Young Love Was Such Dumb Love

It ended with a tree, early in the morning, John awoke as Bennett was trying to sneak out of his room. He grabbed her hand, and pulled her back into his arms as she let out a soft laugh. He missed that laugh so much, when it filled the empty room his heart swelled with happiness.

"John, I have to go," She whispered, laying down next to him and she tangled her legs in his own. He simply ignored her planting kisses on her lips and she let out a soft giggle. "John O'Callaghan, please don't make it this harder than it already is," She begged, realizing how she wanted nothing more than to stay in bed all day with him.

"I just needed to kiss you and hear your voice, so I knew last night wasn't a dream," John whispered, keeping his green eyes steady on hers. She felt a blush creep on her cheeks, how did he know that was the absolutely perfect thing to say. She heard her phone vibrating loudly and read Matt's name across the screen. "Don't go," John whispered before planting kisses on her neck.

"I have to John," She said sadly, before slipping out of his arms. She changed into the clothes she had worn last night quickly and she felt his eyes all over her. She folded the clothes she had borrowed in a pile at the end of his bed and fought back tears, she didn't want to say goodbye, but she did. "Goodbye John," She whispered, her voice dwindled as her heart broke.

"I love you Bennett Fallon and I know I messed up, but I swear I would spend every day of the rest of our lives trying to make it better if you'd let me," He projected not caring who heard, even his parents still sleeping downstairs. Her eyes grew wide before she walked over to him and pressed her lips to his. He had to of known that was perfect, it was all too tempting and she knew if she didn't leave now she never would.

"You know I love you John," She whispered into his ear, "You'll always have my heart." Just like that she was gone, John watched from his window seeing the girl he loved getting rushed off into the car with her bags in tow. That's when John learned why she left a note, it was easier on both of them to part without seeing each other. He grabbed a pack of cigarettes and a cup of coffee and wandered into his backyard.

He didn't know how long he stood there, how many cigarettes he smoked, all he could tell was his heart hurt more than it ever had before. He heard a car door slam shut from the front yard and it grabbed his attention for a bit, but then he got lost in his thoughts. Lost in the daydream of her, of her lips and how perfectly their bodies fit together.

"John?" He heard her voice, but he thought he was daydreaming. She raised an eyebrow, wondering what he was doing, his fingers tracing over a pocket-knife carving of a heart with the initials JCO + BMF forever that John had carved after they had been dating for six months to impress her. "John?" She called out again and he sighed loudly feeling his heart racing, wishing his head would stop playing tricks on him. "John O'Callghan," She called out sternly and his back straightened up and he turned to see her standing with a hand on her lip, a black pea coat over the outfit she wore last night.

"Benny? Aren't you supposed to be on a plane right now? Going back to New York with your boyfriend?" He spoke bitterly and shocked to see that she was actually there. He knew he saw her leave even though she told him she loved him, she left him again.

"Yeah, I'm supposed to be. I'm supposed to be moving on in a new city, happy and growing up. I'm supposed to be with a guy who would never hurt me and I'm supposed to love him as much as he loves me, but I'm not. John, you broke my heart and I want you to know that, I couldn't get on that plane without just telling you that," Benny ran fingers through her hair and sputtered on not completely sure how she should go about saying what she wanted to.

"Benny, I know that, I go through every goddamn day with that burden. The burden that I hurt the one person I would always love, it's so fucking wrong," John said as he unloaded the words he had never told his friends, except for Max. He felt a weight lifted off his chest as soon as the words left his lips, like now that she knew it could mean they could be more.

They stood in silence for a while, but it wasn't uncomfortable, both of them simply knew how important this moment was. Neither of them wanted to say the wrong thing and both of them were torn between their heads and hearts. For John, he knew in his head that he should want her to be happy, for her to get on with her life, but his heart wanted her- all of her. For Benny, it was obvious, her head was wary and her heart was still in love.

"Ben, I'm so, so sorry. I just love you so much and it was one moment of weakness," John whispered, pain exuding from his eyes. "The worst thing is that all I can do is apologize for it, I can't go back. I can't make it right, so I'm fucking sorry," he said raising his voice slightly.

"Stop, I'm so sick of being sorry and hearing 'sorry's, I want to feel alright again, that's all I want," Benny said, feeling her heart strings pulling with the pain in his eyes. She always thought that he was upset about it, but actually seeing the raw emotion in his eyes, it broke her heart in a different way. "I feel so messed up, I should hate you, but I can't. I don't know what you do to me," She admitted quietly, clouds were moving overheard, a wind blew reviving both of them.

"I always thought it was going to be you," She continued after he remained silent and she poured out the pent up emotions she'd been feeling since she got the phone call months ago. "I thought you were gonna be the one I marry and I thought we were gonna be the couple arguing about paint colors in our dream house, but then just kiss and make up like we always did. Then you broke my heart, and I knew something had to be wrong with me, because even after that you were still the only one I saw," She spoke concisely as a tear slipped from her big brown eyes and she wiped it quickly.

"Bennett, I swear I would do anything to atone for what I did. I love you and all I want in this life is you. Fuck money or careers or any of that bullshit, all I want is you," John stepped forward wrapping his arm around her.

"Did you mean what you said this morning?" She asked, looking up at him with a look he hadn't seen in a while. She had hope gleaming brightly from her brown eyes, a glint of happiness in them. "I-I mean about spending the rest of our lives together and making it right if I gave you the chance?" She clarified, realizing they'd said lots of things this morning.

"Ben, you know I did," He said bringing his lips against her ear, his hot breath sending shivers down her spines. Her whole body was sent into shivers, for some reason him being so close to her always had this effect on her. "Did you mean what you said? About me always having your heart?" He withdrew so he could look her straight in the eyes.

"Do you remember the night you said you loved me, not very well if I remember correctly," She joked, before nodding over to the tree where their first 'I love you's had been and where their first adventures in friendship and love had bloomed. He let out a raspy, warm laugh nodding remembering being so nervous he was slightly concerned about he might've had a heart attack. "I told you, you'd always have me, and I meant it. Always," Benny's voice dropped to a whisper, he watched her perfect lips as his heart felt whole again.

"Be mine?" He whispered, his big greenish-blue eyes crinkling in the corners with the big grin that was on his face. His hands on her hips as if he'd never let go and she never wanted him to.

"Always," She smiled before rising up on her tippy toes to press her lips to his again.

They shared a kiss, both of their bodies on fire even though it was only a peck. It was everything, the rain starting to pour down lightly, the words they had said and finally after ending the denial both of them had lived in. She broke the kiss to catch her breath that he always stole and traced her fingers on the worn bark of the tree, the scuffs from their shoes every time they climbed and she smiled.

She knew it was him, it was always him. She thought about if there had never been a tree they both wanted to conquer and they never bonded with over-active imaginations. Would they have understood each other so well? Would they had fallen in love? Never had she been so grateful for the tall oak tree growing smack dab in the middle of the fence that separated their backyards.

She grabbed her keys and John looked on curiously wondering what she was doing. She smiled before removing her fingers from the rough bark and looked over at the man she loved, who loved her back and felt happiness, true happiness. Neither of them knew how exactly what they were supposed to do or go about this, but that didn't matter. John noticed the a sharp line underneath the word 'forever' and he smiled. Forever sounded perfect to him. So you see it ended with a tree.