The Big Three | Teen Ink

The Big Three MAG

July 29, 2009
By protagonist BRONZE, San Antonio, Texas
protagonist BRONZE, San Antonio, Texas
2 articles 0 photos 3 comments

“What event triggered the Cuban missile crisis?”

My study buddy looked from his paper to me with those eyes – the eyes of Dorian Gray. “I guess Princeton Review doesn't see the irony of putting ‘trigger' and ‘missile crisis' in the same question,” he added.

I answered with a coquettish laugh and, of course, the correct answer: the Bay of Pigs invasion. I knew the answers to all these questions. It's not like I suggested the idea of a study session because I had difficulty remembering the events of the Kennedy administration.

“Who was the Soviet premier during the Cuban missile crisis?” His voice had a curious, musical ring to it like some character in a black and white movie you could never quite place.

“Khrushchev.” You would want to hear more of that voice … like the first ten seconds of a JFK speech, before the whole nasal rasp becomes too much.

“Spell Khrushchev.” Ha! My little Cape Cod golden boy was challenging me.

“The AP exam doesn't take off for spelling.” I looked him straight in the eyes – eyes that happened to be mere inches from mine. Thank you, Aphrodite, for making small tables at coffee houses everywhere.

“I want to see if you know it.”

I stared into the tangoing twirls of blue and silver in his eyes. They should have been strands of cotton candy, but something told me they were the current of an eddy waiting to pull me in. Once you're gone, you're gone.

“K.” But the whites of his eyes were crossed with little red veins.

“H.” Did he have trouble sleeping last night?

“R.” Or was he with her last night?

“U.” No, they broke up. He's single now, but blond boy's out of my league.

“S.” It's a challenge. Does that mean I should go for it?

“C.” I wouldn't know how.

“H.” Won't he just disappear from my life when the semester ends?

“E.” Not if I play this right.

“V.” What the hell, you only live once.

He stared at me for a moment, and I couldn't breathe but didn't care to; who needs oxygen when you have so much adrenalin in your veins there's barely room for blood?

“So close,” he said in a low voice. His voice is even better than his eyes. For a moment I wondered if he would lean in and kiss me. “But you forgot an H.”

Figures I would do something to ruin it. No kiss for me. I guess spelling the names of Soviet premiers isn't something guys consider a turn-on.

“This one's easy,” he said.

Something easy? It must not be kissing me.

“Name the Big Three.”

The Big Three … somehow my mind was clear on this one. It wasn't that the answer was clear, but my mind was clear like the kind of stream some obnoxiously perfect lyrical unicorn would drink from. For a mini-eternity I didn't think about the mounds of work I still had to do, the fact I was manipulating him to spend time with me, or those damn eyes. I thought of nothing … peace. The only three words that came to my head were “I love you.”

“Don't you know the Big Three?”

There were those eyes again. Stalin must have had captivating eyes, but in a different way. In these eyes there was concern … but only concern that I didn't know the answer. In them I saw his dreams, his amazement, his past loves, his cats … but was there anything for me?

“The Big Three are Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill.” With each name I couldn't help but feel my words betrayed them all. But it was the correct answer, and logically the only answer. Still, I couldn't look in his eyes.

“Are you sure?” My God, he was teasing me! Of all the questions he decided to make me second guess myself on, he had to pick this one.

Bastard. Blond handsome bastard. He was also playing me.

“Well, what other Big Three is there?” I asked in my most seductive voice. Those years of theater had to pay off sometime. I twirled a bit of curly hair around my finger. He loved my curly hair, so unlike his.

His eyes were staring into mine and I stared right back. Was I FDR and he Stalin, or the other way around? There was a flicker of something in those cotton-candy eyes and I knew he wasn't Stalin.

“I love you.” The words that slipped from his lips were barely audible.

“I love me too.” I bet no one had ever said that to a Kennedy before. But I hadn't won yet. “In fact, I love me almost as much as I love you.”


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This article has 149 comments.


on Aug. 7 2011 at 12:56 am
star-gazing-dreamer GOLD, Pittsgrove, New Jersey
11 articles 0 photos 18 comments

Favorite Quote:
Everywhere I have sought rest and not found it,
except sitting in a corner by myself with a little book.
~ Thomas Kempis ~

i liked that you kept his eyes the focal point of the story. It made it  really interesting. :) i liked it alot

LovelySerena said...
on Jul. 23 2011 at 11:00 am
LovelySerena, Dededo, Other
0 articles 8 photos 27 comments

Favorite Quote:
Hope is the thing with feathers that perches on the soul. ~Emily Dickinson

That was awesome! The last line made me laugh!

on Jul. 20 2011 at 4:16 pm
meganwagner21 PLATINUM, Old Bridge, New Jersey
42 articles 0 photos 139 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Sometimes good things have to fall apart so better things can fall together." -Marilyn Monroe
"Nobody can go back and make a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending." -Maria Robinson

last line = completely golden! i luved it!

on Jul. 16 2011 at 2:22 pm
icecreamrules, Alameda, California
0 articles 0 photos 6 comments

Favorite Quote:
Something Woody Allan said , " Its fine strolling down the memory lane, just don't build a house there. "
Thats probably not exact. But it spoke to me.

