Since You've Been Gone

Chapter 1

Sunsets always had a special place in my heart. Ever since I was 13. This one was especially beautiful. Pink, orange, yellow, and violet merged into a beautiful swirl. I was sitting on a hill about a mile from my place. I do this every night. The forest had a black silhouette that just fit with this amazing sunset. I was just relaxing on the hill, when there was a voice from a short distance. "Hey there. I'm Josh." He was a hot boy. He parked himself right next to me on the hill. " Hey. I'm Alexis." "So where you from? I'm from Brooklyn." I smiled an replied, " I'm from Cavern County, beautiful place in the west of Pennsylvania." We had small talk like this for 20 minutes before I check my phone. 10:28. "Hey, call me sometime." I gave him my number and we hugged goodbye. I, being only 19, didn't think for certain. But if I was certain about one thing, it was this: we were destined to be together. I just have to figure out how.

When I woke up the next day, I had a text from Josh that he sent 20 minutes ago. It said 'Hey girl. Want 2 meet up at Coffee Central for some coffee?' I quickly texted back 'Okay what time' I got out of bed and went to the bathroom. As fast as I could, I brushed my teeth and undressed. I hopped in the shower and washed off. I got out about 5 minutes later and wrapped a towel around myself. I clicked on my phone and saw he texted back. '9:15 if it works.' 8:23. I hurried up and dried off. Then I hurried over across my bedroom to my small closet. I grabbed a chevron sweater and some black leggings. I headed back to my bathroom and put on simple makeup. I clicked my phone on. 8:38. Looked in the mirror. I think I look great for my first date. I grabbed my purse and put extra makeup and counted my money. I had $43. I walked down all these long sets of stairs. About halfway, I pulled my long, wavy, auburn hair into a bun. I headed down toward the car port. This was the moment of truth. The moment I found out if we were, you know, meant to be.

I pulled into Coffee Central at 9:13. I pulled on my sunglasses and grabbed my purse. Slammed the door and walked inside. I saw Josh sitting at table in the corner on his phone. I bought my coffee and headed toward his table. "Oh hey there," he said smiling when he saw me. "How have you been?" I set my bag on the floor and took a sip of coffee. "Good. You?" "Dandy." I swallowed hard. I figured I'd tell him now. "Josh?" I said. " Yeah," he said grabbing his coffee. I took a deep breath. "Okay. Sorry if you think I'm weird, but I like you." There was an awkward pause and he chuckled. "Hey. You know something? I like you to. I love you." I smiled and said, "Same here. Absolutely love you." But inside, I was like "Yes!!!!! He likes me!!!!!"

We spent the next hour telling stories that happened at work or school. It turns out Josh was a jock and he was also quarterback on the football team. Boy oh boy did I like him! So I asked him a question, " Should we, you know, date?" He sipped his coffee. " Of course." So I guess that meant we are now dating. I love him. A lot. He's really cute and nice. " Want to head to my place after this?" "Of course." Never in my life would I imagine that I would have an amazing boyfriend as amazing as he is.

We texted all the time. 24/7.

I would have never imagined what would happen 2 weeks after our first date.

"I'm leaving to go to the army, babe." My body froze to stone. What? I didn't hear that right, did I? I can't believe that he was going to be gone! "Oh babe." I could only text that. I grabbed my pillow and cried harder than I ever did before. Was I going to lose him? Would he be okay? That was the one thing I was scared of.

"Baby, I don't want to lose you, but I support you in your dream. If you want to go to the army than I'll be here for you." Josh sent text back, "I knew you'd support me. Love you." I smiled now. I know he'll be okay. That's just Josh. Josh can get through the toughest of times and get by with just a scratch. "Hey Josh. When will you be heading off?" He texted,"Next week." "Okay babe."

He ended up asking me via text if I could make it to dinner tonight. I, of course, said yes. I found a cute pink dress and slipped carefully into it. I did a cute smoky eye and made my eyelashes long with a lot of mascara. My phone vibrated on the counter. It was Karen my best friend. "Your dating my big brother." 5 words. Oh. My. Gosh. I was dating my best friends brother. Wow. I finished my makeup and took a selfie. Its 5.23. Leaving in 7 minutes. Oh yeah! My hair! It took me 5 minutes to fix my hair into a cute wavy piece. There was a knock on the door. I grabbed my phone, keys, and purse and went to the door. It was, of course, Josh! We were off, date number 2. Possibly our last one. I hope he makes it in the army.

When we arrived at the restaurant, which happened to be Olive Garden. He squeezed my hand. "Me and you forever." he said. I squeezed back. "Until we die." We both got out of the car and grabbed each others hand. We strolled into the restaurant, hand in hand like you'd see a normal couple. My eyes dart around the restaurant and you will not BELIEVE who I saw. KAREN. WAS. THERE. I hope she wasn't still mad at me for dating her brother. Luckily, Josh didn't notice and we ended up being seated on the other side of the room.

"Do you know why I have to go off to the army?" "No." "Okay. So my dad and I had an argument about 3 years back. I told him I didn't want to be like him and go off to the army. So he gave me this awful punishment: I was not allowed to date or get married until I went off to the army. You mean so much to me, I didn't want him to make me lose you." "Oh babe, I love you so much." "That reminds me..."

He rummaged through his coat pockets until he found what he was looking for. Do you know what he did? I froze to stone. He got down on one knee, and pulled out a small box with a ring in it and said, "Alexis Rae-Lynn Ferguson, will you make me the happiest man in the universe and marry me?" "OH MY GOSH YES!!!" I screamed and jumped into his arms. We stayed in a hug for at least 3 minutes. When we parted, he slipped this beautiful diamond ring onto my finger. We had our dinner and discussed interesting topics for nearly 3 hours. When he dropped me off, it hit me: I was going to be Alexis Rae-Lynn Jackson. This made me more than happy. It made me come to life.

He called me the next day. We talked for an hour. Oh, and in case your wondering, we knew each other for six weeks before the proposal. We made plans for when he came back from his first three month run in the army we were going to Tampa Bay, Florida. After his first three months, he would be home for a month. I just knew that these three months would just fly by.

The day he had to leave came so quickly. I drove him to the airport. He sat there waiting for his flight. He squeezed my hand and whispered "Everything will be okay." Right before his flight was leaving, I hugged him so tight. Tears fled my face. Little did I know that would be the last hug we ever had.