What happens when you're just a story written under the moonlit sky? What happens when the only boy you love becomes a faded memory of just someone you used to know? What happens when you can't get your heart back, but that boy left you tattered and...
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"You look beautiful." My daddy said as I walked into the living room. I was draped in a light blue dress that matched the color of Zachariah's gaze. I wanted my prom dress to match my favorite color.
A throat cleared from the screen door, where Zachariah stood honing a black tux with a tie that matched the color of my dress. He ran his hand through his hair, as his blue stare followed a path from my curled hair to my eyes, all the way down my sequined blue dress to my cowgirl boots. When his gaze landed on mine again, there was a fire that said tonight he would take another of my firsts. A first I was so ready to make his. A first I wouldn't give anyone else.
I glanced back at my daddy and smiled. "Thanks daddy." I walked over and gave him a hug. It had been four weeks since my mom left, but we both still felt the sting. The lingering pain of her finding someone new. Of wanting a family with someone else and leaving us behind. She hadn't once tried reaching out to me. So today was bittersweet. I always pictured my momma helping with my hair and makeup. I was lucky though. Daryle was at work, so Zachariah's mom Ann came over to curl my hair.
"You are good for him, ya know?" Ann said as she was curling a piece of my hair. "After his father died, both of our lights dimmed, but I don't think I have ever seen that boy shine like he does when it comes to you."
I was so thankful for the words she said to me. I needed it. Especially when we only had a couple weeks left of school and then soon, he would be leaving. I also wanted to question her. Why would she let a man beat on her son? It was lingering on the tip of my tongue to ask the question, but I just bit it and held my piece inside. Wanting so badly to protect that boy from the evil of the world. But I knew he would be leaving soon, and it wasn't my place to make things worse.
My mind came back to the here and now when I felt Zachariah curl his hand in mine. My eyes flew up to his and his said everything I didn't know if I would ever hear him speak. "You're beautiful." His rich southern voice shook me to my bones with the fragments that were cut around the edges, like it was hurting him to speak those words for some unknown reason.
I just forced a smile up at him and squeezed his hand. "You ready?" The whisper fell off my red painted lips in a way that said my whole body was trembling with what tonight would mean for us.
He led the way to his dark green f150 that sparkled in the bright showcasing a beautiful sunlit sky. It was such a beautiful truck, but I wasn't sure where it came from.
"You like it?" His lips grazed my ear as the words left his mouth.
I was nodding my head before I could even form words. "Yes." I said in a hushed tone.
I looked over at him and the look on his face was a drug I could get high on. A drug that claimed my soul with his next spoken words. "I have been working on it all year. It was rough when I first found it. I knew I couldn't take you to prom on my Harley, so this was my plan." His eyes shined with something I couldn't place before he spoke again. "Plus, you will need a way to get around with me gone."
