He Came Back For Me

Our love story was 23 years in the making. Meeting each other was no accident, or coincidence. It was destiny. Written in the stars and happened when they all aligned. A million little things had to come together perfectly. People had to die, be born, and meet at just the right moments in time to ensure our love story would come to fruition. Once our eyes met the connection was forged. It was instantaneous. And no amount of time or distance could sever it.

It didn’t matter that we were just children when it happened. Destiny knows no age limit, or such prejudice.

But even with all the work and effort that destiny had put into making sure we came together; our love story was not without its flaws. There would still be times of trials and tribulations. No one goes a lifetime without times of self doubt, jealousy and anger.

Getting through those hard times together as one is what makes our love story one for the ages. And it all started when two children were brought together.

“Bianca!” My mother calls me from the patio, as I play with my dolls in the yard.

“Yes, momma!” I start to put them away in my basket when I hear foot steps come towards me.

“I want you to meet Jim’s little brother.” I stand brushing down my dress. I look up but as I turn around my long dark curls cover my face. Brushing my hair out of my face I take a deep breath in and blow out hard at the hairs still in my face in frustration. When I finally face them, I see him for the first time and freeze. The sunlight on his dark hair shows the gold tones making him look almost angelic. The scowl on his face slowly fades, and his big brown eyes soften.

As I step forward he mimics my action stepping closer to me. “This is Steven, Steven this is my daughter Bianca.” I’m lost in his eyes until he smiles, and my eyes catch his deep dimples. I smile, filled with excitement.

“Hi, Steven! Wanna see the play room?” He just keeps smiling, and nods as his head slightly tilted to the side. I clap my hands and start to walk back towards the house.

As he catches up and walks next to me he takes my hand in his and intertwines our finger’s. I look down at our hands and the butterflies start to flutter in my tummy. When I look up at his face his eyes meet mine and a smirk is plastered on his face and it feels like the butterflies are trying to escape.

We spent that whole afternoon, and every afternoon after that for the entire summer inseparable.

He was supposed to go back to live with his mom at the end of the summer.

The closer it got to the end the sadder I became.

I remember what was supposed to be his last night. We made every excuse to stay up a little later. When we ran out of reasons my mom and his brother had sent us to bed. We held hands all the way to my bedroom door with our heads hung low. Stopping in front of my door with one little hand on the knob, he pulled me back into a hug and my hand dropped from the knob to wrap around his back.

As I rested my head on his shoulder a tear rolled down my little chubby cheek. A lump gathered in my throat as I squeezed my eyes closed.

“I’m gonna miss you so much Steven.” I sniffled. “I wish you didn’t ha-have to leave.” I stuttered out.

“I’m gonna miss you more Pooks. I wish I didn’t have to go back to my moms.” He said resting the side of his head against mine. “But I promise I’ll come back for Thanksgiving, and Christmas too.” I pulled back to look at him with wide eyes.

“You will?!” I whisper yelled so, my mom wouldn’t hear me. He nodded with a small smile.

“Yes, I promise. I already talked to my brother about it and he promised I could come and stay here for the vacations.” With a renewed sense of hope I threw myself against him to squeeze him tight in my arms.

“I can’t wait for Thanksgiving.” I whispered. He giggled and kissed my cheek as he pulled away.

I felt the blood rush to my face when I blushed and looked down, unable to make eye contact with him. “Good night Steven.” I looked up at him through my lashes to see his cheeks were pink too.

“Good night, Bianca.” he doesn’t leave until I’ve walked into my room and closed the door.

I was so happy for just a second. But with each step closer to my bed the feeling drifted away and I’m on the verge of tears again. By time I’ve climbed into bed and pulled the blankets over me I’m full on sobbing again. I layed on my side in the fetal position with the corner of my blanket balled up in my fists against my mouth to muffle out the sound of my cries.

I’m not sure how long I’d been sobbing when,

“Bianca?” I froze hearing Stevens voice. I pushed my self up and turned over to look at Steven. His big brown eyes were glassy, and his nose was red like he had been crying too. “Can I sleep with you tonight?” He asked with a shaky voice.

