I've Been Waiting Such a Long Time for Someone to Come Along

Nineteen Years Later

"John, are those your parents?" The blonde girl asked her boyfriend as she pointed to the picture of a couple on his night stand.

"Hm? Oh yeah. That's my mom and dad. This is them outside of my mom's restaurant on opening day back home." The tall black-haired boy answered.

"Your mom is so beautiful!" The girl gushed as she picked up the picture for a closer look. It was the couple holding each other in front of Mill's Diner.

"Yeah, she was." He smiled sadly.

"Was?" The girl asked, confused.

"My mom died when I was fifteen." He told the girl.

"Oh John, I didn't know, I swear. I'm so sorry." She apologized.

"It's fine, Jules." He assured her.

"Will you tell me about her?" Juliet asked quietly.

"Sure." John the sixth smiled.

The two sat down on the couch in his dorm room and talked all about his parents' crazy, unbelievable love story. He told her everything from their hate for one another to their beach wedding.

"Then they got married and had my brother Eric and my sister Lacey and I." He finished after the long tear-jerking tale.

"How old are they?" She asked.

"My brother is seventeen and my sister is ten." He told her.

"Your sister's only ten?" The girl asked.

"Yeah, she was six when mom died. She hardly remembers her." The boy answered sadly.

"That must be so hard for her." Juliet frowned.

"It's harder for my dad. Lace's like a little carbon copy of mom." John chuckled.

"Did your dad take it really hard?"

"He took it worse than really hard. First, he would barely speak, then he'd hardly leave the house, then he decided to throw himself into work, but he stopped because he knew that nothing was going to make it better. We stayed with my uncle Shane all the time when he would have meltdowns. It was hard for him but he says that he still has her through us."

"Has he ever moved on?" The girl wondered.

"Ha, that's funny. He's never going to move on. Mom was it for him." John told his girlfriend.

"Wow, he must have loved her so much." She marveled, looking back down at the photo.

"He did. They were like the perfect couple. Dad would always plan this incredible stuff for her on her birthday, mother's day, and their anniversary. Sometimes he would just do stuff for her randomly. I remember this one time when she was pregnant with my sister, our uncle babysat us and he took her to San Diego for the weekend as a surprise. He always did stuff like that just because he loved her. He would always bring her home flowers randomly, even though she pretended to hate them, so now her puts them on her grave randomly, which is kind of weird... but it helps him."

"That's so sweet. You must've had the best childhood." She grinned.

"Yeah, they loved us all so much. My mom stopped working for a few years just so she could be with us at home. Money was a little tight but she still made sure we had everything we needed."

"She sounds amazing." Juliet said.

"She was. She really was. I miss her so much sometimes."

"John?"

"Yeah, babe?"

"How did it happen?" She asked softly, not wanting to upset him.

"Car accident." He answered bitterly. "Arizona is home to some of the shittiest drivers in the world."

"I'm so sorry." She repeated.

"It's alright. She's in a better place." He said. "My dad told me that holding onto her makes everything harder, but he's not ready to let go. He's never letting go, I did though."

"I can't imagine how much pain he's in."

"Sometimes I think he died with her that day."

"Part of him did. She was part of him." Juliet stated.

"Yeah, she was part of all of us." John sighed.

"She still is." She told him softly.

"She's still got the biggest part of him, though. His heart."