Looking back on those days, we were so reckless; we lived without a care in the world. Getting drunk in the back of cars at twelve o’clock on a weekday, man, we did it all. It was the summer of my junior year in high school when I met her. I was a little shy; her looks intimidated me from a mile away. I’ll never forget the first time I saw that smile. Blonde hair, blue eyes, B-cup; hell, she was everything a man could look for and more.
Things happen so fast, you know? One second I was too afraid to kiss this girl and the next I was drunk enough to shove my tongue down her throat. We ended up dating a week after we met. She was so amazing to be around, always with little sparkles in her eyes… I used to stare at her just to glance a smile. We just sort of, clicked; it was like yin and yang, for every flaw I had she just seemed to balance it out with perfection.
I pretty much worshiped the ground she walked on. What can I say, she made me happy, and she made me feel good. We dated all that year, and kept on going into summer. That was probably the best summer of my life, full of keggers and Kenny Chesney. I can’t remember not having a good time the entire summer; hell, it was impossible to have a bad time when I had my baby there with me. Everyone just knew we were together, we were perfect.
“I love you. I love you completely and entirely; I am yours.” I’ll never forget that day. It was my birthday, the big eighteen, the start of my senior year at high school. I came home from school that day and she surprised me. There were rose petals trailing from the front of my driveway all the way up the stairs and into my room. I didn’t understand, just thought my dog might have gotten at a bag of roses or something.
She was sitting on my bed with a card in her hand, looking so beautiful. She really outdid herself that day; she was the most stunning thing I had ever seen, classier than the classiest of chicas. I mean it, man, she was just that pretty. Anyways, I went and sat down next to her. She looked at me, looked so deeply into my eyes; I swear she was looking into my thoughts. And I just stared, captivated by the site of her, by those pearl-like blue eyes. She kissed me, a quick peck, just enough to make smile.
I pulled away and looked at my lap, the envelope laying there. It was an ordinary birthday card, except she got me a Spiderman one. He was always my idol and all. I opened up the card and inside was the sweetest thing I ever received. I never cried so hard.
We ended up getting engaged, our senior year in high school. People always told us we were too young, we weren’t ready for what marriage offers. Bullshit. We were in love, madly in love at that. She was my everything, my entire world. I’ll never forget the day I lost her.
It was raining that day, and she was coming over late. Her dad had flipped out about her grades, he slapped her. I remember the rage I felt inside, like a thousand fires burning through my body. I was going to kill him, I really was. She calmed me down though, just like she always does, hearing her voice on the phone just made me forget everything else. She promised me she was okay, that she was still coming over. I could hear the crying she was trying so desperately to hold back.
I remember hearing the police sirens, seeing the ambulance, getting the phone call. I remember the look on her mother’s face, her dad’s tears. Everything went slow motion, I couldn’t feel, this must be a dream, right? She can’t be gone, no, not her, someone else. I pretended she was okay; she would be in my arms later that night.
I wish I still believed that.
