The Purest Love

I pack up my things the following day. Kevin had called earlier today to inform me that our plane leaves tonight. I packed just the basics — the bathroom necessities, clothes, and my phone.

I was hoping to tell Alec last night about what I was doing, but every time I opened my mouth, I’d choke on the words. What was holding me back? Why couldn’t I tell her? Maybe because I knew it would hurt her.

I suddenly remembered when she was younger, with zits that she’d always try to hide from me behind her hair. How every time she saw me, she’d break out in a giant grin, or start messing with her hair. I remembered all the times that we had flirted from across the room, of all the moments we had spent together. Was I really attempting to surrender all of them to forgetfulness, time, and fate? Wasn’t there any way that I could possibly hold onto these keepsakes in the next life?

“Going somewhere?” Alec asks, throwing me off the train of thought I had occupied.

“Uh, yeah,” I say, pretending to concentrate on something other than her expectant gaze.

“Well? Where you going?”

I look at her. “I’m going to go to Greece … so that I can be reincarnated.”

She stared at me, all jokes and sarcasm completely drained from her tan face. There was nothing left standing between us at that very moment except for the tense air that seemed to be suffocating me. I wanted nothing more than for her to be happy. This was supposed to be the solution — the answer to the thing that’s keeping us from being together.

“You’re kidding, right?”

The question held a seriousness that I had never thought Alec was capable of. I was speechless. She thought I was kidding, that this was a joke.

“No, I’m serious.”

“So, you’re just gonna run off to kill yourself?”

I looked down. I couldn’t say no to that — because that was exactly what I was doing.

She scoffed. “You’re unbelievable.”

“I’m tired of living like this, Alec,” I yell angrily, spinning to face her fully. “I’m tired of not being able to be with you.”

“So you think suicide is the answer?” she hisses back.

“It’s not suicide! Dammit!”

“Then what is it?”

“Reincarnation! I will come back!”

“Yeah, like that’ll happen.”

I was angry. No, I was beyond furious. Why was she — a Witch — unbelieving in my capability to do this?

We glared at each other. There was unspoken messages being sent and received from between us.

“I’m going whether you like it or not, Alexandria,” I say through clenched teeth.

She took a step toward me. Don’t call me that! her movements shouted at me as she came closer. “Listen, Josh,” she sighs, seeming calmer and more reasonable, “you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”

“Oh, and you do?”

“No, I don’t,” she snaps at my fury. “I’m just … worried about you.”

She touches my arm, trying to will me to stay here with her. “This is what I have to do to be with you, Alec,” I say quietly, taking her hand off my arm so that I could hold it. “If there was some other way then I’d do it.”

She laces her fingers through mine, staring down at our hands instead of looking at me. “What if it’s not as easy as you seem to think it is? What if you forget all about me?”

“I could never forget you.”

I was just trying to comfort her. I knew I’d find her in the next life — that was a certainty. If I didn’t come looking for her, then she’d come for me. We’d be together.

Just as it should be.

“I gotta go,” I murmur quietly. I take her face in my hand, and kiss her forehead. “Promise me you’ll be alright when I get back.”

She smiled up at me. “I promise.”

I force a smile back to her, zipping up my carry-on bag before slinging it over my shoulder. I head out from my bedroom, leaving her there.

We couldn’t say goodbye — that would just make this too hard. I knew that if she said it then I wouldn’t leave. I also knew that if she heard it then she’d probably start crying.

It wasn’t really goodbye, anyway.

I was just out of the front door when I heard Alec yell, “Wait, Josh! Don’t leave yet!”

I stop and turn around to look at her. She snatches my baseball cap right off my head, making my black hair fluff up over my eyes. She pops it onto her own, running her fingers through my hair to fix it.

“I just wanted a little souvenir to remember you by.”

I smirk.



The plane ride to Greece had been delayed due to bad weather across the Atlantic. I sighed, running a hand through my hair impatiently.

“Now what do we do?” I grumble.

“We wait till the weather clears,” Melody replies as she plays with Kevin’s hair. “Would you be mad at me if I braided your hair?” she asked him.

