Forced Love

Seventeen

Shawn ~
            "Six months feels like forever." I whined to Alyssa. I couldn't help but whine. I'm in love with her and I'm stuck in this apartment. I don't want to live here anymore. I want to go to college and live in some other place that isn't in California. I've spent enough time here and I need to venture outward. Outward with her, though. I feel as though I can't be separated from her. Why must I feel this way. We haven't even known each other for a year and I've already fallen so hard.
"What are we going to do?" I asked, wondering the specifics of the rest of our lives. I usually don't live by a planner, but with Alyssa, I want to. I'd do anything if it means being with her every second of the way.
"I don't know. I just want to do something else."
"Like marrying?" She chuckled at the rhetorical answer.
"Yeah, that, but like other things. I still can't fully grasp the thought of us getting married. Don't you have legal rights now, being eighteen and all, to get out of this marriage?"
She wiped the sweat from her brow.
"What, now you don't want to get married?" I asked angrily. Something I usually don't do is talk to Alyssa like this. It's usually the other way around.

"It's not that, I'm just asking...."
"Well, I am able to get out of this marriage."
"Oh... Why don't you?"
"Do you want to get out of this?"
"I'm just afraid of getting married at a young age, you know."

I pondered that thought for a little bit. This same thought has been in mind for a billion years. Neither of us can doubt that getting married at a young age is very irresponsible, but does it matter if I love her? Does age matter? It's not like I'm marrying a ten year old, Alyssa is only a year younger than me. She's right, though. We will always be too young to do the things we're doing.

"So, should we... break up?" I asked for confirmation. I didn't want her to say yes, but I didn't want her to be stuck in this situation with me.
"You know I love you, Shawn." She replied, licking her chapped lips.
"I'm taking that as a yes...."
"I've fallen for you. I just think we're together at the wrong time in our lives."
That was enough for me to let her go.

"How do we tell our parents?" She asked.
"I don't know... I just know we have to be confident in our decision."
"What about me? I'm only seventeen. They still have rights over me."
"I'll be there with you."
"What if they make me marry someone else?"
"We'll tell them once you turn eighteen, then."

She stood up and paced around the room. She obviously couldn't handle the stress. I was tempted to hold her in order to comfort her, but I can't do that anymore. Wow, I can't hold the one person in my life that I love in my arms anymore.
"I only just turned seventeen three months ago. I won't be eighteen until after the wedding."
Silence filled the room. Our plan had been destroyed just by her age. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be married to her, but it just isn't for her. So, I won't force it. Now, we're just stuck.