BEFORE

"I'll miss you so much," he whispers, cupping my cheeks as my hair blows across my face, the wind causing it to be hard to be heard. Resting his forehead against mine, his arms circle me, those shocks running through my body, my heart skipping multiple beats left and right. What are these feeling? For all the time I've known him I've never been able to describe how I feel around this boy, how he just makes me feel alive and loved. "Axel, you'll excel where you're going, I promise you that, and I'll be here, you have my number and we can Skype all you want," I comment, moving my face into the crook of his neck, loving the way he smells. His hands run through my brunette hair, his lips so close to my ear as I hold him tighter. "I believe in you." "What if I don't come back?" "What do you mean?" I ask, pulling my head back to look into those eyes, those pale blue yet ocean blue eyes that I want to dive into and never be released from. I could drown in their beauty. Sure, he's not the catch of the group, but for me, he's more than enough, to me he's my Prince Charming who needs no looks or status to be someone I love. What started out as a friendship four years ago has only resulted in is standing here, holding each other as lovers more than friends. "I bet you'll come back for Christmas and all, Axel," I explain, taking ahold of one of his hands. Compared to his father, a built man with sharp features and tall, Axel is completely different, being thin, acne everywhere, thick-framed glasses, and short. However, I don't care what he looks like, I care that he loves me and never wants to see me break down. "Just promise to keep in contact." He offers me a smile, one of braces, one that I think is adorable. I don't know how people turn him down, how they don't see the amazing boy I've learned to love in seconds. But lately, things have been changing, how he's starting to be gone on the weekends, how he's always out in the woods, and his father showing him the ropes of his business. All Axel has told me this that his parents are sending him oversees to Belgium for however long they see fit for a school of what I've been told is business. There's no doubt he won't be good in that field, for he has his father's brain, and his father has a whole private estate on the outskirts of town. But as we stand here, the private jet with Monquieff in gold letters across the side (the family name) I don't care about how this school will prepare him for a successful career, I want to be selfish and have him by my side as I head for high school. "I don't know when I'll return, Winifred," he replies, releasing his right hold on me and my heart feels as if a knife has been taken through it. "It's difficult to expla- "Mr. Monquieff, we need to be leaving now," his father's butler, Cade, interrupts, looking between the two of us not wanting to let go. Axel takes a step back, his thick brown locks looking like good streaks in the sunlight as he watches me. "I love you, Winni," he adds, giving me one last look as he turns around. "I love you too, A," I reply, watching as he looks over his shoulder, offering m a small wave goodbye as my eyes water. "Take care!" He goes up the steps, blowing me a kiss. I catch it, placing it to my heart as he is gone inside the plane, away from sight. Cade comes back, pulling me away from the jet as it begins to move. And just like Axel, the jet soon disappears into the sky as it flies through a cloud, gone from my line of vision as a tear falls down my cheek. I'll never give up on that boy I want to be next to for eternity. Days turn to weeks, weeks turn to months, and months turn to years. By the end of summer before high school Axel had cut of contact with me, his last text telling me he missed me and he had made a few friends. As my freshman year passed bye I found myself scoping out his i********:, seeing him out with friends with the looks and money, experiencing new cultures as he always smiled. By winter break he didn't return, and by New Years, I decided to never look at a single piece of his social media again nor text him. As sophomore year passed I found myself keeping up contact with his grandmother, Gege, a woman I was proud to call a woman who I could look up to. I had frequent meeting with her, reading classic books and helping me understand science better as we drank tea. By my Junior year I was finding myself excel in academics as another boy came into my life, Charlie Potter, the golden boy of the school. As I became a Senior, I got into my dream school of Columbia and I finally went out with Charlie Potter, putting Axel behind me. I graduated top of class that year, giving my speech as I talked about change and how it makes you find either defeat or determination. My high school career helped me forget Axel Monquieff, the boy I had once wanted to marry and grow old with now. By graduation I had forgotten all the feeling I had for Axel Monquieff. I believed he was never to be back in my life, and at the time, I loved that. I could never understand why I felt alive around him though, why I felt like my soul was on fire and my heart unable to control itself. I guess it was just a feeling to come, and then pass. After all, life comes and passes, without a care in the world. Axel wasn't meant to be, and now, as I stand on my front porch, waving goodbye to Charlie, those pale yet ocean blue eyes flash through my mind. Once again overwhelming my senses.