Plain white walls and full brown boxes everywhere. “Luke?” I said as straight
faced as I could. “Yeah?” I waited a moment to think of what to say next. I didn’t want him to feel any worse then he already did, about him moving and all. I just really didn’t want him to go. We had only just become friends a couple months ago when we were assigned to be study buddies.

“Promise you will keep in touch after you leave.” He could sense the sorrow in
my voice and it showed deeply in his big brown eyes. “Of course, what kind of friend
would I be if I didn’t.” He tried to smile, his charming Luke smile, to make me feel better, but it didn’t. Luke knew I was hurting. We stood in silence in his box filled room. It was hard to believe that just a few hours ago it was covered wall to wall with random
posters, and the floor was not to be seen because of the scattered clothes and old
homework assignments. Thinking of everything made me shiver and when he noticed he
put his arms around me and held me close. I hugged him back; in fact I was squeezing
him. I guess I thought that if I held on tight enough when he was gone I would still be
able to feel him. Finally I started to loosen my grip. He then took both of my hands and
gently squeezed my fingers. Then he placed his smooth hands under my chin so that our eyes met. I gazed intensely at his stunning features. His eyes were brown with gray
streaks in them, his eyelashes were long and sort of curvy. He had three freckles in the
shape of a triangle about three cm. from his left eye and when he smiled the bottom one
disappeared into the little creases of skin that were pushed up by his cheeks. I was
realizing that all this time the feelings I had towards him was deeper then I could have
guessed. That it wasn’t just me loving him as a friend it was pure, intoxicating, heart
filled love. His eyes were almond shape. I love almonds, I love his eyes. The way they
were twinkling because of the light he gave off through them. Or maybe it was just the
reflection of the lamps light bulb. But before I knew it his cheeks dropped back to place,
the freckle reappeared and he grew serious. Not in a mean or scary way at all but I cant
explain it. Then he was moving my face upwards while his was coming down and then
we kissed. At first I was confused because I never kissed anyone before. Well besides
relatives, but this wasn’t one of those quick peeks on the cheek. This was true. This was
beautiful, I was just wishing it wasn’t happening at this point in time. I was wishing this
wouldn’t be our first and last kiss. “Sorry,” he said as he let go of me sensing my
tension. “I’ve just always wanted to do that.” he looked away from me and after an
awkward silence he began to talk again. “I am trying to stay strong, but the thought of
leaving here without kissing you was driving me insane.” I was shocked. No one has
ever liked me. Or at least not that I knew of. Then again I’m not much of a catch. I wear
overly baggy clothes and no make up. Ever. “Why me?” the words just slipped out of
my mouth. He gave an awkward huff, “I don’t know.” Those words stung worse then a
bee. “Oh.” “Well not like that its just, you always caught my attention in school and
were always nice to me and I am just really going to miss you and I…” The hesitation in his voice filled me up with suspense, leaving me hoping that the next words spoken from his lips would be what I was now waiting for. “I’ve liked you for a while now but didn’t have the nerve to say anything, and I knew this would be my last chance.” We both started to blush. I wiped away old tears from my cheeks and smiled.

Luke. Luke Phillips, that guy that caught every girls attention and I was the one who caught his. Overweight, under height, baggy clothes, no makeup, frizzy haired me. Our eyes met again and I stood on my Tipp toes to reach his face and we kissed again only this time it was better and much longer. After we were done being all sappy he smiled at me and said, “So Zoe Turan, was that all that you imagined a kiss from the Great Luke Phillips would be.” I pushed him and replied, “Um I think I should be asking you that question.” And that fast a terrible night turned out to be one of the best moments I’ve shared with my best friend. We left his soon to be abandoned home and just strolled underneath the beautiful moon lit sky. No specific direction just us holding hands stopping every once and a while to steal more kisses from each other neither of us wanted this night to end but sooner or later it would have to. So we just pushed those thoughts from our heads. We were here now and together so why spoil what might be our last night together.

Here’s the story of why he has to leave. Luke’s mom was cheating on his dad for months. When his dad asked her what was going on they got into a huge argument and his mom disappeared for a while. When she came back she had divorce papers ready for his dad to sign. Luke was torn up and depressed while his dad was still in the denial/shock mode. Later his dad decides they need to move. I think his dad wanted to move because of all the memories she left behind, heartless jerk. I never really liked his mom but now I cant stand her. She tore a perfectly good family apart so she could runaway with some kid half her age.

We ended up back at our houses around ten p.m.. We lingered at the fences that separated my lawn from his. “I know you already know this but I really am going to miss you. Don’t ever change your number.” his eyes began to water. I don’t think I ever seen Luke cry for real. I punched him in the arm and playfully said, “Don’t ever forget my number.” We hugged each other one last time for that night and parted. I took out my key and slowly unlocked the top and bottom lock. As I turned the door knob I was pulled away from the door and once again found myself locked in Luke’s warm embrace and he whispered in my ear, “I love you,” let go, and took off into his house. My heart was racing. I don’t even think it’s beat this fast after running the mile at school. Love. How long has he felt that way. Was he giving me signals and I just wasn’t getting them. I went straight to my room and plopped on my mattress. The night was full of so many different emotions and I was exhausted. As I lay there on my twin sized bed, still dressed in my blue jeans and Metalica shirt, I thought of Luke. I thought of what he said, I thought of the last three words he said to me, and with a smile on my face I dozed off into a deep, deep sleep.

The next morning I woke up bright and early except for the fact that it was 5:37am and pitch black outside. I never understood what “bright and early” was suppose to mean. when I think of bright and early I figure the sun should be out, but no. People seem to wake you up between four and six a.k.a. No Sun. I didn’t wake up from my purple hippo alarm clock that I can easily slap some buttons to turn it off without even looking. No, I was woken up by an annoying tapping sound. When I finally gave up trying to ignore the clicking and clanking I got up and out of my bed to turn on the lights. The sound came from outside my window and was made by little pebbles. Luke was throwing them and when I appeared behind the closed window he motioned me to come outside. It was easy for me to get out there fast because I had fallen asleep in my clothes from yesterday. “That was fast,” Luke said in amazement. “I didn’t change into my PJ’s last night. Too lazy.” Mr. Athlete was in a black jogging suit. He was always wearing dark colors. “So why am I up this early again, I forgot.” I said with a long yawn while stretching my arms as long as I could. He was grinning at me and I got suspicious. “What’s that look for?” every time Luke makes that face I usually don’t like what he’s going to do next. He told me he does it as a warning and an icebreaker or something like that. “Morning.” “What? You woke me up to say morning.” “No.” “Then …” he cut me off before I could go any farther by taking my hand and pulling. To weak to get out of his hold I just followed. Eventually we ended up at our neighborhood park and we sat on an old bench. I was still tired but I finally…. TO BE CONTINUED …