Almost Lovers

"You're leaving?" I stared at him in disbelief. Shane was leaving me behind and moving on. Something he promised he would never do.
"Kens, I don't have any other choice. But it isn't like I won't come back to visit." He paused so I took over the conversation.
"When are you going?" That was hard to say. His face turned pale which made his big blue eyes stand out even more. Those eyes of his had turned me to mush since the day I met him. The silence was overpowering and along with the look on his face, I knew that his answer would be dreadful.
"A month." He whispered that. Tears were streaming down my face by then. It's like he heard the tears because at that instant, he looked up and began crying himself. He took me into his arms and rocked back and forth. Being by him was the only place that I actually felt safe. And now safety was leaving. According to him, it was not forever though. He would have occasional visits, when he wasn't in school or when his parents actually got the trust for him to leave.
We continued to sit in our spot at the park, which had been ours for the past thirteen years, in silence. He eventually unhooked his massive arms from around my fragile body and stood up. I still sat on the ground seeing my life as if it had already happened. Shane would leave, I would be stuck here without my best friend, in a couple of months he would return and end up bringing some girl back with him (so his best friend could meet her). That's how it always was with us, whenever we got a date, my date would have to meet him and his date would have to meet me. But most of the time it was Shane getting the dates. The only person I wanted was Shane and for eight years I hadn't gotten the nerve to tell him that. Now he was leaving, so I wasn't planning on spilling my guts anytime soon.
He could go on and live a new life, meet new people, and have a great time doing it. I'd just stay here and live my same old boring life without him. I knew that would be the hardest thing I've ever have to do.
"We should get going, you know your mom doesn't like you out after dark." I nodded while he helped me up. My mom, she had a personality that one person in every family had. She loved to overreact. If one minor thing went wrong in our family, she was all over it. Ready to be the one to freak out or have a complete spasm.
We walked hand in hand down towards our houses. I knew in his mind though, this kind of holding hands wasn't anything serious. I wondered if he could see the disappointment in my face. But with all the runny makeup on my face, I don't think he was able to tell.
"Here we are. Night kiddo. I love you." Those were his last words before he dragged himself inside. There I stood, completely hopeless in the middle of the street. I figured I should move in case a car came, so I turned for my poorly decorated house. It was near Christmas time and my house was the only one on the block that showed no excitement whatsoever.
I entered my house and ran up the stairs. Before I had time to reach my room though, there she was, my mother.
"Where on earth have you been?" Overreacting? I think so.
"Mom, I told you before I left, Shane had something important to tell me-" Oh no. Tears were starting to well up in my eyes. Of course being a mother, she noticed.
"Honey what is it?" She put her hands on my shoulders and kissed my forehead.
"He's leaving me mom. He's moving to Florida. Can you believe his family? They are making him leave his home, they're making him leave me! Of all things, his best friend?" My legs were becoming limp, I couldn't bare to think one more thing of Shane. But I knew that I would non stop think about him from now until he leaves. And even after he leaves, I'll still be thinking of him.
"Oh," I looked up at her. I then realized, she already knew.
"You knew? You knew and you didn't have the heart to tell me?" I was screaming. I twisted my arms out of her hands and ran for my room. I locked the door. I much would have rather bolted it and soundproofed my room so I couldn't hear anyone. Especially my mom. But on the other side of the door, she was trying to comfort me.
"They asked me to keep it a secret, that Shane wanted to tell you himself. I had to keep that."
"For a person that doesn't keep secrets very well, you decide to keep the most important one?" My fingernails were digging into the carpet. I couldn't control myself.
"You're blowing all of this out of proportion." That was all she said and then she was gone.
I could barely see through my tears, but from what I did see was my favorite picture of Shane and I sitting on my nightstand. I skipped dinner that night, knowing that I was going to need a lot of time to settle down. I would probably end up throwing food if I had gone downstairs. After calming myself down, I grabbed a towel and a washrag and jumped into the shower. That calmed me down some more. Except the scalding water was more than I wanted. I quickly washed my hair and my body and then was out. I got into my favorite pajamas, lied down on my bed, and began sobbing again into my horse-shaped pillow. The next thing I knew, I woke up to my phone ringing. I knew it was Shane. I had set a special ring tone for when he called so I automatically knew it was him.
"Hello?"
"Kensley, meet me outside in five minutes. Over at my car. See you, bye." The phone line went dead. I pushed the covers off of me, slid on my sneakers, and grabbed a jacket. I tiptoed over to the window and opened it. I grabbed a tree branch that was in my reach and pulled myself out without making any noise. Sneaking out at three a.m. was not the kind of thing my mom went for.
I reached his Hyundai Tiburon, that I helped pick out, but no sign of Shane. Suddenly from behind, I was lifted off of my feet and spun around to face him. He looked even more beautiful with the rays of the moon reflecting off of his pale skin.
"What did you want?"
"I'm taking you somewhere." All I could do was just stare at him. Finally he put me down and I bounced back into reality.
"Oh, because all the stores and restaurants are open at three o' clock in the morning Shane." I said with a hint of sarcasm included. He laughed the most adorable laugh ever. I treasured hearing him laugh.
"Get in. You'll like it." I got in, careful not to slam the door and then we were off. To where, I wasn't exactly sure of. But I trusted Shane so I knew this place should be great. We stared out the windows in silence and then he turned off into an unfamiliar road.