A Snapshot Of Romance: Love Found

The words spill across the paper seamlessly, like they were meant to be there. The scratch of his pen floods the air, mixing with the scritch-scratch of his fellow students.

- and though sadness has overtaken me, there are too few friends left to tell this to. I have waited for my love, and waited, and waited, only for him to turn me away. The pain that I feel, it cannot be compared to anything else in the world. It clings to me. Strong, just like love.

But what do I truly know about love? All of my life, I have given my heart freely and yet never had my affections returned. No respect is given. No care. No understanding.

Where am I in this life? Where am I supposed to be? Two questions that seem to have no answer. I’ve tried to make things better, but it has never worked. I long for it with every fiber of my being, And yet… I know it can never truly happen.

Just as Sean writes down the last word, Mrs. Ortally stands up, clapping her hands together a few times. Her white hair bounces. “Time’s up! Paper’s on my desk!”

Standing up, Sean hurries to the front of the classroom. His teacher is an older woman, with strict views on things – like the fact that boys shouldn’t have long hair, the way Sean has grown his out – but he still thinks that she’s going to like what he’s done this time.

He’s barely to his seat when Mrs. Ortally calls out, “one moment. Come up here.”

Grinning, he turns back to face the teacher, only for the smile to fall off of his face. She’s stood up, cleared her throat, and begun to read it out loud. It’s clear from her tone of voice that she finds the story ridiculous… and by the laughter of everyone else in the class, that they do as well.

Face burning, he hurries back to his seat at the rear of the classroom. There, he found another reason to enjoy his long hair: he could hide behind it.

And yet, there was one voice that cut clear through the laughter.

“That was brilliant,” says one of the other students, a waif of a girl with blue eyes and hair just as long as Sean’s. Her smile seemed to cut through the haze of embarrassment.

“Do you really think so?” Sean asks.

She nods, but their conversation is cut short by the teacher, clapping her hands and announcing the end of class – and their heaps of homework. The bell rings, and the thunder of students leaping from their chairs and rushing into the hall fills the air. Sean hurries out as well, rushing after the girl. In his mind’s eye, just as he sees his stories spilling out into existence, he can see himself and this girl – at a park, first, thoroughly enjoying themselves, smiling – and then older, at a fancy restaurant, as he gets down on one knee.

It’s just a glimpse of it, but it’s enough to make Sean, for the first time in a while, want to try.

He catches her in the hallway, grabbing onto her backpack. “Hey! Hang on a second!”

She turns around with a laugh and a crooked, summer grin. “Oh. You’re the one who wrote the story! I loved how that story went.”

“I think that there’s a lot more that could be loved,” says Sean, the words coming out almost without his meaning to say them.

Thankfully, it gets a laugh from the girl. “You’re good at writing, and funny. I like that.”

“I wanted to know, what’s your name?” Sean asks. No one’s ever liked his work before, and no one has ever made him feel like this either. As if the sun is inside of his chest, flooding him with heat and warmth.

“I’m Caroline,” she tells him. “And you’re Sean.”

Sean smiles at her. The other students have almost completely vanished from the hall, towards break and their next class. He asks, “Can I buy you lunch?”

And when she says, “yes”, he knows that everything about his life has just slotted into place. Sometimes, you just know love when you see it – instinctively, inexplicably, and immeasurably.

Caroline, Sean knows, is love.