Episode 40

The next two weeks consisted of Spencer stalking Kelsey.  Aislinn and Caitlin became self-appointed secret agents, scouting out Kelsey’s routes and checking for Spencer behind every corner.  The two of them were the only spots of joy in Kelsey’s life – they were so ridiculous that they made her laugh.

Today was a Tuesday, which meant that there was devotional at the Marriott Center.  Kelsey was on her way, but running late.  Her phone buzzed – it was a text from Caitlin.

It read, “Moonbeams shine brightly off the wheat stalks.”  Kelsey rolled her eyes.  She didn’t have the faintest idea what that code meant, but it sounded pretty so it must be safe for her to be at devotional.  She texted back that she was almost there.

In the Marriott Center, Aislinn and Caitlin kept a watchful eye out for Spencer.  So far, they had sent the all-clear text to Kelsey.  She was at the point that she didn’t even want to risk running into him by being in the same building as him and they fully supported that.  Then Aislinn noticed a figure running up to the stand, late, just as the announcer stated that it would be Spencer giving the closing prayer.  Caitlin gasped and whipped out her phone while Aislinn dictated their mayday code – “the sharks are eating the pickles!!!!!! RUN!!!!”  Kelsey texted back almost immediately and thanked them and headed off in the direction of her next class.

The devotional was very spiritual.  After Spencer gave the closing prayer, Caitlin and Aislinn gathered up their stuff and started to leave when they heard Spencer’s panicked voice over the loudspeaker yelling “wait!!  Don’t leave yet!  I need to say something before she leaves!”  The crowd quieted down and many people whipped out their camera-phones, smelling an opportunity to become YouTube sensations.  Spencer continued, “Kelsey Crawdad.  I know that we have only been on a couple of official dates, but I feel like I know you from following you around. And I know you have been busy and haven’t been able to see me, but I am sure that you feel the same way I do.  Anyway, I thought it would be nice if we just took care of this soon, so…do you wanna marry me?” Caitlin and Aislinn stared at each other in complete horror.  “I even have a ring.  Where are you?”  The girls ran to find Kelsey and break the news in person.  Spencer’s voice followed them out.  “Kelsey?  Come on, don’t be shy!”  Aislinn and Caitlin just ran faster.

Episode 39

The apartment door opened and Kelsey hobbled in followed by the repentant Spencer. 

“Kelsey, I am so sorry.  I mean, how was I supposed to know that your foot was there?”

“You just shouldn’t have dropped your bowling ball!!!”  Kelsey nearly yelled at the irritating man. He was shorter than her and made her go bowling – this would never ever work out.  Ever.

“Can I help you ice it?”  He really was trying to be nice, but Kelsey’s response was just to forcibly push him out the door and shut it before he could sneak back in.  Through the door she heard him say, “well, overall, I had a great time!  You are quite a woman…we should do this again soon.  How about tomorrow??”  She just pretended that she heard nothing and proceeded to stomp to her room.

“Bad date?”  Aislinn asked sympathetically as Kelsey strode past.

“You have no clue.”  They sat down on their beds to talk.  “He took me bowling.  I hate bowling!  He made me play one and a half games, but luckily we got to stop after he dropped his ball on my foot.”  Aislinn looked sympathetic.  “And then, of course, I fell on the slippery floor while trying to limp out of there, so he thought that carrying me would be a fantastic idea.”  The sarcasm dripped from Kelsey ‘s voice.  “He is a skinny little white boy, so he dropped me onto my hurt foot just outside the bowling place and then had to act as my crutch for the rest of the walk.”

“I am so sorry, Kelsey!” Aislinn said, caringly. “If he asks you out again, say no, okay?”

“Believe me, I will never go out with him again!” Kelsey fervently agreed.

Episode 38 (really?)

The first month and a half of Kelsey’s final semester of university passed agonizingly slowly.  She was sick of being mopey and pathetic, so instead she was putting on a disinterested façade to the world.  She was sure her roommates appreciated it, especially Caitlin who was deliriously happy in her relationship with David.  The two of them were sickeningly sweet all the time.  Kelsey was just trying hard to focus completely on her studies and not think about Tom at all.  He was making that slightly difficult, however, as every week she received a letter, flowers, chocolates, or some other lavish gift in the form of an apology since he was still filming and couldn’t pack up and follow her.  The movie was wrapping up in just a couple weeks, though, so she knew that he would be persistent and that this issue would have to be addressed head-on soon.  She thought she might possibly be ready for that…but the prospect still seemed rather miserable.  She looked up from her boring literature book at the sound of keys in the door.

“Hey Kelsey!” Caitlin chirped cheerily as she and David walked hand-in-hand into their apartment.

