Can it Work? (Student/Teacher)

It had been one of the best summers ever. After meeting the most PERFECT guy ever, any girl would be happy. Tall, dark hair, green eyes, sexy grin that made my heart melt. Whenever I was with him, I could barely stop smiling, and my heart was always racing a mile a minute. He was my first real love, no one else could compare to him, ever. My previous boyfriends, I realize now, were all just crushes compared to what I felt for him. Sadly, summer doesn’t last forever.

My parents owned two summer cottages that they decided not to rent both out this summer due to the fact that a couple of tenants last year nearly destroyed the place. So me and my friend Carla decided to live there this summer, fixing it up, and watching over the other cottage. My parents let us keep some of the rent money for food and other little household expenses in exchange for playing landlord. We both worked part time for spending money (not that there was much to spend your money on in PEI) at Cow’s ice cream shop on the Cavendish boardwalk, and for something else to do. Whenever we weren’t working, we were on the private beach that the cottage was on, or Sandspit, the small amusement park nearby. Only others in cottages nearby could gain access to this beach, and it was on the south shore, so the water was warm, the each empty, and the waves were non-existent. I met him there, of all places.

He was staying at another one of the cottages over the summer with a couple of his university friends his parents owned, and wanted him to repaint it, both inside and out during the summer. In exchange, him and his friends lived there over the summer for free. He worked full time at Surf and Sport nearby. We first met in the second week in July when Carla and I were having a bon fire on the beach, and they wandered over and asked to join us. Carla and I said sure, and we became friends from there. About two weeks later we were pretty much inseparable. Soon enough, he asked me out on a date, and we were together for the rest of the summer. He didn’t care that I was a senior high-school student, and he was starting his fourth year in university. Our age difference was only 3 years apart because when I was younger, I got into a serious car crash, and had to redo grade 4, whereas he was smart, and skipped a grade.

He wanted to be a chemistry teacher. I laughed at this, because he could barely teach me how to throw a football. He said that I was too distracted and that I wasn’t paying enough attention to learn.

We both knew it was never going to last. I lived in Alberta, he lived in New Brunswick, and neither of us believed in long-distance relationships. When summer ended and we both had to leave, we walked along the beach hand-in-hand for hours, not saying a word.  My plane left early the next morning, so that night was our last. He loved me over and over, not saying a word. I kept wishing it would never end. After it was over, and he collapsed beside me, he whispered three little words into my ear, “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I replied, letting the tears that I had been holding back spill over. He pulled me close, and comforted me, not saying anything, just stroking my hair and holding me. When I had woken up, he was gone, and there was a note left behind.

Sam, I’ll find you when you graduate. If there’s another guy, I’ll just steal you back.

Love, Adden

The plane ride back to Alberta was filled with silent tears, and reading the note over and over, until it was etched into my memory.