He looked at her as if to say Well, what do you think? “Is this your way of saying that I need a haircut?” he asks rather irritably.

“Yes and no. I actually just feel like braiding something, and Josh would yell at me if I tried to braid his hair.”

“Are you, by any unknown chance to me, pregnant?” I ask out-of-the-blue to distract her from attempting to French-braid my hair.

She opened her mouth, and there was no doubt in my mind that she was going to tell me off, but instead she merely closed it, looked at Kevin, then opened it again. This repeated for a few minutes. I was growing amused as I watched the concentration on her face, and then Kevin decided to pay attention to what was going on with his wife.

“What’s wrong with her?” Kevin asks me.

“She’s trying to figure out if she’s pregnant,” I say, chuckling as she started counting her fingers.

“What? Of course she isn’t —”

Kevin stopped mid-sentence, and his eyes suddenly went wide. Ah, a double show, I think as I watch them.

“Holy mother—”

“What?” Melody asks.

“I just had an ‘aha!’ moment,” Kevin says, staring straight ahead, but not seeming to see anything. Melody and I wait patiently for him to continue. Finally, he turns to Melody. “You’re pregnant.”

“What? No, I’m not,” Melody says, waving it off. “My period was exactly …”

She started counting the days on her fingers, and Kevin just rolled his eyes. “Your last period was over two months ago, Melody.”

She looked at him. “And how would you know?”

“Because every time you’re on your period, you call me a son of a bitch.”

Realization dawned on Melody’s pretty face. “Huh. Who knew?”

“You seriously do that?” I ask, eyebrows raised.

“Yes,” they say together.

“I can answer for myself,” Melody says, though it sounded more like whining. Kevin rolled his eyes. “Don’t roll your eyes at me.”

“Yep, you’re preggo,” I say, sitting back in my chair.

“I’m gonna call it Chocolate,” Melody says thoughtfully.

“And why is that?” Kevin asks, growing amused as he stared at her.

“Because I really want some chocolate,” she says simply. She looks at him with a puppy-dog face. “Kevin, will you get me some chocolate? Pretty please?”

He sighs. “I’ll be right back.”

As soon as he stands up, my phone beeps in my pocket. I quickly whip it out. I got a text from Alec.



There was a pause. I sighed. I swear that if I see her, then I’m going to kill her …

My phone beeps in my hands. I look at it.



I sighed again. Why did she have to send that? Didn’t she understand how hard it is for me to leave her? I look down at my phone.



I waited for the response that I knew may very well not come. I don’t know why I had sent her that. What was wrong with me?

Alright, yes, I do love her. But … did I really have to tell her this way? I’ve had plenty of other opportunities to tell her, and yet I’ve chosen this? Through a text? When I’m getting ready to die? Wow, talk about romantic, I think sarcastically.

Another beep.



I cracked a smile at that. Oh, did she now?

My entire world was set alight. I closed my eyes with about the biggest grin on my face. She loves me; she loves me; she loves me …



I could almost hear Alec laughing at me and my stupidity. I wanted to slap myself, but refrained from doing so because then I’d look like I’d gone insane.

“That was really stupid, Josh,” Melody says. I look at her. “What?”

“You’ve been reading our private conversation?”

“Sue me,” she says, sticking her tongue out at me.

I roll my eyes at Melody’s childish ways. My phone beeps, and I was preoccupied from flicking her in the nose and telling her to mind her own business.



I chuckle. Figures. Don’t get me wrong; I love Alec with all my heart and would do anything for her, but, let’s face it, she’s lazy.



I waited patiently for the text that would insult my intelligence, but was shocked when I saw that I received a picture. I quickly search for it, and sigh with relief as I see Alec’s little brother, Drew.

“That’s a really good picture of Drew,” Melody comments.

“Would you mind your own business?” I snap. More kindly, with extra forced sweetness, I add, “Please?”

She rolls her eyes, and leans back into her chair.



Kevin reappears with Melody’s chocolate. “The storm’s clearing up, Melody, so you’re gonna have to put those away. We’re gonna board in a minute.”

