Do You Remember? | Teen Ink

Do You Remember? MAG

By Anonymous

June was you by the pool. The day we first met, remember? I thought you were just one of those brawny lifeguard guys – you know the type: pretend to be all sweet, save the little kid from drowning, then go out and get totally hammered at night. I paid no ­attention to you, thought you were one of the heartbreakers, the ones I couldn’t care less about. But you had that smile with the dimples, and you came over just to offer me a watermelon Jolly Rancher. My favorite flavor. How did you know? That’s when I knew you were different.

July. August. After work we’d spread ourselves out on the field and drown in the sun, laugh at all those stupid jokes that aren’t even funny anymore. Why did we laugh so much back then?

Your studio, an explosion of color with your paintings enclosing you like a corral. Sometimes they made me jealous, when you saw them more than you saw me, but I loved them all the same. I loved that one of the beautiful girl with the long black hair, the one who looked so sad, but you wouldn’t say who she was. You’d never say. I’ll never know. So many secrets locked up in that little box of yours. You were fun, but you were serious.

“I want to be painted like that,” I said, because the painting was so beautiful. And you said, “Okay. Let’s do it.”

I still have that painting of me, by the way. You can only see half my face in it. “Why is that?” I asked. You shrugged. Another secret.

September. October. I love October. And you loved it too. When the leaves dance on the sidewalk and twirl through the air, when the world bleeds orange and red, and the air is like your stepmom’s apple crisp. We breathed it in together. We stood on the hill and closed our eyes, stretched our arms and spun around like five-year-olds, forgetting there was a world below. We listened to the wind whisper our names.

October was when we took the train downtown. It was fun that day, I don’t remember why. We skipped school (that was when school didn’t matter) and we rode downtown with your easels and paper and chalk and pencils, and we were going to draw fall. We drew the houses and trees, little kids flying a kite in the park, a mother duck and her ducklings wading through a river, a man asleep on a park bench, a maple leaf crisper than your stepmom’s apple crisp.

And you said, “Fall is a bit sad.”

And I asked why, and you said, “I dunno. It means summer’s over. It’s like ­losing something you can’t have back, like love.”

And I said, “But summer always comes back, doesn’t it?” And you said maybe.

We raked up a pile of leaves with a stick. We made this really big pile, laughing and running around it, losing half the leaves ’cause we’d stuff them in each other’s hair and shirts. We held hands, almost afraid to jump, like little kids taking their first dive into the deep end. One, two, three, go! And we sank into the big orange bed together.

I remember your easel that I carved my initials into. I remember the dimples on your cheeks, the eyes that were always on me. Your worn-out copy of The Great Gatsby that you read to me sometimes, and your plaid red scarf. I have that scarf, by the way. I wish it still smelled like you.

It’s October again, and the leaves are still dancing and the geese are still singing their good-bye song, and the bullfrog doesn’t sing because the pond’s almost frozen over. I wore your scarf yesterday as I rode the train downtown. I crossed the street to the park where we made the bed of leaves, and I tried to remember exactly where it was. And fall feels a little sad this year, like losing love.

I’m waiting to see if the summer comes back.



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This article has 284 comments.


on Dec. 5 2010 at 10:20 am
awesome...

on Dec. 5 2010 at 6:10 am
xAllegria BRONZE, Singapore, Other
1 article 2 photos 112 comments

Favorite Quote:
Ça fait tellement du bien d’aimer les gens qu’on aime, que ça finit par faire mal. Je sais pas comment on survit a ça. Non franchement, je sais pas. LOL (laughing out loud) ®, Lola.

Lovely flow.. good job :)

on Nov. 24 2010 at 7:59 pm
lazerynnichelle BRONZE, Ny, New York
2 articles 0 photos 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
Live laugh Love!

This is so real,open and honest. 

on Nov. 13 2010 at 5:49 pm
ilovepolkadots, Joplin, Missouri
0 articles 0 photos 15 comments
Wow, this is such a heart touching story. Keep writing more like this! I love it!

on Nov. 13 2010 at 5:29 pm
Overachiever BRONZE, Falls Church, Virginia
1 article 0 photos 8 comments
That was wonderful! I truly enjoyed reading it!

on Nov. 13 2010 at 10:14 am
maabeille82 BRONZE, Florence, Oregon
3 articles 0 photos 5 comments

Favorite Quote:
I need only one rose to make a garden, a friend- my world.

