The Little Firecracker that Couldn't

Here is a story about a boy I call "The Firecracker." I wasn't going to write about this at first--he wasn't worth it--but I decided to share a little outline of our small story simply because I love his nickname.

I met the Firecracker on July 4th. That's the obvious part of the nickname. Looking back though, I have come to realize that this truly is the perfect nickname for him. Our vignette can be summed up like this: Boy meets girl; girl would not normally be attracted to said boy; boy convinces girl to pay some attention to him by talking to her, complementing her, being nice to her, saying all the right things; boy and girl spend hours talking; boy makes girl actually see some potential in him; boy and girl chat on phone; boy and friends meet up with girl and friends; things go well-ish; boy starts acting weird; boy doesn't call back; boy shows up two weeks later to explain weirdness; boy says he doesn't want a relationship (with anyone now) and doesn't want to spend time getting to know any girl right now even though he spent a couple evenings and phone conversations getting to know this girl; boy thinks girl is great though and wants to still be friendly; girl says, in other words, "no". The End.

So the Firecracker shot up out of nowhere, quickly, with lots of energy and with a loud bang, luring me in with fleeting sparks and ephemeral light, then he fizzled out into nothing. And that is why his nickname is perfect.

I feel good about it all though because when he came to apologize and chat, he wanted me to make him feel better about everything and seemed sad about it all. Here's a quote: "You used to look at me with a sparkle in your eye and a smile on your face and now all I see is disdain." I do feel disdain for him, I don't want to be friends, and I didn't do anything to make him feel better about it all. And that makes me happy. So long, Firecracker.