Georgia Stars

I had done this so many times that I had it down to a science. It was something you got better at each time you did it. In my head, I felt myself crumble, knowing this was the last time this would happen. But I pushed that away and scurried out of the back door, smiling up at the stars.

I pulled my light brown cowboy boots on my feet and ran around to the front, jumping in Brad's waiting arms. He held me tightly for a second, before he kissed my forehead, releasing me from his grasp.

"Hey," I breathed out. Brad smiled down at me, his smile shining as bright as the moon above us. He didn't say hello back, but he did duck his head and press his lips against mine so softly that I barely felt his lips on mine.

He pulled me around, helping me into his truck just like always. Neither of us said anything about how this was our last night together. We didn't want to ruin everything, he didn't want to make me cry just by thinking about it again. Brad kept his fingers laced in mine, resting them on his thigh as he drove, the sounds of Toby Keith keeping us from complete silence. I leaned my head on his shoulder, letting my eyes close tightly in bliss for the entire drive.

I knew where he was taking me just by the winding of the roads. I had become so accustomed to this drive that we made almost once a day for the past two months. He called it our spot, a place that was never infested by people we didn't want to be around. It was always just us, no one else. That's just as we liked it.

We arrived at the lake not ten minutes later, and he laid down a blanket in the grass, just like he always did. We laid under the Georgia night, my head on his chest with his arms wrapped around me as if he never wanted to let go. And to be completely honest, I didn't want him to.

My eyes looked deep into the sky as I tried to count every star that was making an appearance in the clear night. I sighed in content.

"They're so bright," I commented softly, knowing he could hear me over the music that was playing quietly from his red truck. Brad's steady breaths washed over my hair as I felt my white summer dress ride up slightly. I lifted my chin to look up at him, feeling his gaze burning through the top of my head. Brad smoldered me with his eyes, causing me to shudder slightly. This only caused him to pull me closer to him.

"They may shine bright, but your blue eyes put the stars to shame, Emma Lee," he whispered, raising his hand to brush a piece of my hair away from my eyes. I sighed, laying my head back on his chest to look back up to the radiant stars.

"That's a lie," I replied after a few minutes, focusing on the way every single star in the sky shined its own way.

"I would never lie to you," he said, not waiting a full second before he responded to my accusation.

Silence was something that wasn't rare between Brad and I. Neither of us found the need to talk unless it was actually significant. We just wanted to be together, in each others presence. We already knew each other as well as we could. All we cared about now was being with each other.

Because in a few short hours, we won't be together anymore. I'll be on my way back home to Seattle, and he'll be staying here in Georgia, a half a world away. I would go home to Washington for two weeks before I started my senior year, and Brad would be heading up north to Minnesota for his own last year of high school. It didn't matter where we were going to be in the next year, the only thing on our mind is that we weren't going to be together.

I never realized how attached I could become to someone in such a short amount of times. Three months was all it took for me to fall completely head over heels for Bradley Miller. He's everything I've ever wanted, a gentleman, honest, trustworthy, and loving. Most of all though, he was also my best friend.

"Dance with me," he suddenly spoke, his chest vibrating under my cheek.

"What?" I asked with a laugh, turning my head to look up at him, but he was already standing, not giving me a choice but to stand with him. I giggled again as he wrapped his arms around my waist. Looping my arms around his neck, I recognized the song flowing from the truck as what Brad knew to be my favorite song, Why We Said Goodbye by Tim McGraw, and we started to sway along.

Our movements were slightly slower than the song was, but neither of us really cared nor noticed. The crickets chirping and the old bullfrogs added to the tune, singing a song of their own as Brad and I were completely lost in our own world. We moved to the soft piano as Brad mouthed the lyrics into my hair. I closed my eyes against his chest to hold back the tears that were fighting to be let loose. There was nothing more I wanted than to stay with him forever, to stay seventeen for the rest of eternity.

The moon shone down onto the lake, reflecting off of the murky water like a spot light that had missed us by a good couple of yards. It was ironic how it all worked out, Brad and I never wanted to be in the spot light, we didn't want any unneeded attention. If there were someone else butting in, we would have to share our special world with them. But this place was just for us, we didn't want any intruders.