“’Sup.”  Kelsey said, her attention no longer focused on the happy couple.  They looked far too in love and ecstatic for her tastes.  Caitlin just rolled her eyes at Kelsey.  In her despair, she was apparently attempting to act like a gangster (again).  Her baseball cap was on backwards and her clothes were…well…no more needs to be said.  She usually looked more presentable outside the apartment than inside (but that really wasn’t that hard).  David grabbed a movie out of his bag and put it into the DVD player on their tiny entertainment center while Caitlin microwaved some popcorn.  The two then started snuggling on the couch.  Disgusted, Kelsey moved to her room.  Their relationship was ridiculously perfect – it sucked.  She had just barely settled when a knock sounded at the door.  She heard Caitlin open the door and then heard a yell for Kelsey to come to the door.  She reluctantly stood up and went to greet her visitor.  It was Spencer.  Her jaw almost dropped.

“Spencer?”  She asked, still wanting to believe that this was not happening.

“Kelsey!” He replied enthusiastically (far too enthusiastically- Kelsey’s internal warning signs started going off).  “I am so glad to see you back in Provo!  And without that guy – I know he was a jerk.  You are better off without him.”  Kelsey stared at him in shock.  What the heck made him think that that was a good conversation starter under any circumstance???  But she composed her raging emotions before responding in a neutral tone of voice.

“It is good to be back at school.  Can I help you?”  Kelsey was trying her hardest to be polite.

“Actually, I want to help you!” He said perkily.  “I assume that you are feeling pretty awful after your break-up, so I thought that picking up where we left off would help.  How ‘bout it?  We could go out right now!”  Part of Kelsey was tempted beyond belief to slam the door in his face and hopefully he would catch that hint, but she restrained herself.  Where they left off was essentially nowhere, but apparently he was not familiar with that…this was not good.  But what choice did she have?

“Sure?” She phrased her answer as a question in a strangled tone of voice.

“Fantastic!”  He offered her a handful of weeds that he had picked on his way home and took her arm.  She stared behind her at Caitlin, pleading for help as she was pulled out of the apartment by her eager date.

Episode 38

Kelsey stormed angrily around her hotel room, grabbing handfuls of unfolded clothing and stuffing them into the oversize suitcase sitting on the unmade bed.  She was furious.  He had lied to her.  Not even just by omission, but right to her face, no less!  Throwing the last of her possessions into her purse, she zipped up her suitcase and wheeled it out of the room and into the elevator, all in an impressive 15 minutes.  She bet that Tom was barely even out of the shower and probably had not yet read her break-up note, which suited her just fine. She would be perfectly happy if she was long gone before he had a chance to follow her.  She arrived safely all the way to the front of building and managed to hail a cab, the rain soaking through her thin sweater, before hurried footsteps sounded behind her and a hand grabbed her arm and tried to restrain her.  She nearly screamed words that cannot be repeated and yanked her arm out of Tom’s grasp.

“Don’t you dare touch me!” Kelsey spat, angry tears mingling with the heavy rain falling from the oppressively black sky as she spun to face him.  He looked hurt and concerned at the same time, but Kelsey refused to let that derail her righteous indignation.

“Can we please talk?” Tom pleaded, his eyes imploring hers, but she broke eye contact.

“No.  I’m leaving and I never want to see your dirty, lying face ever again.” She tossed over her shoulder as she picked up her suitcase that had fallen during their little tussle.  Tom was suddenly right behind her, brushing tendrils of wet red hair from Kelsey’s face.

“Please?  At least tell me why…”  Tom begged, gently, his fingers caressing her face.  She turned away sharply and his fingers stilled.

“You want to know why??”  Kelsey yelled hysterically, “I’ll tell you why!  You…and that woman…you lied to me!”  She was having trouble with coherence now but she didn’t care.  “Your phone…and the shower…lies…I’m not stupid, you know!”

“I know you aren’t stupid, Kelsey.  I just wanted you to not worry about me and Bridget, so I kept it secret. I realize now…” 

Kelsey cut him off.  “You should have realized sooner.  I would rather have worried.”  Her voice was now just cold and emotionless, tears still mixing with the icy rain.  “Goodbye.” She threw her suitcase into the cab and hopped in, leaving the heartbroken Tom standing alone with the black rain soaking his body.

Episode 37

The next couple days, Kelsey was understandably a little tense.  However, things after 3 days had passed, she was feeling fine about everything again – they were back to normal.  Actually, better than normal!  She had never felt so happy before in her life.  Tonight, she and Tom just planned on having a movie night in his apartment while painting a banner advertising a charity comedy show that Tom was participating in next month.  He had arranged all the funds to go to children in Africa, but he needed to get the word out and Kelsey was determined to help in at least some small way.  She tried not to think about how ridiculous her little banner was next to Tom’s advertising and media power.  Regardless, she took the lids off of a couple little cans of paint and carried them into the living room which she had already covered (including the furniture) with newspaper to protect the couch, carpets, and table.  However, this very preparation proved to be her undoing.  As she carefully walked, one foot got caught under a flap of newspaper and sent the girl sprawling onto the floor.  Unfortunately, the paint also went flying – Tom, the lucky man, happened to be right in the path of the paint.  His startled face sported splotches of orange and green.  The disaster was not confined to his face, however.  It extended head to toe, completely ruining his clothes and dying his hair similar to a clown’s.  Kelsey felt horrified for about a quarter of a second before a tiny smile escaped her pursed lips.  Then she burst into laughter, still lying on the floor.  He looked ridiculous and she tried to tell him that, but she couldn’t regain her breath.  Tom watched his girlfriend rolling around, laughing and snorting, on the floor and finally couldn’t resist.  He let out a laugh too. 

