When It Ends

The Night Before

The stars shimmered. They brightened and then they darkened, as if they were jumping at us on a big, dark blue blanket, coming closer and then retreating back. The half moon, however, only stared at us with its constant bright glow, as if it were waiting for something to happen. Anything. I guess, in a way, I was waiting too.

A street light to the right of us flickered its dim orange color. It's been flickering since last week and only now have I thought about telling the city about it. I almost laughed at the thought. I wouldn't tell the city. Soon enough, the city itself would notice and change the bulb. Besides, by tomorrow, this won't be my city anymore.

While that light struggled to illuminate, the others shined without it. They lit up our entire neighborhood, glimmering over the dusty brown dirt and tan potholed driveways.

The sky was a deep shade of navy blue. It wasn't black, and I guess that was okay for us. It somehow made the night less sad, less final. It gave me the idea and hope that Danny and I had more time. Somehow, I felt like time was slowing and I wondered if it were slowing for us.

It was quiet with only the faint chirp of a cricket, and grew chillier as the night progressed, however the warmth of Danny radiated off of him and it gave me not only a source of heat, but a sense of security, and for now that was enough.

Danny's large arm was under my head while my right hand rest on his chest. I wondered if my head's position on his arm made him uncomfortable, but he simply stared at the sky, one leg laid down and one propped up. His washed blue jeans looked heavy on him.

I wondered what he was thinking.

Suddenly, a gust of wind hit us and I shivered. Slowly, Danny sat up. I watched him as he took off his flannel shirt and draped it around my shoulders. I didn't say anything, pulling it over me and leaning into him as we sat up. My head rest on his shoulder as his hand went around my back and set itself on my right hip. It felt so normal and usual.

"I don't want this night to end," I told Danny, staring at the little part of the state that was home. "Why does it have to end?" I whispered.

It all happened so quickly. Meeting Danny was something of an accident. I never imagined a guy like him would ever fall in love. He was a cars kind of guy, working with his dad non-stop at his shop just down the road every day after school. His dad was his best friend, but somehow as our relationship grew deeper, I feel I have also been able to acquire that title.

Again, who would ever think that Danny and I would be best friends, let alone a couple? It was simply coincidence that he and I had to stay in a class after school to make up a test. We were set to make up the same test on the same day at the same time. We weren't in each other's classes. We don't have the same schedules. And yet, we both basically failed it and we talked and talked about how much we hated the make-up. From there on out, I realized that the quiet, tall, broad boy that knew everything about cars, was a boy only the lucky get to truly meet. And I was very thankful that I was one of them.

The next year with him was something of a surprise. I grew to know him. I learned he loved movies, especially horror. I learned the way he spoke, the type of vocabulary he used. I memorized his walk and his favorite shirt and pair of shoes. I learned almost everything about him. I was smitten with him. Everything about him. The way he did his hair, the way he winked, the way he shrugged, the way he cried, the way he laughed, and the way he got angry. To me, he was absolutely perfect.