased. She was scared out of her mind of course, but she just told them it would be alright. That she still had plenty of time to be with both of them. Her only request was that she moved back to her home town in Bristol, so she could be with the rest of her family. Without any hesitation, Oscar and Erin packed their bags, closed up the Chiropractic office in Tampa, and moved to the Isle.
It took a while for Devon to make friends and get used to her new home, but eventually everything fell into place. She tried to spend as much time as she could with her ill mother, who started to fade away by the time Erin turned 10. After 4 years of battling with the cancer, being treated at the local hospital, Danielle Marone passed away. Her husband and daughter were devastated, but got through hard times with the help of family, and the new friends that they had made throughout the years. Oscar debated for a while about going back to Florida, but couldn’t bring himself to ask Erin to pack up and move again. He sort of liked it there, and she seemed to like it, too. Oscar tried his best to be a good single parent to Erin, and in return, she tried to take care of her Dad. Often times she would hear him crying at night, but would just hug him and tell him that it was alright. She really was a strong little girl.
A few months went by, and things started to pick back up for the Marone’s. Erin was doing better in school, and Oscar was working on getting new clients for the business. It wasn’t until another 5 years, when she had finally gotten past the extremely awkward phases of childhood (even though she was still a very, very pretty girl), did things finally start getting really good for Erin. She started talking to boys, since…well, they were actually noticing her now, and began dating. But there was one boy in particular that she had always kept her eye on, even if she would never admit it. That boy was Joey Loke. She was sure that he had absolutely no idea who she was, so she didn’t dare trying to speak to him, but that didn’t mean she didn’t notice him. Another year went by, and then they were 16. They were sophomores in High School, and wound up sitting next to each other in Earth Science. A conversation finally started between the two of them when he asked her for a pencil, and they became very close friends shortly after that. It was strange, for her to feel such a strong connection to a boy she had only just started talking to, but she couldn’t help feel like she had known him for years, when she had done nothing more than simply look in his direction every now and then, just to see what he was up to, and what girl was hanging all over him. By the time the two of them were juniors, almost everyone thought that they were dating. They repeated time and time again that they weren’t, even though the girl’s face would get rather warm at the thought, and would just continue to hang out. Because neither one of them were dating anyone else when it came time for the Junior prom, they wound up going with each other…and sharing their first kiss afterwards. This didn’t seem to change anything, though. They decided that they would just be friends with benefits, since they were so close. The ‘benefits’ were nothing serious, just a lot of kissing, but they never had the label of boyfriend and girlfriend.
During the summer before their senior year, Joey told Erin that he had applied for Yale. She hugged him, and told him what a fantastic opportunity that would be, before she kissed him and gave him a large smile. She didn’t want to get too excited, since nothing was definite, but…Yale! That was a huge deal! Eventually, Joey told her that he had not been accepted. She felt horrible for him, knowing how much he was looking forward to it. The rest of senior year flew by, and then they finally Graduated. She tossed up her cap along with everyone else, but immediately ran to find Joey. He wasn’t hard to find, since his relatives were all yelling at the top of their longs. She simply said ‘Congratulations!’, gave him a hug, got one in return from each member of his family, and then went off to find her own. That summer, Erin prepared herself for college, where she would go for her Chiropractic Degree. Since college was such a sore spot for Joey, since he wasn’t accepted to Yale, she tried to keep her excitement level pretty low. The week before she would start, Erin was going to go on a cruise with her Dad, but wanted to say bye to all her friends before she went. One friend in particular. So, she went to go find him. Only…he wasn’t there. Confused, and a bit worried, she went to find his brother, Eddie. It was he who told her that Joey had actually been accepted to Yale, and had left already.
Immediately, she got out a pen and paper and wrote the boy a very long letter, asking him why he lied to her, and why he didn’t tell her, and why he had left without even saying anything. She sent it out, only to get a reply back from him that didn’t make her happy at all. He said he was going to be gone for 4 years. It was going to be hard, but she’d manage…she supposed. But 4 years went by, and he wasn’t there. And then another 6 years. By this time, she already had her degree, and had already completed a course in Shiatsu, becoming certified to practice. 10 years all together had passed since she had seen Joey, and even though she had been with other guys who were actually her boyfriends through the years, her mind was always on him. When he returned to Bristol, however, the welcome she gave him was not warm at all. Actually, she was rather distant from him, trying to pretend that she wasn’t interested, and that she didn’t even care that he had left. They started talking again eventually, but since he kept leaving, they haven’t really had a chance to get back what they had…or to try something new.
Now, all Erin can do is just focus on her career, and her on the side job, and see where things land. Things were alright when Joey was gone…so what will things be like now that he’s returned? And is it really for good this time?
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