Melody pouted as she put her chocolate in her pocket.



I stuff my phone into my pocket, and wait patiently for us to be able to board.



I swear that if I hadn’t stuffed a box of Hot Tamales in my jacket before we left then I would’ve gone insane. Melody had finished all the chocolate Kevin had bought her, and we then realized that she stuffed her purse full of the stuff. Yep, someone’s going to get fat, and not just because they’re pregnant.

Currently speaking in the present time, though, it was night. Melody had fallen asleep, and managed to make herself comfortable against Kevin, who at the moment was awake, and playing with Melody’s wedding ring on her finger. I, on the other hand, was fidgeting and twitching, unable to get comfortable.

“You need to try to calm down, Josh,” Kevin says quietly to me.

“I can’t,” I whisper back. “I’m worried about Alec.”

The corners of his lips just barely quirked up in a makeshift smile. “She’s fine, Josh. She’s probably just worrying about you, but she’s perfectly fine.”

I nodded, and forced myself to quit twitching. I twisted my neck to look at them.

I wonder what it’s like to be able to hold Alec the way Kevin holds Melody. I wonder what it’d be like to kiss her. I wonder about the future. What will I look like? I really hope I can keep my hair, if anything. Alec has always loved my hair — she’s always making up excuses to run her fingers through it.

“You know, even if you’re not going to sleep, you need to close your eyes,” Kevin says, looking up at me with annoyance.

“Why?” I ask.

“Sleep is a time for your body to recharge. You need to relax and close your eyes so that you’re not completely drained in the morning.”

I sighed. “What’s it like?” I ask.

He looked up at me, surprised. “What’s what like?”

“Being able to be with her.” I point to Melody.

“It’s … unexplainable. It’s hard sometimes, but most of the time it’s enjoyable.”

“What do you mean ‘hard’?”

“Well, sometimes I worry about her. If I wake up and I don’t feel her then I get scared.”

“Why are you scared?”

“Because I think that she might leave me … and never come back.”

I was silent.

“And sometimes I’m scared that she’ll find someone better than me,” Kevin continues.

“You guys are soulmates,” I point out, “to her, there’s not gonna be anyone better.”

“Yeah, I know,” he murmurs, playing with her hair. “But I can’t help but worry that I’m not what’s best for her. That maybe there’s someone out there who could treat her better.”

“Kevin, you guys have a kid — two kids as of now,” I say, “I think that if Melody was gonna leave you she would’ve already done it.”

“You don’t get it, though, Josh. Yeah, we have kids, but sometimes … sometimes that’s just not enough. We’ll still argue.”

“I’m not at all surprised by that.”

He glares at me. “Haven’t you ever gotten in a fight with Alec? Haven’t you guys ever argued till the sun came up?”

I stared at him, trying to recall some of the arguments Alec and I have gotten into. “Yeah,” I mutter, looking down, “and I hate it.”

“It’s never pleasant to fight with someone you care about,” Kevin sighs. “Melody always tries to make it easier by telling me that it’s healthy for us to bicker at each other.”

I stare at him a moment, before finally asking, “Why?”

“She says that no couple is perfect, and that the best thing for us to do is try not to do it in front of Kendall.”

“Is she insane or something?” I ask bluntly.

“No, she just thinks that Kendall shouldn’t worry about it.”

“I meant about quarreling being healthy.”

“Oh,” he says, looking up at me, “Melody thinks that if we didn’t have our little conflicts then we’d be robots or something stupid like that. I get it, sometimes.”

I just stare at him another moment, before leaning back and looking forward at the back of the seat in front of me.

Arguing being healthy? Well, that was new to me. I mean, everyone’s entitled to their own opinions, but the fights that the stubborn people of the world can cause isn’t good for anyone. But, I guess I could understand what Melody’s saying. Sometimes people just need someone to snap at to feel better, and I’m guessing that those two are no exception. Sometimes people have different ideas about how to do things, and there was no doubt in my mind that they didn’t always see eye-to-eye on things.

Well, what do you know! Quarreling is healthy!