The Way You Loved Me [Under Edit]

"Promise me one thing.."

"I have to go."

    One minute he was there and the next he was gone. Leaving me at my bedroom door, Spenser's footsteps thundered through the house. He was forcing me to reenter the past alone. Stll reeling from our... encounter, I caught myself touching my lips. Had that really happened?

    "What on earth is happening," I grumbled. Tears played at my eyes as I ventured into my room. It was just how I'd left it, still untouched despite the passing year. A quaint little room, it housed a small twin bed, a nightstand, as well as an armoire, desk, and full-length mirror. The mismatched furniture stood out against the neon green walls, a reminder of my more wild days. Perhaps I should have listened to my mother when she'd warned me about such a loud color.

    "You'll hate it a year from now," She said once we reached the check-out lane, "There's no going back once you're committed."

      "I know," I replied, haulting the large paint bucket onto the conveyor belt. "I love it. It's my favorite color."

   Favorite color? I don't think so.

   Running a hand across the large armoire, I noticed that it's black finish was chipping away. "CMA wuz here!!" was carved into the wood, barely visible with the naked eye. Fingering  the engraving, I couldn't help but smile. I remembered it then: the day I'd stolen River's compass so that I could use the sharp needle to carve away the paint, and eventually the wood.

    "You're going to be in trouble," Mara Lange's eight-year-old voice taunted. "Your mommy is going to be maaaad." I could invision her then, her shiny blonde curls pulled into pig tails at the nape of her neck; tiny ringlets sprouting from the pink ribbons tied around her hair.

   Sticking her tongue through the gap in her front teeh, she laughd, "Look what I can do!"

   I met Mara when I was seven. We were both in Mrs. Hathaway's third grade class, drawn to each other by our common dislike for the wrinkly old woman.

   "Let's be best friends," Mara whispered behind her hand, leanging across the aisle once Mrs. Hathaway turned her back, "Forever and ever."

   "Okay," I whispered back. From then on, Mara and I were inseparable; we did everything together. If she wanted to go to the park, so did I. If I wanted to take dance lessons, so did she.

   Mara Lange and I were like two peas in a pod right up until the accident. Like Spenser, I never heard from her again.

   "Best friends forever!" Her childhood self screamed.

   Who would have known forever was so stinkin' short.

Reverend Tom Eubank was lecturing about being firmly rooted in your faith and never doubting God, when my family decided to make its appearance. We were all running late because mom decided to straighten her hair; let's just say, it didn't turn out so well so she had to wash her hair so it'd be curly. Once we pulled into the parking lot, Ava and I booked it from the car, hoping that the sermon hadn't began yet. We couldn't have been any more wrong.

    Slipping through the back door of the chapel with Ava on my hip, I avoided angry glares as I slid into one of the back pews. Unfortunately, I hadn't paid any attention as to who I was sliding in beside.

   Spenser cleared his throat, fighting back a laugh, as I looked at him. He looked very different compared to his disheveled appearance appearne this morning; dressed in jeans, an untucked button-up, and a loose tie, he looked picture perfect. Sporting his usual messy hair, he couldn't hide his smirk.