Ten Years

2

I don’t even remember when I met him. It’s like I had known him forever. His brother Devin was in my class and sister Harlow was the grade behind me. I don’t remember Silas from when I was young, but we hung out with a lot of the same people in high school.

Zane Valley High School was very small. It was full of good kids with not much bullying. At least that’s how I remember it. I hung out with the cooler crowd, but we really weren’t that cool. I loved art and choir.

Art and choir were actually 2 classes that I shared with Silas.

I had a boyfriend, Taylor. He was my brothers best friend and I thought I was in love. I had a crush on him for years and somehow he started to show interest in me. We dated for 6 months or so and seemed to get along great.

It was a little unexpected one day when he called to break up with me. To my surprise, I really wasn’t that upset. I remember thinking that I wondered what Silas would think of me being single. That’s when I realized that I had had feelings for him. That was really just the beginning of the rest of my life.

Silas played basketball and baseball. He had been homecoming king and he had red curly hair. His smile lit up a room and he was nice to everyone. His two best friends were identical twins, Ian and Evan. They played guitar and drums and Silas sang. He was honestly just perfect.

I will never forget our first date. We went bowling, then to Walmart because that’s just what you did in highschool. We actually bumped into my mom and dad and I remember mom giving me the thumbs up sign in approval.

It was snowing during the drive home. I was driving because Silas didn’t have his license. I started going too fast and I slammed on my breaks. It was the first time I had driven In the snow. Silas started screaming “don’t hit the breaks!” I had no idea, and I screamed “why?” I finally got the car under control and we both started cracking up.

I dropped him off at his trailer. He lived with his dad, sister and brother. They didn’t have much money and his dad was a hoarder. It always made me sad dropping him off there. I never went inside but I knew it had to be bad. I think he was embarrassed. There were old cars and trailers outside. The grass was grown up tall and there was even an old abandoned house that was falling in. I had found out later they didn’t even have water and had to shower at their neighbors house.

I would drive him around since he didn’t have a car or license. He spent most of his time at my house, if he didn’t have practice. I didn’t mind driving. It was still pretty cool since I was only 16.

I never wanted him to get out of the car. Even before we really started officially dating, I didn’t like being apart from him. The way he looked at me and really listened to what I had to say. The way he held my hand and didn’t let go even if we were with his friends.

He didn’t like leaving either. Their trailer was falling in on itself and nobody was ever home. He looked so sad when it was time to finally say goodbye.

Once I was just about to back out of the driveway and I saw him start back towards my car. I looked around to see what he had forgotten. He opened the passenger door and leaned in. His lips pressed up against mine and I just melted. This is where I was meant to be. Neither one of us wanted to part our lips, but I had to go. That was our first kiss. The first of many.