The year came and went, but as the year came to an end, Keri was becoming more distant from Seth and grew closer to Vance. Vance was more willing to have a secret relationship with his best friend’s girl and was actually enjoying it.
That was why, when the time came to tell Keri the news, he was a little crushed.
“What! Moving? When?”
“Don’t worry. My father’s contract ends in early 2011, so we still have two years.”
Keri put her head down. “No, Vance, we don’t.”
“We don’t?”
Keri tried to think of an easy way of telling Vance her news. “God, this is really hard for me to say,”
Vance suddenly became uncomfortable. “Why do I have the feeling I’m not going to like whatever it is you’re attempting to tell me?”
After a couple of minutes, Keri decided to just come out and tell Vance the news. “I’m moving too. My parents want to be out of the country no later than mid 2010.”
Vance took a deep breath. “So you’re moving out of the country as well?”
“Yes. My parents want to move back to Amsterdam,” Keri stopped herself. “Wait—did you say, ‘As well’?”
“Yes,”
“Where are you moving to?”
Vance smiled. “Amsterdam.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, really?”
“Yes, really.”
“Vance, I swear to God, if you’re putting me on,”
“I cross my heart.”
Keri lit up. “That’s amazing, Babe! Wow!”
Keri and Vance stared lovingly at one another, and without really thinking, they both leaned in for a kiss.
Before their lips meet, Keri turned her head. “Oh no,”
“What is it, sweetheart?”
“We’ve got one big problem,”
They stared at each other and then, at the same time, said, “Seth.”
Keri thought for a moment. “What do we do?”
He looked at Keri and smiled warmly. He leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it.”
“Why not?”
“It’s only going on 2009. We have all the time in the world.”
*
July 15, 2009, was the beginning of the end for Seth Zimmer. On this day his fate was sealed. It was warm, clear, calm and sunny. Keri and her parents were enjoying a nice relaxing day in the pool of her grandparents, called Oma and Opa.
Keri’s oma got out of the pool and rested on the sun lounge chair. Sandwiched between Keri and Carol, Oma dabbed her face with a towel.
“So, Keri. Congratulations on graduating high school. You’re starting college in September?”
“Sure am, Oma!”
“What course, sweetheart?”
“It was a tough decision, but I finally decided upon ECE—early childhood education.”
“Good for you, Keri.”
Opa walked to the pool deck with his head covered with a towel.
“And what about Seth?” Opa asked as he sat on the end of Carol’s lounge.
Keri sighed. “He’s unfortunately still hell bent on being some kind of writer or filmmaker.”
Oma sighed and shook her head. “That boy better goddamn well beam down to earth with the rest of us!”
Carol sat up. “Thank you, Mom! See, Keri? I’m not the only one who thinks Seth is a waste of life.”
Keri looked at her mother and then her oma. All was quiet for a moment.
“Keri,” Oma sat up and placed her hand on Keri’s knee. “You’ve been dragging Seth along for four years now. You’re not a child anymore. You’ve had your fun. You’re now officially a college student. You no longer have a choice, Keri. It’s time to sever Seth from your life forever. He’s got to go.”
Keri shrugged. “I’m sorry, but it’s not that easy. The way the both of you talk, you make it sound like it’s as easy as throwing away a maxi-pad.”
Opa chuckled. “Well, this situation kind of is, Keri.”
“Really? How, Opa?”
“Simple. When the relationship is fresh and new, that’s like removing a pad from the box—you’re in control and place it where it needs to go. Then, when the pad gets too bloody, or in this case stale, you remove it and toss it away forever.”
Carol got up and sat at the end of Kari’s lounge. “Of course it’s going to be hard, you’ve been with the asshole for four years. The longer you’re with someone, the more painful it’s going to be to end it.”
Keri looked around. “What do you suggest then? I’ve been with him long enough to know how sensitive he is, and let me tell you, this is just going to kill him; it’s going to be a real challenge.”
Opa cleared his throat and quickly injected his opinion. “I strongly suggest the Band-Aid approach: When you remove a Band-Aid from your skin, you don’t remove it slowly, because that hurts too much. But just lift one end and give it hell! One fast rip, and it’s all over.”
“Opa’s right,” Oma said. “Please don’t prolong leaving this relationship any longer than necessary, and we all agree that it’s already been four years too long.”
Keri thought long and hard for a moment. “What can I do, Oma?”
“You say you know Seth really well? Do you know what really pisses him off the most?”
“I think so, why?”
“Because if you start doing what Seth hates the most, you don’t have to worry about leaving him. You’ll have him so riled up he’ll leave you.”
“Or,” Carol interrupted. “If you want to go a much gentler route, I suggest involving him in a big lie.”
Everybody waited for Carol to elaborate. “Remember a few years ago when Seth told us Mike Rutherford and Daryl Stuermer, the guitar players for Genesis, are inspiring to him? And that he’d like to take up the guitar?”
Keri said, “Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything? How is that going to end our relationship?”
“Well, let’s pretend Seth told us he’s in a band called Re-Genesis. But in order for this plan to work, I personally have to call Seth’s parents and ask them when his band plays next and how we’d get tickets. Seth then gets in shit with his parents, he tells you, and in turn you call him a liar and don’t want to associate with him anymore and that the relationship is over.”
Oma shook her head in disbelief. “Carol, what the hell is that?”
“What?”
“That just seems too damned complicated for a freaking break-up.”
“Oh, and you can come up with something better?”
Oma turned to Keri. “Your Opa has a friend who is a doctor who works up at the hospital. I suggest we take you up there for a day, set you up in a private room and the rest, as they say, is history.”
Keri thought for a moment. “And how does this end the relationship, exactly? Tell him I’m dead?”
“No, we’ll just tell him you need so much surgery and that the recovery time is so hectic, that continuing a relationship is not feasible for the time being.”
Carol snickered. “And that’s not complicated?”
“It may be somewhat complicated, but at least it’s more believable than your pathetic idea.”
“Mom, I know Seth, alright. I know It’ll never work. It’s a terrible idea.”