
The sky was a bright blue on the late August day. Tears filled my eyes as I was forced to say goodbye to Mike as he left for college. Mike and I had been best friends for the longest time, but recently our friendship turned into something more.
Summer nights at the local old historic train depot were filled with kisses and whispers of future plans. However, I never knew how hard it would be to watch him leave for college while I stayed behind and finished high school. What wouldn’t I give for it to be June again with the whole summer ahead of us.
A single tear slid down my face. Trying to be brave was harder than I thought.
Mike brushed the tear from my cheek. “It’s only a few weeks. I’ll be home for homecoming. Shh, please don’t cry.”
“I’m worried you’ll find a college girl and forget all about me.”
Pulling me into his arms, Mike hugged me tight. “There’s noone who could compare with you. You’re the girl of my dreams. You get my jokes. You listen when my parents are ragging on me. Basically, you made me want to be a better person.”
Just then the sound of a horn splintered the air. The cab was here to take Mike to the train station. A sob escaped my lips as I pulled Mike close and kissed him with all the passion inside me.
Tears slid silently down my face as he walked away.
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The hug of love by Lindsay Downs
When he first approached she could see care and concern in his eyes. It came at first as an unwelcomed hug but slowly grew into one of love. Not the physical kind but the emotional kind. Something she needed and refused to admit.
Losing a parent was one thing but the loss of a sister, only a few years older, was something entirely different.
She’d made it through the day not thinking about how her sibling had died. When asked by some of the other students she played dumb, “We still haven’t gotten the official report.”
But, by some reason, somehow he’d known and kept it within him.
Soon she’d have to admit, not only to herself but the others the cause of her sister’s death.
Then it came, word that she’d be returning to the States on an Angel Flight in three days. Until then it had all been a dream, no a nightmare. What made it even worse was the word her body would be accompanied by someone not only from her unit but home town. This got her thinking who it could be as many of the seniors, after graduating had enlisted.
A few she knew well enough to talk to but most had ignored the little bratty sister.
All she could hope, it would be one of the nicer former seniors now soldiers. At least she might be able to get the truth, had she suffered?
With the comforting hug she knew who’d bring her home.
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The Tour-By Samantha Pleasant
Alice watched the couple under the tree and remembered how she and Michael had been on campus. Stealing moments together when they could between classes. She wasn’t supposed to be with him, but she didn’t care. Her uptight family would just have to accept she’d fallen in love with Michael Moralas.
Now their son could have the same memories of holding his girl close to him under the same tree where her love had bloomed.
“Are you ready?” Clark her tour guide asked.
“Where’s Donovan?”
“He’s gone off with some other players to visit the facilities.”
“Shouldn’t I be with him?”
“No. I thought I could show you around.”
“I went to school here I’m more interested in what my son thinks.”
“I’m more interested in what you think,” Clark boldly stepped toward her and brushed away a loose bud that had fallen from the tree.
“What are you doing?” she asked looking at this man that was barely past the legal drinking age.
“May I call you Alice?”
“I don’t…what…”
“Your son will be fine, but you…” he sighed and stepped further into her space. “You have a look in your eye that is telling me you need something more.”
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Passing Time By Elissa Daye
She stared at the picture with a heavy heart. She had not expected all those pent up emotions to come hurtling to the surface the moment she removed the photo from her memory box. One small snap shot from a time where it was still easy to believe that the world was filled with endless possibilities, a time when the uncertainty of the future did not bleed dangerously into the present.
Renee ran her fingers over the image of her and Michael. It was the day he left for college, the day she had almost had the courage to tell him how much she cared, to share the feelings that had tortured her silently over the years. Their circle of friends had completely disbanded after high school as everyone scattered across the country, and within moments their summer had been filled with just the two of them.
