She was awoken by the sunlight streaming through her windows. Nothing about this day seemed any different than the day before and the day before that. It was another day alone. Another day without him. He had not been in her life for long, but he had made an unforgettable impact. It had been almost a month since he left, having discovered the news of his impending move and also realizing he was not yet over a past love. She was going to be okay without him. It had been almost a month. Almost double the amount of time she had even known him. She had to be okay without him. Who would not be after a month? And yet. She loved him. She missed him. But she was getting better at forgetting who he was and what they had done together. She was getting better at forgetting their shared memories and all of the times he had made her laugh. She was getting better at forgetting the inflection in his voice as he whispered, “I’m moving,” and their conversation when she had asked, “Are you breaking up with me?” and after a long pause, that felt as though it would never end he had simply uttered, “Yes.” He had whispered in her ear the thoughts that every girl wishes to hear, “You’re so special to me,” “I’ll never forget you,” “I love you.” And yet, when push came to shove, he missed his previous love more than he missed her and knew he should not be in a relationship so soon after such heartbreak, nor so soon before he must leave. She was devastated. She was heartbroken. She was hurt. But she was forgetting. Until that morning, seeming so similar to every previous morning, changed things.

It was almost a month since she had last called him hers, less than a month before she would have to call him gone, and she awoke to the sun streaming through her windows. She looked at her phone to see what time it was and was surprised to see that she had a new message. Every fiber of her being still whispered, “Please be him. Please be him. Please be him,” whenever she saw a new text, no matter how much she tried to end that habit. For almost a month it had not been him. But this morning it was. And the message said, “I’m not moving.” For a second she stared at her phone, dazed and confused. Then she thought it was a cruel joke he was trying to play on her, he had always been one for jokes. So she simply replied, “What?” not expecting a reply until later in the day as always. Instead the response came immediately. “My dad just got the news that he doesn’t have to move anymore. I’m not moving. I’m staying here.” Joy burst into her heart in a way that she hadn’t felt in, well, in a month. Shortly followed this was pain. What if he was not over his past love? Or what if he was over both of them? What if he realized he wanted a new girl in his life and not the one he had been with just a month previous? So she asked if she could meet him somewhere to talk in person. They decided on the park.

That afternoon she drove to the park with a heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach. When things had ended he had lied to her in more ways than one and while she was willing to forgive him, what if he did not want to be with her? He had made it sound like him leaving had to do with more than his ex-girlfriend and the move. Had made it sound as though there was some quality of hers that just wasn’t dating worthy. But then again he had also told her that she was enough and his leaving had nothing to do with her. What to believe then? So she pushed those angry, obsessive thoughts deep down and tried to calm herself. She just focused on what she would say when she saw him. But what to say? When she finally arrived at the park he was not there yet, so she waited. And waited. And waited. For a moment she wondered if he would decide not to come, but then she saw his car pull in and she held her breath. He walked over to her and they just stared into each other’s eyes, shocked by the appearance of one another.
“Can we just start over? Completely?” She broke the silence.
“That sounds perfect,” he replied still staring at her. She was unsure what to do next so she stuck out her hand to shake his.
“Hey my name is Molly. I love singing, I love to act, I’m addicted to Dr. Pepper, my favorite colors are teal and pink, and I’m very interested in taking things with people I just meet as slow as they want, especially if he has an ex girlfriend whom he may or may not still be missing,” she rambled out feeling embarrassed. He simply looked at her and in a second he pulled her closer to him and swept her up in a kiss that shared all of the emotions the two of them had been feeling while they were apart. The longing for him to stay instead of moving, the joy that he could, and the sheer amount they had missed each other. Missed the joking, missed the conversations, missed the closeness of their bodies together. The kiss said it all. In that moment it was as if they had never been apart; they merged effortless back together in an instant. They fit seamlessly. He finally broke apart and whispered, “I love you. Not because I have to. Not because it’s what you want to hear. Not because I feel like I should say it back. I love you for who you are. For the way you make me feel.”
“I love you too,” she breathed back, not knowing how things had gotten to this point.
“Screw starting over,” he muttered, “I just want to pick up where we left off,” and with that pulled her into another kiss slightly more expected than the last, but still just as breathtaking.

Later in the afternoon after they had caught up on what they had been doing the past month apart, they sat on swings slowly rocking back and forth holding hands. The sun shone brightly in the sky, warming them from the inside out. It was a warm summer day and was the perfect weather for a reunion. Not a cloud in the sky. There were a few clouds in her heart, though, as she carefully avoided talking about “the future” even just a week from now. She had always been too eager to make plans for forever, while he had not wanted to take things “seriously” and now she was not making the mistake of scaring him away. So she left that discussion for another time if ever. He was always full of surprises, however.

“I want to make plans with you,” he suddenly declared. “I don’t want to ‘take things slow’ or act like we’ll be breaking up any second. I want to make plans to be together a month from now. Two months from now. Three months from now. I thought I was going to have to leave you. And that killed me. Now I’m staying. And I want you. Only you.”

“Okay so what are these marvelous plans you wish to make? What next?” she answered trying to sound nonchalant.
“Well, first, in two days we are going to go to the comedy show together, hold hands and enjoy each other’s company. Then in five days we are both going to audition for Robin Hood and look forward to doing another show as a couple, and then I am going to buy you a belated birthday present. And the week after that I want you to go to the beach with my family for a week. We were going to go as a “one last beach trip in North Carolina” deal but now it’s a celebratory week. I’ll ask my parent. You’ll ask yours. And either way you’re coming,” he declared as though everything was final. She couldn’t help but laugh at his assurance that everything with the beach would turn out as planned, but it was nice to see that he wanted her to be a part of his life again. A big part.
“And after that?” she asked, waiting to see if he had any other plans.

“After that I’ll beg and plead with my parents to let me go to DC with your family and we are going to a baseball game together. And then you’ll start school and I’ll start school and you’ll come over and we’ll do homework together and watch TV and play card games and I’ll be there for you when school stresses you out and you’ll make me feel loved when I forget why I’m worth loving and we’ll go to your school football games together and you’ll laugh at how into sports I am and I’ll go to your pageant and I’ll laugh at how everyone cares so much about the right dress and then we’ll perform in Robin Hood and I’ll buy you flowers even though I’ll be in the show too and everything will be okay.”

“Everything will be okay?” she whispered.

“Yes. And we’ll love each other with all of our hearts,” He said as he stared right into her eyes. For a second she deliberated if he was sincere about all of these plans and if he truly did mean it when he said he loved her. And she stared into his eyes. And decided he was and that he did. And she replied with the only answer truly fitting for the situation.

“Damn straight.”