This Is My Love

After a minute, Pete pulled his lips away and rested his forehead against mine before quietly sighing. He squeezed his eyes shut as the fingers that he had tangled into my hair gently moved against my scalp.
"Pete, what's wrong?" I whispered as I reached up and placed my hand on his cheek. I was growing concerned at his sudden change of mood. He opened his eyes to fix them onto mine. He examined them for a moment before pulling him forehead away from mine and taking his hands out of my hair to place one of them on top of the hand that I had placed on his cheek. He squeezed it gently before sighing.

"There's else something I need to tell you," he stated as he let his eyes drift down to the denim of his jeans. I pulled my eyebrows together and nodded my head.
"Alright," I replied, still confused as to what it could be. All I knew was that it seemed to be important.
He took in a deep breath and looked back over to me.

"I got a record deal," he spoke almost too quickly for me to pick it up, but almost as soon as I comprehended it, I let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh my god, Bruno! That's amazing! I'm so happy for you!" I yipped excitedly as I lunged towards him and wrapped my arms around his neck, but, when he didn't return the hug, I grew worried once again. I pulled away from the hug and dropped my hands onto my lap, giving him a question look.

"Isn't it?" I asked, my voice sounding more than unsure. He bit his lip and looked up to me with hesitant eyes.
"If I take it," he paused for a moment to take in a shallow breath, "I have to move to California."

He finally looked back up to me to catch my reaction. I slowly slid my hand out of beneath his and dropped it down to my lap. I tore my eyes away from his and began to glance about our surroundings before fixing them on my lap and smoothing down the fabric of my sundress.
"Are you going to take it?" I quietly asked him, my eyes still refusing to return to him, but I could feel his stare burning into me.

"Ano, I've been dreaming about something like this for a long time, and I want to take it, I just," he stopped for a fraction of a second, "I just don't want to leave you."

I quickly returned my eyes to his and shook my head.
"No, no. You should take it, Pete. You're right, you have been dreaming about this for a while, and you should take it," I whispered through a forced smile, because though there was honesty in my statement, a very large part of me didn't want him to go. I felt tears begin to sting the back of my eyes, threatening to fall out and ruin my attempts to convince him. I needed to be alone for a moment, so I quickly stood up and begin to make my way over the rocks in a hasty escape.

"Ano! Wait!" Pete called out to me an attempt to stop me, but it didn't work. I kept going, and as soon as my feet hit the sand, I began to jog. Pete continued to call out to me as he tried his best to make it over the rocks to follow.
My actions became more sloppy, and after a couple yards of half stumbling, half running, the alcohol got the best of me, and I tripped over my own feet, causing me to collapse into the sand.

By now, tears were streaming down my face, and I had given up on making it any further.
"Ano!" I heard Peter yell as he ran up to me. Once beside me, he dropped down onto his knees. I tried to hide my tears from him, but it was no use. Peter knew me better than anyone else, and knew when I was upset. He reached over and gently grabbed my chin to direct my face into his view.

"Ano, please. Talk to me," he begged me, his voice holding concern. I closed my eyes and began to cry a little harder, but now it was because of shame. I pulled my face away from his hand and dropped my head into my own hands.

"I'm sorry, Pete," I mumbled. "Take the deal, please. I just wish you wouldn't have told me you loved me." I looked back up to him to find him frowning. He stayed silent for a moment before he spoke again.

"Come with me," he stated firmly, his request coming out in more of a demand. I let out a slightly amused laugh.
"You're kidding."
"No, I'm not. Ano, I love you. Please, come with me." His voice was now softer as he reached out grabbed my hand. I shook my head.

"Peter, you know I can't," I whispered. You see, at that point in time, my Mom had fallen ill with leukemia, and was currently admitted into the hospital while undergoing constant treatments. My Dad and I had to work almost constantly to pay the bills, whether it was minimum wage jobs, or doing paying gigs, we did what we could to bring in money just to keep her alive. He knew just as well as I that, as much as I wanted to, I couldn't just get up and move to California with him.

Peter's eyes dropped down the sand between us and he reached up and rubbed his forehead in thought. After a minute, he dropped his hand down and sighed.
"I'm not going to go, then. I'm going to stay here. There will be another opportunity. There has to be," he rambled. I lifted myself off of the ground and instead got onto my knees so that I was now at his level before reaching and placing my hands on the sides of his broad neck. I shook my head and tugged my lips up into a small smile.

"No, Pete, don't do that. I didn't mean to make you feel guilty. You have nothing to feel guilty for. This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity, and if you let it slip past to stay here with me, I'd never forgive myself," I paused and took one of my hands off of his neck to run it through the little curls of his hair before continuing. "Go. Go for me," I whispered.

His frown deepened on his lips before he reached up and gently wiped away a few of my tears. He stared at me for a moment before sighing.
"I love you," he spoke softly before leaning in and placing his lips against mine. The kiss was gentle and sad, both of us knowing that I was right. I squeezed my eyes shut as we kissed, and a few more tears fell from my eyes and traveled down my cheeks.