pulling out old, dust covered boxes out of the closet was tedious work, but it was necessary. she was finally moving out. after being in this apartment for so many years, she was at last escaping the place that held so many bittersweet memories. memories that, for a time, had kept her rooted here with no means of ever leaving. but now that those strange melancholy seasons had gone by, she was ready for a change.
the last box she took out was white and rather small. it had most likely been a gift box before it became a treasure box of sorts, filled with random items. she hadn't opened it in forever, so she wasn't even able to recall what was inside. she sat on the floor and curiously opened it, and the whole room seemed to freeze around her as she caught sight of the photos hidden in that box.
in the first photo he was kissing her cheek, and in the one after that he was holding her bridal style, a wide grin on both of their faces. in another he held her hand, and next he had his arm around her shoulders, squeezing her tight to him as they stood outside in the snow. her stomach twisted, and her entire body alighted, as if warning her away from these pictures. but now that she had seen them, she just couldn't stop looking. there was a whole stack of them, and she sifted through each and every one, studying them intently.
she stopped at one in particular, from around the time they had first started dating. someone else had taken this picture, and she and tyler had been laughing with one another, unaware of the photo being taken a few feet away from them. the innocence of this moment in time brought tears to her eyes, because their past selves had no idea what would become of the once pure love they shared for one another. she remembered this day so clearly it was hard to not allow it to replay in her mind on loop.
the air was cold, colorful autumn leaves crunching beneath her boots as she walked beside tyler up the driveway into his family's house. she had never been there before, nor had she ever met his family. she was nervous, to say the least, but tyler had looked at her with those caring brown eyes of his and assured her that they would love her. she had nothing to worry about.
she walked through the door with him, and she was instantly hit with tyler's familiar comforting scent. he may not have lived here anymore, but it was obvious that the scent was unique to him, to his home, and it followed him wherever he went. it was just missing that hint of pine from the cologne he tended to spray on himself.
she was immediately greeted by his parents and siblings who were overjoyed to meet her. tyler had been right. it seemed that they immediately took a liking to her, based on their kind smiles and easy conversation. she hadn't had anything to worry about after all.
tyler showed her around, taking her to his old bedroom that was still decorated the way it had been since he was a kid, he told her. she threw herself onto his bed, laying on her back as she stared up at the ceiling with a contented sigh. tyler laid beside her and then leaned over, placing a kiss on her cheek.
after the little tour, they stopped at the bottom of the staircase and tyler whispered something in her ear. she couldn't help but laugh at it, and tyler had joined in with her. it wasn't until a while later, after dinner, that the little polaroid photo was handed to them. she told him that she liked the idea of having a bunch of small photos of them together, and he had agreed with her. she slipped the picture in her pocket, planning to put it on her nightstand, right beside her bed, when she got home.
the talk of photos brought up the idea of looking through his family's old photo album. his parents had set it down on the table, both her and tyler sitting down as they flipped through the pages. tyler was so little, and so adorable, and she was amazed by the fact that he could manage to look the same all these years, from when he was just a baby until now, a fully grown adult.
