I had three short years of life behind me when it happened.
We moved here.
And I met you.

Two young boys,
so naïve.
Two young girls,
so afraid.
We were all simply unaware of the friendships to come.

You and your younger brother- my age, he was- became our best friends.
Two years ahead of us, you and my sister were the wise ones.
We were just little kids having too much fun.

Age tore us apart.
The third grade hits.
And suddenly the opposite sex is a cootie-ridden burden.
How little we knew.

Contact ceased the same time childish play did.
The neighbor boys didn’t want girls for best friends anymore.
The young girls didn’t understand the meaning of friendship then.
It hadn’t meant forever .
They moved on, no tears shed.
Sweet elementary simplicity.

I had twelve short years beneath me when it happened.
That one spring break:
Conversation was easy,
Cell phone numbers were exchanged quickly.
Little did I know that the very essence of my current innocence now relied on this seemingly harmless device.

Boys meant something different now.
There were no longer cooties,
But cute faces and even cuter eyes.

The young sisters had grown up and apart.
Each had new friends.
My cousin became my new best friend.
Soon every weekend was ours for the taking.

My roof was our only escape.
My window was our only door to the stars we came to adore.
We wished to be friends forever and promised the moon we believed there was more.
Eventually we knew all there was to know of each other.

Many October nights were spent talking, cuddled up in blankets on our roof.
Because that’s what it became.
Our place.

Prank calls,
Candy the Stripper charades,
And moonlit, giggle-filled nights all led to the biggest decision of our seemingly perfect lives.

Two young boys,
so intriguing.
Two young girls,
so done.

We had two short years of friendship behind us when it happened.
Our rebellion came through.
We were ready to grow up and be us.
We were finished with our innocence.

Our worlds were changed forever.
Boys seemed impossible to reach,
Yet there they were.

Some would say sneaking out was a terrible mistake.
In that case, this was only the beginning of our down spiraling lives.

The rush of the night sky
And the distraction of the cute boys was all that kept us going.

Having a boy put his arms around you…
That feeling can last a life time.
And we wanted it to.

Our friendship was different now.
We were closer.
We talked and laughed more.
We wanted more.

It was like an addiction.
We didn’t think or talk about anything else.
We craved the rush, the moonlight and the cool breeze.

But we couldn’t fill that craving.
Until almost a year later, that is.

It was our last chance, it seemed.
The last weekend of summer.
The last sleepover of summer.
The last warm summer night spent together.
And we took full advantage of that knowledge.

This time was different, though.
This time these two girls fell in love.
This time they wanted more from these mysterious encounters.

I’ve known you since I was only three.
We were best friends,
Until I got cooties.
We talked,
Until we snuck out.
We kissed once,
We talked more
You held me close,
And I went home in love.

You told me you loved me,
But our parents would never approve.
You told me you wanted to be with me,
But sneaking out was the only way.
I was no longer interested in sneaking out.
I didn’t want to lie.

We were friends again.
And I was under the false pretense of love.
Until school started.

I met this boy.
My age, he was.
We became friends.
And then I became his girlfriend.
Everything was perfect.

I didn’t have to lie to be happy.
But I soon discovered my doubt in this statement.
I saw the neighbor boy.
We’d stopped talking again.
But I’d never fall out of love.

This boy at school…
We broke up a lot.
We always made up.
But I couldn’t focus on him.
He told me he loved me.
And even though I was in love with the neighbor boy,
I was happy.

Early December;
We broke up…
For good.

Christmas break;
The neighbor boy told me he loved me.
And he needed to see me.

He said he wished we could be together.
But he didn’t want to tell our parents,
In fear of losing me.

My interest in being sneaky was gone.
Love wasn’t enough to push me back.
I just wanted everything to be okay.

One nervous day,
My parents learned everything.
They only read the bad part,
The part that said yes.
They knew everything,
Except that I was already done,
They hadn’t seen the no.

It was too late for everybody.
My best friend had fallen in love with that boy.
He’d fallen in love with her, too.
I was grounded through the good part of their relationship.

I had fourteen long years of life behind me when it finally happened.
We figured it out.
Everything’s okay.
My best friend.
This boy from school,
The neighbor boy,
His brother,
My sister,
My parents…
We’re all okay.

Two boys changed the lives of two girls.
All in one night,
Never to go back.