Adorable..

I loved "What the hell, you only live once."

 


Steph0804 said...
on Jul. 16 2011 at 12:55 am
Guy's pick-up strategy totally backfires :)

on Jun. 24 2011 at 10:39 pm
AbigailElizabeth SILVER, Medina, Minnesota
8 articles 0 photos 79 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Scars are souvenirs you never lose" - Goo Goo Dolls

your language is so captivating... it left me thinking "wow, i wish i could write just like that!"

Alexa19 said...
on Jun. 24 2011 at 5:04 pm
Alexa19, Blaine, Minnesota
0 articles 0 photos 34 comments

Favorite Quote:
Dance like no one is watching,
Sing like no one is listening,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And live like it's heaven on Earth

That was a cute, great story! i loved the end!

tealbird said...
on Jun. 24 2011 at 1:58 pm
Amazing! Absolutely GENIUS prose...

on Jun. 2 2011 at 11:58 am
KaylynVictoria SILVER, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana
5 articles 0 photos 77 comments

Favorite Quote:
Always keep your head up so you never have an excuse to look down at yourself(:

Genius!

 

Can someone please check out my work!


on Jun. 2 2011 at 6:34 am
K.M.S.Shear BRONZE, Cherokee, Iowa
2 articles 0 photos 57 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Some people think writing is a waist of their time. For me it’s a way to draw an image of myself through the painting of words."

AMAZING JOB write another one

 


on May. 30 2011 at 9:28 pm
BellaPrincipessa SILVER, Green Bay, Wisconsin
5 articles 0 photos 19 comments

Favorite Quote:
Love isn't always fireworks. Sometimes love just comes softly.
-Love comes softly by Jannette Oke

haha makes me laugh because i was just studying this for the ap exam recently :) no wonder it sounded familiar!!!!! it was great tho. It was like i was there :)

on May. 30 2011 at 8:47 pm
BookFreak14 BRONZE, Grand Prairie, Texas
4 articles 1 photo 50 comments

Favorite Quote:
" We didn't invent the Chicken, just the Chicken Sandwich."--- Chick-Fil-A

Totally AWESOME!!!!.... PLEASE keep WRITING!!!!... I will read it... and add on to the story! I can't wait to read more...

on May. 12 2011 at 5:23 am
sunshine04 BRONZE, Vindhyanagar, Other
1 article 3 photos 253 comments
its built in a cool was and had me laugh write more:D

TheGoodTwin said...
on May. 11 2011 at 5:50 pm
TheGoodTwin, Fort Mill, South Carolina
0 articles 0 photos 70 comments

Favorite Quote:
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.

--Shakespeare

Sorry i'm such a grammar Nazi, but it's familiar. not  fimilar. 

TheGoodTwin said...
on May. 11 2011 at 5:49 pm
TheGoodTwin, Fort Mill, South Carolina
0 articles 0 photos 70 comments

Favorite Quote:
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.

--Shakespeare

Dude! you spelled sentance* wrong. it's sentence. 

LoveeU BRONZE said...
on May. 11 2011 at 5:07 pm
LoveeU BRONZE, St. Louis, Missouri
2 articles 2 photos 5 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Love is four letters, but it has a biq meaninq." "I love you" and "I like Chicken"

I lovee this! keep adding...PLEASE! Im going to go read more of your work. I love romance,

on May. 8 2011 at 8:28 pm
FeelTheRomance18, Tucson, Arizona
0 articles 0 photos 40 comments

Favorite Quote:
love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged cupid painted blind. -Lysander, A Midsummer Night's Dream

this is great it made me laugh out loud LOL

on Apr. 20 2011 at 8:10 pm
Haley_Elizabeth GOLD, Wallingford, Vermont
12 articles 0 photos 90 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Embrace imperfection rather than hide your flaws."

AMAZING!, it's all i can say. I gave you 5 stars. This is a wonderful ending but i really hope you add to this, soon! I need to know if they get together, well thats kind of obvious but still, i want the details. if you love all of your fans you will write more ... pleeeaaase. 

ps. i'm a fan. Your one of my favorites! Love ya<3


on Mar. 28 2011 at 5:19 pm
TragicMagic SILVER, Smiths Grove, Kentucky
8 articles 1 photo 37 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Life isn't about how popular you are... What girl or boy you are dating or who you know. Life is about always being true to who you are or what you believe in. Never let anyone convince you that their way is better than your way. In the end all we have is our hearts...and our minds. This is the reason why we sing... this is the reason why we cry... this is why we live."

Dude!!!!! This caught my attention at the first sentance!!! Awesome writing, kinda leaves you hanging though.

on Mar. 6 2011 at 3:26 pm
destined_for_fame BRONZE, Privet Drive, California
4 articles 3 photos 11 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Shoot for the moon, because even if you miss you'll land among the stars."

You captured my attention right off the bat and held it the whole way through! I loved it! But it seemed like if they were in love, they had to know each other pretty well, so why was she worrying about not seeing him after the semester was over? But that's pretty much my only criticism. Great story!