Carpe Diem

Prologue

Title: Carpe Diem

Synopsis: She loved that boy next door so much she forgot to love herself.

Summary: Himeko had her heart broken by her long-time crush on the boy next door. To overcome the heartache, she forces herself out in the world on a journey to find new friends, and make happier memories.

Genres: Hurt / Healing, Friendship, Humor, Slight Romance

Warnings: First crush heartbreak? Very soft and wholesome story, I don't anticipate there will be any trigger warnings.

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He was two years older than her.

That boy next door.

Oh, that boy next door.

She and he; he and she; they grew up side by side.

In the beginning, it didn't matter that he was two years older than her. They may not have shared the same class, but they had the same walk home and every day after school they spent it together. The boy made friends easily, but they came and went like foam on a wave.

She stayed.

Consistent like a sunrise, she was by his side through each important and turbulent moment of his life.

People were drawn to him, that boy next door. He had a sly wit and dazzling smile that won many over. He was smart, athletic, and always knew what to say.

He was a good boy growing up.

She was a good girl all the way through.

She was a smart girl. Quiet. Studious. She worked hard not only to maintain her grades but so—

"Hey, think you can help me with this?"

So he would say that to her.

She didn't have many friends at school.

Not to be misunderstood. She wasn't bullied or ostracized. They were polite to her, and she was polite to them.

But that was it.

It was not that she meant to do it—it just kind of happened that way.

She was more preoccupied with the boy next door than the students her own age.

In middle school, she realized why, and by then it was already too late.

She had it bad, oh so bad, for that boy next door.

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He joined a volleyball team one year and he was hooked right away.

She loved seeing him so avid and happy when he talked about it. She wanted to support him best as she could and so while he drowned in the sport she dove right in behind him.

She couldn't play on his team, but she could still help him practice, help him prepare, help him however she could.

As he got more invested, his practices moved to not only evenings but mornings as well. Their bedrooms were right across each other, their windows perfectly aligned, so easily that whenever she heard his alarm she got right up with him to cheer him on.

He'd always smile at her when she did that.

Some mornings it got harder for him to get up with his alarm, and so she offered her assistance—because of course she would, she would do anything for that boy next door—and he gratefully accepted.

He always kept his window unlocked for her; it wasn't even a jump between their houses.

When he needed help with his homework, he'd crawl through her window and they'd sit at her table and study together.

When he had trouble sleeping it was always her he called first.

She was his rock, she had thought.

She would always be the one he depended on, she had thought.

Like the sun would rise in the morning, she would be there for that boy next door.

He was such an integral part of her life. She hadn't realized that her admiration had blossomed into something so intense until it was far too late to stop it.

And then he went to high school while she was still in junior high.

Two years.

He'd go one way and she'd go another in the mornings.

Two years.

He'd come home past dark.

Two years.

She'd apply to his high school and all would go back to normal.

Two years.

Two years and she'd finally—

She'd finally—

Finally...

Two years was how much it took to break her.

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She did not go to his school at the end of those two years.

There was no tearful confrontation.

There was not even a conversation.

The boy next door would find when the new school year finally came, the room across his was quite empty.

He had lost the girl next door.