I bit my bottom lip and nodded my head. He wasted no time climbing under my blankets and layed his head on the pillow.

Steven spreads his arms out with a smile. I grinned back as I layed my head on his shoulder. He closes his arms around me as I snuggle into him. “Sweet dreams, Pooks.” He whispered as I closed my eyes.

“Sweet dreams, Steven.” I tried so hard to stay awake for as long as I could. But the next thing I knew the sun shinning through my window was waking me up.

I quickly sat up and looked around my room. Immediately my tears started to fall again when I saw that Steven had gone. “Oh no, I missed him. He can’t be gone already!” I struggled getting out of my bed, my legs tangled in my sheets and blanket. "Stupid blankets.” I grit out.

Finally able to get my feet on the ground I ripped my bedroom door open and ran right into Steven standing in front of my door tackling him down to the ground.

“Bianca!” He yelled as he fell to the ground with me on top of him.

“Oh! Steven! You didn’t leave yet!” I yelled wrapping my arms around his neck.

“Pooks, your’e choking me!” pulling back with my mouth in the shape of an O. I pushed myself off of him and jumped to my feet. I offered my hand to help him up. He took it while smiling and shaking his head. “No I didn’t leave yet." he takes both of my hands in his and bends forward bring his face down to mine. “My mom and brother said I can stay here! As long as I keep my grades up I can stay!” My eyes were wide as saucers as I gasped and jumped up and down. Releasing his hands I jumped and wrapped my arms around his neck again, throwing him off balance. We both tumbled to the floor again laughing this time, like two nuts.

That closeness between us only continued to grow as we got older. Where ever one of us was, so was the other. It didn’t matter that he was four years older than me.

That is, until it was time for him to go to college....

I sat on the foot of Steven’s bed while he packed his suitcase. He scooped up a bunch of socks and boxer to throw in it without much thought. Shaking my head I started to fold them up neatly. “For someone who is trying to get me to stay, you seem to be doing a nice job of folding everything up for me.” He teased as he lightly pinched my earlobe.

“Maybe if you see how much you need me around, you’ll stay, or take me with you.” I pouted.

“You’re 15, you cant go to college with me. You just started high school. Besides, I’ll be home for holidays, and the time will go by fast. I promise.” I fought the urge to cry, my eyes burned so bad. I’ve been in love with Steven since my mom married his brother. And even though he’s technically suppose to be my uncle I’ve never looked at him like one, and he’s never treated me like his niece. He’s been my best friend for the past ten year’s.

“You’re gonna go away and forget all about me. You’ll make new friends and get a girl friend. And I wont exist anymore.” unable to hold them back any longer the tears streamed down my cheeks. When he turned around with his hands full of t-shirts, he quickly dumped them into the suitcase so he could pick me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his shoulders, hiding my face in the crook of his neck as he sat with me on his lap.

“Hey, look at me.” I shook my head in his neck. He pulled my face away and cupped my cheeks. Looking into his eyes, they’re glassy as well. “Hey! I could never forget about you. I love you so much pooks.” He knew I hated that nickname, but right then I didn’t mind hearing it. “As soon as I’m done with school I’m coming back for you. There wont be any other girls.” I gave him a lopsided smile.

“I know you’re just saying that to make me stop crying. I’m not stupid Steve. I know the girls will be all over you. But you’ll come back and marry me.” He chuckled, and it warmed my heart like always.

“You know I am. And I promise you, there will never be another girl. You are it for me.” He wrapped me in a tight hug, and pressed his lips to mine. They felt amazing against mine. I closed my eyes feeling warmth spread throughout my entire body and melted into him. He pulled me closer and his chest became flush with mine. He slightly pulled away, but pecked them a few more times before resting his forehead on mine. I smiled wide knowing he wanted to kiss me as much as I wanted to kiss him.

He kissed me once more before he stood and set me back down on the bed gently and kissed my forehead. I just sat and refolded his messy shirts as he continued his packing.

Knowing he would be back, and that he had feelings for me were the only things that kept me from totally breaking down.

Three months, that’s the amount of time I'd have to get through without him. Just three months. Shouldn’t have been too hard. Right?