Our Perfect Love Story

He stiffened, “Your really cold! Do you want to go somewhere?”

I shook my head. “I’m too cold. I don’t wanna move.”

“Staying here isn’t going to help you get warm. How about I carry you to the car?”

I was shivering badly, so I let him. He scooped me up as if I didn’t weigh anything, and started the trek back to the car. He unlocked the door and sat me in the seat. He ran around the car to get in and start the heater. Cool air blasted out until it warmed.

“Where to?” I wrapped the blanket tighter around my body. My body slowly started to stop shaking, I sunk lower in my seat.

“I don’t care. But next time I suggest something that you know is stupid, please don’t go along with it.” I managed.

He turned his head in my direction, “You know you would have done it whether or not I was with you . At least that way you didn’t drown, or freeze before I walked us out.”

I smiled knowing he was right. “But think, now we have that memory of the time I talked you into walking into the freezing Ocean early in the morning.”

“At least we have the memory.” He repeated turning down a road.

“Cara?”

“Yes?” I whispered.

“I don’t want you to leave.”

“I don’t want to leave either, Noel. I really don’t want to leave.”

~

The next two weeks past in a blur. Noel and I spending every waking minute together. Sammy, Lisa, and I all hanging out with Noel at the beach. Him attempting to teach us how to surf, then how to fish, and finally how to scuba dive. Let’s just say, we were the best at fishing. And we still didn’t catch anything.

One night, Noel set up a tent in the backyard of the boarding house, and we spent the night shivering in the wind under the big, blank sky. We woke up, and my sleeping bag was crooked, my head near his chest. He laughed for a long time about that, mentioning the issues we would have.

The day we were leaving I woke up sad. I moved slowly, defiantly. There was no smile on my newly tanned skin. Lisa and Sammy knew what Noel meant to me, and how it would hurt me to leave. Noel told me the night before he would stop by to see us off, and I waited eagerly. I wanted to see his face, I didn’t want to leave him.

I put my bag on the roof of our Bug, and shoved my new bag filled with souvenir’s in the back where I would be sitting. Noel’s Jeep came to a stop on the curb behind the Volkswagen. I put my fingers in my belt loops and walked slowly towards the car. He met me in front of the car. I hopped on the hood of his car, not looking at the face I would be leaving behind.

“I don’t want you to leave.” He spoke the familiar words.

“I don’t either.”

He walked closer, between my legs. I put my hands on his shoulders, bracing myself for what’s to come.

“I’ll visit you whenever I can.”

“Me too.” I mumbled.

“It won’t be enough, I won’t get to see you enough.”

“I know.” I choked out.

Sammy and Lisa stumbled down the steps to the house, dragging suitcases and grocery bags with stuff. They glanced at me, and looked away. I hopped off the car, taking his hand and dragging him around the back of the house.

I stepped into his chest when he stopped walking. I wrapped my arms around his waist tightly, and pushed my head into his chest.

“Don’t say goodbye, because saying goodbye means going away, and going away means forgetting” He whispers into my hair.

“Think of me like the tide. I can’t stay, but I’ll always be back.”

“That’s why you can’t leave me. Why I can’t bear it. Your interesting and your different, and I like you.”

“I have to leave Noel. I won’t say goodbye, but I have to go back. Maybe I can go to college here, in Monterrey.”

“You would do that?”

“Of course. If I feel this way after just a month of knowing you, why wouldn’t I want to know you better?”

He put his hand in my hair, behind my ear. I looked up at him, my eyes watering but a smile playing on my lips.

“Can I have your address?”

I laughed, “Yes, you can have my address. You can even have my phone number.”

He bent his head down to place his lips on mine. He broke away, and I pressed my head to his chest. My tears falling freely now.

“Cara!” I heard shouted from the front of the house.

“I think we’re leaving now.” I wiped my eyes hastily and looked up at him.

“I don’t want you to leave.” He pouted; he wrapped his arms around my waist.

“So you’ve told me.”

“Come on. You have to go.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me to the front. Lisa was standing by the open door; Sammy behind the wheel already.

We stopped walking at his Jeep. He leaned in and got paper. I wrote down my information. I looked at him sadly, I grabbed his hand. He out his other one around my waist, pulling me towards him and kissed me one last time before pushing me away towards the car.

I got in, and turned around. I placed my fingers to my lips and held them in his direction. He smiled sadly, and did the same. Sammy turned the car on and drove down the street. I watched him until the car turned a corner.