I love this, it has such a mellow, almost disjointed feel. Like she doesn't quite know where to go now that he's gone. Excellent.

on Nov. 13 2010 at 9:54 am
writergirl13 GOLD, Cherry Hill, New Jersey
11 articles 8 photos 261 comments

Favorite Quote:
All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusions is called a philosopher.
Ambrose Bierce

This is absolutely touching. It's very-well balanced and a delight to read.

on Nov. 13 2010 at 6:44 am
writingrocks GOLD, Brooklyn, New York
16 articles 23 photos 145 comments

Favorite Quote:
"You have to learn to love yourself before you learn to love others."

Amazing story!!!!!!!!!!!!! Loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!

on Oct. 22 2010 at 6:09 pm
IamtheshyStargirl PLATINUM, Lothlorien, Utah
44 articles 16 photos 2206 comments

Favorite Quote:
Boredom instigates extreme creativity.
~Amoniel

"Bowing gratefully to all of my subjects, 'thank you. Thank you. The pleasure is mine." Nah, I'm just kidding. We're all kings together.'"
~Thesilentraven

This is so beautiful, like a whispered breath of autumn wind. Like a lover''s secret that was whispered on your shoulderblade, cold and gentle.

I really loved reading this, and am feeling the loss of it's end.

I would favorite it, but I can't have any more favorites, not because it's full, but because it's a glitch of some sort.

Thank you for warming my heart.


on Oct. 22 2010 at 4:54 pm
Gracious PLATINUM, Go Away, Kansas
22 articles 0 photos 66 comments

Favorite Quote:
"life sucks and then you die, yeah, i should be so lucky"



-Jacob, Twilight

I’m still that girl who falls when she runs, Getting back up, because falling is fun.

i almost started to cry, ligit

on Oct. 22 2010 at 12:21 pm
nefariouslyme, Richland, Michigan
0 articles 0 photos 72 comments
Wow, this was amazing. I loved it.

on Oct. 22 2010 at 12:51 am
eehearn2011 SILVER, Lake Wales, Florida
5 articles 0 photos 16 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."-Dr. Seuss

very good :) I am definitely impressed.

on Oct. 16 2010 at 6:52 pm
Dragonscribe BRONZE, West Lafayette, Indiana
4 articles 0 photos 303 comments

Favorite Quote:
"A Person's a Person no Matter how Small"
and
"A Rose by Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet"
and
"God helps those who help themselves"

I love it but...what happened to him?

iforgot SILVER said...
on Oct. 1 2010 at 11:50 pm
iforgot SILVER, Hanmer, Other
5 articles 3 photos 8 comments

Favorite Quote:
That was everything. And that was all. -Marsha Arons

Amazing...I wish I could write like this :)

And I just have to ask...are you from Sudbury, Ontario?? 


on Sep. 30 2010 at 7:00 pm
awesomeaugust GOLD, Boston, Massachusetts
10 articles 0 photos 176 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground"
~Theordore Roosevelt

Keep it up!!

:)


on Sep. 30 2010 at 7:00 pm
awesomeaugust GOLD, Boston, Massachusetts
10 articles 0 photos 176 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground"
~Theordore Roosevelt

I really like your style of writing- the tone you bring to this piece is great. Kind of a wistful, bittersweet mood, and somehow you made all of those cheesy "lost love" stories seem legit. Pretty evocative piece.

on Sep. 30 2010 at 6:06 pm
TheShadowsHaveEyes SILVER, Lansing, Michigan
9 articles 1 photo 13 comments

Favorite Quote:
How much dirt I gotta throw in the ocean to make a new island

ooohhhh I like this. A lot. A lot a lot. Now I'm no literary genius, but it feels to me like there might be a bit of truth in your words. (Isn't that the basis for a good lie, to be based on truth.) I find that statement true with fiction, if you put enough of yourself or someone you know into a character, it sort of becomes real. I really like how you gave little to no description of who the characters were, or even where they were, how you told the story mostly through feeling and a few events strategically stringed together. I really like everything about this.

Great job :)


on Sep. 30 2010 at 10:43 am
Kresint50401 BRONZE, Erie, Pennsylvania
2 articles 0 photos 17 comments
It's great; this makes the reader actually miss the person you're describing and makes it feel as though you're actually remembering all these things. Love it! =)

on Sep. 23 2010 at 12:01 pm
californiainaugust BRONZE, Chicago, Illinois
2 articles 0 photos 2 comments
This is fantastic-all the things I wish I could write 

on Sep. 19 2010 at 6:11 pm
PussnBoots GOLD, Tomahawk, Wisconsin
12 articles 0 photos 137 comments

Favorite Quote:
"When life hands you lemons, make apple juice. Then sit back and watch the world wonder how you did it." -Unknown
"The world is my pineapple. I just have to figure out a way past the prickly parts." -Me

Sigh. It's good, but I always hate sad endings, even if this one isn't completely sad. Good work!