Once both had regained composure, Tom headed off to the bathroom to shower off the paint while Kelsey attacked the mess in the living room.  The lyrics to “You Look Great in Corduroy Pants” caught her attention – Tom’s phone was ringing.  She could clearly hear the sound of water running, so she picked it up and was going to answer it until she saw the name on the caller ID –Bridget Tamoulsen.  Her heart sank.  She pushed reject and then went to the call log – it displayed a number of answered calls from the vixen.  She scrolled down and the number multiplied.  Most calls were reasonably long and there was one almost every day for the past couple weeks.  She realized that her knuckles had turned white from clutching the phone too hard and she threw it angrily on the couch.  She knew what she had to do, and she had to do it fast.  She grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a quick note to Tom:

                Tom,

I know you lied to me about Bridget. It’s not okay – I’m leaving. Don’t follow me. I hate your stinking guts.

            Goodbye,

            Kelsey

She left the note on the paint-splattered table and ran off in tears to pack and catch the first plane back to Utah.

Episode 36

The summer of paradise was drawing to a close.  David was returning to Utah today for recording purposes and Caitlin and Aislinn had decided to go with him, as their final semester at university started in just two weeks.   They were at the airport now.  Kelsey, making the most of the time she had left with Tom, decided to linger until the last possible second – aka the day before the semester began.  He would join her in Utah as soon as possible (as 4 months was too long of a separation) but first he had to finish up about another month or two of filming. 

Tom was sitting next to Kelsey on the couch in his hotel room.  They had the TV on – the celebrity news.  Tom actually found it pretty interesting as a lot of these people were good friends of his.  Kelsey didn’t really care, but they were talking over the program anyway.  Tom had one arm around her shoulders as they generally maintained some form of physical contact constantly now.  She snuggled into his broad chest.  They sat there, chatting and content, for quite a while.  However, Kelsey sat up abruptly as she heard the TV mention Tom Hiddleston.  They both tuned in to listen.

“…is supposedly cheating on his current girlfriend, the red-head Kelsey Crawford.” Kelsey turned to stare, open-mouthed in shock, at Tom.  He was still as a rock.  The annoyingly cheerful woman continued.  “The sexy stud has been photographed with Bridget Tamoulsen on many occasions as of late.  It is rumoured that there is a little…something something going on between them, if you catch my drift!”  Kelsey pulled away from Tom, tears starting to build-up.  She tried to say something, but no words would form in her dry mouth.  Words continued from the TV.  “…confirmed by Bridget herself that she and Tom were ‘special friends’ – this leaves no doubt in our minds….”

“Kelsey.”  Tom started.  She cut him off with an angry shake of her head.

“No.  Don’t say anything until you explain exactly what is going on here.”  She said, her voice breaking.

“Okay.  That’s easy.”  Tom said immediately.  “Bridget and I are just friends.  We have run into each other a couple times lately, and you know the media…”  He trailed off, waiting for her reaction. 

She took a deep breath.  “Promise me that you haven’t spoken to her or spent any time with her at all?”

Tom seemed to hesitate for a second, but then replied, “I promise.  I have not so much as spoken to that woman.  Are we okay?”  He reached his hand out to Kelsey, who smiled weakly and accepted it.  They turned the TV off and just relaxed, hand-in-hand.

The Value of Examples

We are discussing the Book of Ether in my Book of Mormon class today.  Chapter 8 verse 26 reads: “Wherefore, I, Moroni, am commanded to write these things that evil may be done away, and that the time may come that Satan may have no power upon the hearts of the children of men, but that they may be persuaded to do good continually, that they may come into the fountain of all righteousness and be saved.”   I really liked this verse because it explains the reason why there are so many wars and so much iniquity in the Book of Mormon.  Moroni was told that he needed to put in all this conflict as it would be applicable to our day and the spiritual war we are engaged in currently.  Brother Griffin presented an object lesson to demonstrate the value of these contra-examples.  He introduced a made-up concept and showed the class examples of it – no one had any clue what the concept could possibly be.  However, once he had shown the class a couple examples of what the concept definitely was not, the entire class could confidently state that they knew what concept he was attempting to describe.  The Book of Mormon is full of both examples and counter-examples so that we have no confusion about the precise nature of righteousness and wickedness.  With this knowledge, we then have the power to eventually defeat evil and become Zion, pure and clean.  At this point we are able to be accepted into the fold of God.  I am so grateful for Moroni’s writings and the lessons that I have and will learn from his words.