(My English is bad I'm sorry)
I met this person last year. We were at a Halloween party and they approached me, complimenting my military gear.
We texted. We flirted.
I didn't think much of it in the beginning. I thought we would both move on in just a few days.
We both knew someone, and he invited them out with us one day, to join us at the park.
They had told me they didn't know many people, and stayed home a lot. So when I saw them that day, standing around with others, I knew they were nervous.
We both were.
We both kept to ourselves for most of the time out, but near the end we snuck away together. We walked together in the direction of my home. On the way, we stopped at a small pond.
There we had a small, awkward conversation, and we kissed.
Twice.
We hugged, and I went home.
We hung out twice after that.
I led the conversations, but they didn't seem to mind.
We played Minecraft together, both doing our own thing but playing at the same time.
........................
We then hung out a third time. I brought them to an abandoned place, where we sat and spoke about different topics.
We were alone, and we were happy.
..........................
I became distant. I wish I hadn't.
I became worried, nervous, a bit scared even.
I had feelings for them.
But what scared me most, I believe they had the same feelings for me.
...................
I never responded to their snaps, found excuses to avoid hanging out, and overall just didn't want to see them.
It wasn't their fault. I wish I hadn't been a coward. I should have told them.
...................
Weeks went by.
I had hoped to get over them, I hoped they got over me, but it didn't feel like I could move on.
I saw them around town. We lived in a small place, and usually their snaps showed where they were. Most often, they were at the same pond where we had kissed. Maybe I was looking into it too hard.
.................
I heard from a friend there was a rumour that they were leaving the country.
I couldn't believe it. I didn't want to believe it. I didn't want them to leave.
I saw them a couple days later, they were upset, and I overheard them talking about the trip.
It wasn't a rumour. It was true.
I didn't know what to do. I didn't approach them, I avoided them.
Then I remembered a conversation we had, he mentioned how he had wanted a dog tag, like those in the military.
I bought one for them. I even had it engraved, with their name and details on one side, and a star on the back. I wanted to find them, give it to them. Almost as if god was on my side, I got the instinct to go to our pond.
And there they were, watching the sunset. They were sitting on the single bench, with their legs up on it, and back to my direction. I approached them, coming up in front so they would see me. They looked up at me and moved their legs, and I sat down next to them.
We sat for a good half hour in silence. It was a comfortable silence for me, I couldn't even think of how they felt.
After that half hour, I finally did something. I turned to them, and held out the tag for them. They didn't say anything, but took the tag. I watched them attach it to the chain they were wearing. We then watched the sun slowly go down.
When the sun was almost down, I finally spoke.
"In another lifetime, things could have worked out differently for us."
I saw them glance at me, then focus back on the sunset, but remain silent. I took this as my cue to leave.
.......................
A year had passed until I saw them again.
My friends had invited me out to hang out in the park, and as we approached it I could hear some loud music playing, and then we could see a group of people.
They were all laughing, talking, being loud but happy.
In that group, I saw him.
His hair had changed colour, but nothing else had changed, it was still him.
I couldn't take my eyes off him, taking in all the details I could see.
I saw it. He still wore a chain, and on it, the tag I had given him.
We made eye contact, he seemed to freeze looking at me. My heart stopped beating for a moment. Was he upset? Did he not want to see me? Then he smiled softly, and waved subtly, so his friends wouldn't see.
I offered a smile, and waved back, before my friends snapped me out of it and made me walk away.
I listened as their loud music faded out as they left the park.
Maybe it wasn't too late, to make this the lifetime, we became something.
