Promise Me Forever

My day can’t get much worse. Hell, this year had to be better than the last and the one before that and the one before that. I can’t be destined to be a small-town girl for the rest of my life, can I?
Crap, maybe I am.
But I want to live. I want to see things. I want to do things, all kinds of things. Even very naughty things. Things I know nothing about.
But I’m running out of time.
I’ve been called a decently attractive girl. I was born and raised in Falls Village, Maine. Not in the McMansions that went up shortly before I was born, but not in the rundown old factories that were a poor excuse for apartments either. Nope, I grew up right in the middle.
It’s the story of my life.
I’m sandwiched between two of the most perfect female specimens Maine has ever seen. My older sister, Blair, is studying to be a lawyer and living in Boston with her fabulously rich and stylish boyfriend while my younger sister, Colette, is graduating from Harvard with a business degree and an international job waiting for her in London.
I’m living with our parents.
I do love my quaint little harbor town though. Especially now that it’s gone through its recent revitalization. Falls Village is small enough that I can walk to the Hair Matrix next to Spill the Tea each day. Everything I need is within walking distance to my parent’s house, so I don’t even own a car. When I need to get the few things not available in the center of Falls Village, I borrow one of my parents’ sensible vehicles.
Now, with the sun barely popping up past the horizon, Falls Village residents mill around and lift a hand in greeting as I make my way into town. It’s an early rising town during the weekdays of our busy season, many of the people here own their own shops and are doing much of the same as me at this early hour, readying their places for the onslaught of the day’s tourists. Falls Village, now back to its original splendor, is patronized by locals and tourists once again. It was recently named one of the must-see attractions on the state’s website.
I leave my little Cape Cod-style home and head down to the corner of our road; it leads to the cobblestones of Main Street. My walk into town is fast and kicks off my day with excitement and energy. It reminds me of my days growing up here. Blair, Colette, and I would walk to school together each day, me smack dab between them, my usual position in our family, our mother a few steps ahead would wave to each shop keeper as we passed. Over the years, Falls Village had gotten rundown, and a few of the shops closed their doors, the owners moving south to retire. But as the familiar sounds of the ocean thrashing into the rocky harbor fill my ears, a smile covers my face. Falls Village has returned to its better days; too bad my spirits didn’t buy a ticket and jump on the wagon. I sigh as the ocean sounds remind me of a happy song waiting for someone to dance to it.