HE WAS MY FIRST LOVE

WHEN FRIENDSHIP BECAME SOMETHING MORE

Mind if I sit here ? I looked up it was Felix there are plenty of empty benches I replied

I know

Then why this one he smiled because you seem interesting I couldn’t help laughing you have spoken to me for less than five minutes exactly that means I still have a lot to discover

There was something unusually genuine about him

Not arrogant

Not overly confident

Just …..kind

He sat besides me leaving enough space that it didn’t feel uncomfortable

What are you reading he asked

Things fall apart

I like that book

You have read it twice

That surprised me

Most boys in my class avoid novels unless they were preparing for exams for the next thirty minutes we talked about books schools dreams and our favorite authors

When the bell rang I realized something unexpected

I had enjoyed the conversation

As we walked back to class he turned to me

So

So ……I think we are friends now

I folded my arms

Who said we are friends

You smiled

That doesn’t mean anything

It means am making progress

I shook my head trying not to smile again

You’re impossible

I’ve been told

Weeks passed and somehow Felix became part of my everyday life

We studied together after school

We competed over test scores

He insisted on carrying my heavy books even when I told him no to

Whenever I looked worried before exam he would leave encouraging notes inside my textbook

One day my best friend Sarah leaned across the desk

You like him

What

Felix

I don’t

You smiled differently when Felix is around you

I smiled at everyone

No Olivia you smile because of him

I laughed it off refusing to admit what I hadn’t yet admitted to myself

Because falling in love wasn’t part of my plan

It wasn’t supposed to happen

And yet every morning I found myself looking toward our classroom door wondering when he would arrive

Every afternoon I looked forward to our conversations

Every evening I replayed our jokes in my mind without realizing it the walls around my hear had begun to crumble I didn’t know it then buy first love rarely announces itself

It slips quietly into your life disguised as friendship and by the time you recognize it it already owns a piece of your heart

I had no idea that the happiest days of my life had just begun nor did I know that the greatest heartbreak I would ever experience was already waiting somewhere in the future

Because the boy who made me believe in love would one day become the reason I questioned it

The weeks passed more quickly than either of us expected

Before long it became impossible for anyone to mention my name without someone asking where’s Felix or mention Felix without hearing Olivia is probably with him

It wasn’t that we planned to spend every moment together it simply happened

We revised for examinations in the library shared lunch beneath the old mango tree and walked to the school gate together after classes