The day he left, she had been so close to sharing everything with him, but she could not find the courage to let go, to be free from the solitude that came from loving from afar. She had lacked the courage and conviction to shed her skin before him, so Renee did the only thing she could. She let him go and watched him walk out of her life forever. She had known it would be that way. People left. Friends forgot. Life went on.
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REASONS by Kris Austen Radcliffe
Denmark treated her well. She walked different, taller maybe. The bag pulled on her back but she kept her shoulders square.
She’d always watched the world. The day we met—a new school for me, an old world for her—she paid attention. I crossed the street with an empty pack, my schedule in my hand, my reasons for such a shock written all over my face.
She said, “Hello.”
I’d told myself she’d come back. Denmark wasn’t special, just another place with other ways of talking and walking. How hard could six months be?
Now, she wrapped her arms around my neck. I realized I hadn’t breathed since she lifted her suitcase from my car’s trunk and set it down under the skycap’s scrutiny. Since she walked through those airport sliding glass doors, her passport in her hand.
She leaned into me, her scent so new and fresh that for me, the birds twilled pitch-perfect and the grass brightened to a brilliant green. But I counted the moments, waiting for her to step back. Hugs had limits.
She didn’t move away.
“Janet picked me up.”
Her sister. No one told me when her flight came in.
Her hand slide down my arm and rested in my palm. “I missed you.”
Denmark treated me well. I smiled, my book-laden pack on my back, my reasons written all over my face.
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Wager over Coffee by D. Renee Bagby
She sighed and unashamedly watched the two kids -- appeared to be high school aged, maybe college -- hugging. They were so cute. Ah, young love.
"What are you sighing about?" He set her coffee order in front of her and then sat down to drink his own.
She pointed at the kids. "Aren't they cute?"
He glanced at the kids, snorted and sipped his coffee before he said, "She's doing the just-friends hug and he's hoping she keeps pressing her boobs against him."
"You are so not a romantic."
"I paid for coffee, didn't I?"
"That's not romantic. That's your job as my husband."
"Says who?"
"And other related duties. Paying for coffee fits under that heading."
He reached beneath the table and caressed his hand under her dress. "I can think of some other related duties I would like to be doing."
She smacked at his hand in a half-hearted attempt to halt his progress. "Stop that. Someone will see us."
"That possibility is only making you wetter." He trailed a finger over the damp spot on her panties. "How about a little wager?"
"What's that?" She squirmed as he edged her thighs open wider so he could slip his fingers past the edge of her panties. "Stop."
"We're going to finish drinking our coffee. If you make a sound, you have to pay for dinner."
"And if I don't?"
"I'll pay and we'll do this again at the restaurant to decide who pays for dessert."
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Best Friends by Tricia Drammeh
The moment I saw Adam coming toward me, I began to regret not taking more time with my appearance that morning. It was too late now. Why should it matter anyway? He didn’t care how I looked. Adam was my best friend. And, that’s all he’d ever be. It was becoming impossible to control my reaction to him. I wanted to tell him how I felt, but couldn’t bear the idea of him rejecting me.
“Beth and I broke up,” he said abruptly.
I suppressed a smile. Beth was horrible to Adam, even demanding that he stop spending time with me. Any hope I felt was fleeting. Adam was hot; he could have his pick of girlfriends. He certainly wouldn’t choose me.
“What happened?” I asked.
“I decided I didn’t want to be with her anymore.
“Right before Homecoming? Was she pissed?”
“Yeah, but she’ll find someone else.”
“What about you? Have you found a replacement date?”
“Not a replacement. My first choice.”
It was just as I expected. He’d already moved on. “Oh, yeah? Who?”
“You.”
My heart hammered in my chest. “Okay,” I stammered as my face heated. “But, if you find someone else between now and then, you don’t have to worry about me.”
“I’m not asking you to fill in,” he said. “You’re my first choice, the person I want to be with. I’m in love with you.”
A tear snaked down my cheek. He pulled me into his arms. “So, is that a yes?”
“Yes.”
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