Chapter Three: Hope in Devastation

A few weeks passed. Cooper was working hard at his new job, meeting new people, and though he'd rather be coming home to a wife and kids after those long days at work, he came home to an empty house and his guitar. He practiced and played and bought sheet music when expenses allowed for it. He was dropping in weight, living off of the bare essentials, paycheck to paycheck. He thought about selling the house and moving into something smaller, but he didn't have time to go through with a move. He was a hard working young man on a mission to achieve his goals, and at this rate, nothing could stop him.

...Except for, maybe, his cooking skills.

(Yeah, he put waffles in the oven... then burnt them.)

Or the lousy sink in the kitchen that broke down every other day...

...in turn flooding the kitchen...

...and the bedroom, and the bathroom. The bathroom sink didn't work, either. Unable to make room in the budget to pay for a repairman, Cooper had no choice but to attempt to fix everything in the house himself.

Poor Coop had a lot on his hands with the old house. He soon learned that chances are, if you buy something at a cheap price, it will act cheap, too. He was learning so much by the day, and although life seemed to treat him with a lot of tough love, he didn't mind. To him, it just made him stronger.

One night, after spending a day cleaning at the music hall and then cleaning his home, he decided he needed some fresh air. He walked out his front door and sat on a bench he had purchased, took a deep breath, and leaned back to watch the stars. It had now been a few months since he moved to Sunset Valley, and his mind began to drift off and think of how far he had already come.

He was deep in thought when a bright light in his flashed in eyes and snapped him to attention. He instinctively put a hand over his face to block it out, yet continued to try and find its' source. It was a car. A car he had only seen a handful of times since his first day in town. And it pulled into the driveway of the home across the street from his.

He rubbed his eyes and sat up straight, hastily brushing the dirt off his jeans with one hand and smoothing his hair back with another. That girl. That beautiful, beautiful girl. He hadn't met her yet, but their eyes met in passing once, and from that day he was hooked. She was never home when he knocked to introduce himself, and now here she was, pulling in to the driveway and unloading groceries. It was late at night, but she was awake, and now he was, too. If he didn't walk over now, he might never get to meet her.

He waited until she had gone inside before walking over. As he rang the doorbell, he found himself nervous... he wasn't sure why, but there was just something about this girl that made him feel... incredible. He had seen her around town, at stores or the gym or a coffee shop, but never long enough for him to say hi. This was it. His chance.

She opened the door after what seemed like ages.

"H..Hi... Can I help you with something?" she inquired, finding it odd that a stranger was at her door at 11pm on a Monday night. Cooper smiled wide, and tried... note, tried... to form sentences. What did he want to say to her anyway? He hadn't prepared a single thing to say.

"Hi!... uh... my name's... I'm Cooper. Cooper B... Baron."

She looked him over, staring at his sweaty, torn shirt and pants. He stared sheepishly at his feet, smiling and embarrassed. He realized he should have at least changed into clothes that didn't have holes in them, first. But it was too late for that. He looked back up, getting lost in her icy blue eyes. It was those eyes that had hooked him, and he knew he'd have to start talking soon before they went away.

"I'm new here. And I live across the street... I figured I'd... introduce myself. Y'know, since we're neighbors and all." He stuck out a hand, offering a shake. "I'm Cooper Baron."

She smiled a half-smile and let out a small laugh, confused but entertained.

"You said that already," she laughed again. They stood there for a moment in awkward silence, but smiles could be seen on both of their faces. "Well, come on in," she grinned, waving a hand inside. "What's your story?"

"My story?" Cooper repeated, confused. He was not prepared for that question. Well, any question. ...Who was he kidding? He wasn't prepared at all.

"Well, everyone has a story," she spoke intriguingly, raising an eyebrow and turning around to walk into her living room. Cooper followed her, captivated by this statement, wanting more of every word that left her lips.

The two talked well into the night about pretty much everything. Cooper loosened up and let his humorous, loving, friendly personality shine, and her care-free, almost hippy-like personality was enchanting and... well, not gonna lie, sexy.

Cooper had never met a girl like her, and his heart was beating so fast, he thought he might fall over. Maybe he didn't have to be such a hopeless romantic... at this point in time, there seemed to be hope!

It was the early morning hours before Cooper realized she hadn't talked much about herself just yet. Her name was Elenna, he got that much. She had moved to Sunset Valley about a year ago searching for a better job. Cooper divulged into most of his personal life, telling her why he was here, what he wanted to, and his hopes for the future. Whenever he asked her a question, she either took her time answering it, danced around the subject, or became defensive. When he asked who she lived with, that was it for the night.

"It's getting late. Maybe you should go home," she suggested, walking to the door and opening it. "It was nice meeting you."

Cooper left, confused. Why wouldn't she talk about herself? I mean... what was there to hide? She was beautiful, obviously. Tanned skin, blonde hair, ice blue eyes... and killer abs. He could tell she was rather athletic, and her personality seemed to be rather "go with the flow". He could tell that she generally does whatever makes her happy, and he liked that. She seemed to live by such a simple philosophy... something that attracted Cooper even more. 

He wasn't giving up.

A few weeks went by. They had flirted and talked every few days over the phone, and even once in passing at the local pool. He yearned for more, and one day, he found himself at her doorstep all over again. This time, he was dressed in clean, sharp clothes that showed off his physique... or lack thereof. At least he wasn't sweaty this time. He rang the doorbell, desperately hoping Elenna was home. This was the girl of his dreams... he just needed to get her to talk a little more.

She opened the door, surprised that he randomly showed up again.

"Cooper?" she questioned, looking him up and down with a small smirk. She opened the door a bit more, motioning for him to come in.

"Elenna..." he blushed, and the butterflies were there all over again.

"You clean up nice, Mr. Baron!", she jeered. "Quite the improvement."

They mingled for a bit, and things were going really well. Cooper knew that if he wanted to get to know her a little more, he'd have to ask her out.

"I was wondering... what are you doing Saturday night? I'd love to take you out to dinner... maybe get some drinks? There's this cool bistro downtown... I think you'd really like it."

He was feeling calm, cool, and confident. Ready to embrace the next step of their friendly relationship, and actually see her outside of her own environment.

Then he realized... she was hesitating.

"...Cooper... you're a nice guy. Really. But... I'm married..."

Cooper didn't know what to do. His face resembled that of a deer in headlights... He was frozen. Couldn't move. After a long pause, he managed to speak.

"I'm... I'm sorry...", he mumbled. For the first time since they had met, he couldn't look her in the eyes. He turned to walk out of the house. A million thoughts were running through his head. Why hadn't she said anything sooner? Where was her husband all this time? Why... why did she act as if she liked him back?...

"Cooper, wait... I'm sorry..."

He sensed the hurt in her voice... the shame. Knowing that should have made him feel better, but it just made him feel worse. The girl that he loved was hurt, and to him, that was more devastating than being turned down.

He couldn't bear to be there a second longer. He walked home, head hung low, mind in a fog. At least there was one thing he could come home to that gave him unconditional love: his guitar.

It seemed that in his search for companionship, he had learned only this: Trying to forget how much you loved someone is like trying to remember someone you never knew.

He wasn't going down that easy.