I took a deep breath. I clutched the roses tighter in my hand, my hands themselves turning red, and my heart racing faster than ever. I stood there, back against the wall, feeling the cool tiles chill my spine. I don't know why I'm nervous, I've known him forever. We grew into mature adults together. We do everything together, and it's always been that way. As I turned the corner, I exhaled. There he was, standing by his locker, looking perfect as usual. My mind started blanking as I walked up to him. What was I doing this for? I stopped in front of him. There he was, looking into my eyes, and all my worries melted away. He knew what I was going to say. I knew what he would answer. He smiled, and that's where it all started. That's how I found the boy that would ruin my life in the best way possible.
There were many decisions that had to be made in the matter of a couple months. There were many events and complications to be solved in the process. We had met each other in 7th grade, not much to talk about, not much to care about. We would be the people to pass in the hallways and exchange "heys" or waves. I never really gave him a second thought. That, however, changed pretty quickly. It was 8th grade when I truly looked at him. I saw him as more than a friend even though I knew that wasn't bound to happen. I saw his dimples, the way his hair fell all curly, or the way he smiled at the ground. He smiled not knowing just how beautiful of a human he truly was. When he laughed, my day could suddenly take a happy turn. When he told a joke, I couldn't help but giggle. Was I falling for him at that time, I will never know.
Things took a turn for the worse after that year of realizations. I knew he would never see me that way and getting closer to him proved my theory. He talked to me just like any other friend and told me all his secrets. I watched as he got into a relationship that may have not been right at the time. He fell and I didn't want to catch him. I had given up for a while, until we started talking once more. We talked into late nights, shared jokes, whispered secrets, and smiled. He slowly crawled into my life again. As he creeped his way in, I was letting go of the cliff. The cliff that I was holding onto so tightly. As I fell once more, it was harder and at a greater speed.
This led up to that day, where the roses didn't wilt, and where I could finally breathe.
I hadn't even said a word and I didn't need to.
We fit together like lock and key. We both knew that.
What I didn't realize at the time was that all roses eventually die.