"I don't want to leave," I whispered shakily as the song came to an end. Brad's arms tensed around me as the words came out, even though we both know he was thinking the same exact thing as I was. We were both dreading for the sun to come up in a few hours. We wanted it to be night time forever so I never had to leave, and we could just stay here and be like this for the rest of our lives. But we couldn't, summer had come and gone quicky.It was time for me to leave and we couldn't do anything about it.

"I know," he replied just as softy, pressing his lips to my head as he knew I was about to cry by the way I was shaking. The song was over now, and a new, more upbeat song began, but Brad didn't stop swaying us from left to right. We danced into the night, losing ourselves in each other, in the moment that should have lasted longer than it did.

The sky faded from the black abyss, eventually melting into a lighter blue. The gorgeous stars disappeared into the night completely. The tears were close to escaping once again as Brad held onto my hand tighter than he ever had. Though all I wanted to do was stare at Brad so I could remember him exactly how he was, my eyes forced themselves to watch longingly as all of the familiar sites flew by. This is the last time I'll ever see the old barn on the left, or the field from the first night we really had the chance to meet each other. The stores that passed by with the sweet old ladies who worked in them, and the houses that the twins Joel and Joey Stoy had lived in their entire lives.

By the time we got tomy Aunt May's house, I was sobbing silently, but my cheeks remained dry. My breaths were taken in the form of gasps and shaky intakes. My parents car was sitting in front of Aunt May's house, just as it had been three months ago when they dropped me off here.

No matter what I thought when I first arrived, Alpharetta, Georgia is home to me. They always say that home is wear the heart is. Whoever 'they' is, they couldn't be more right. My heart was now a proud possession in Brad Miller's collection, and it was going to stay here in Alpharetta with him.

"I can't believe this is it," Brad said, his so low that it barely caught my attention from where my parents and Aunt May stood on the porch, obviously talking animatedly about something. If I knew my parents like I knew I did, they were upset that I wasn't home at six in the morning, but rather out with some boy. I watched as the black farm cat, Binx trotted along the wooden railing of the porch.

I nodded, looking over at him as the tears once again tested my eye lashes. Brad wasn't looking at me though, his eyes were fixed on the steering wheel in front of him. After a few moments, he raised his eyes to look at me, his blue eyes filled with melancholy and infinite sadness.

"Yeah," I agreed at a whisper, searching his deep eyes for anything that I could possibly forget about him. But I knew that wasn't possible. His thousand watt smiling face will be etched into my brain forever. Brad looked up to where my Aunt May was watching us, not listening to my parents as they talked and looked back at us occasionally. The fragile old women smiled her sweet, fragile smile and nodded her head once before she looked away from us and to her son, my father.

"You need to go," Brad spoke sadly, casting his eyes back down upon me. I nodded, knowing he was right. It wouldn't be long before my parents waltzed down the driveway and drug me a thousand miles away.

Brad lowered his head and kissed my lips once, a short, soft, perfect kiss. I was dizzy when he pulled away only a second later, wishing I could always feel that way.

"Bye Bradley," I whispered looking up into his emotional eyes with my own watery ones. I tried my best to hold it together, promising myself I wasn't going to cry. Yet.

"Bye Emma Lee," he said back, before kissing both of my cheeks as softly as he could, before he pressed his lips for a short kiss to the tip of my nose, and then my forehead, letting his lips linger for just a few seconds. Brad leaned over me, opening the door for me easily. I bit my lip to choke back the tears, looking at him one last time before I stepped out of his truck for the last time, and closed it behind me.

Brad pulled out, driving off down the street, towards the big, orange sun that was starting to rise over the town. As soon as he was out of view, the tears poured down my cheeks like a waterfall, showing no sign of stopping anytime soon.

Aunt May was the one who came down to hold me close to her until my tears slowed down, but they didn't for a while as I hiccuped only so I could get some air into my lungs as I choked on sobs. I knew nothing would never amount to this. Because in the next half hour, I was in the backseat of my father's car, letting more tears leak from my eyes as I watched the two day long drive back to Seattle flash by with only one person on my mind.

Everything I do leads me back to you,
I know I just can't let us go.