WORDS ARE RIPPED FROM THE TIP OF HIS TONGUE , unfinished worries cut short as his head shakes , a smile creeping HELPLESSLY into his lips . he sees it in flashes , more often than not : the story of how he fell in love with her . and someday he would get to tell it to their kids and grandkids . or at least that was his HOPE . the girl had , after all , been there quite literally above him , his entire life . sitting upon that old RUSTY fire escape as he kicked a ball around for afternoons on end . just out of reach , NEVER out of mind . how many quick glances had he spared to see if she had noticed every time he scored . watching her casually stroll down the street , a single smile directed at him all it took to YANK his heartstrings with such strength the pain would linger way before she had disappeared . her voice coming through the dispatcher , her perfume lingering in the air as soon as she got home . the story practically wrote itself . a tale WORTHY of the telenovelas abuela claudia made them watch when they were little . ( except , hopefully in this one , there would be no secret evil twins or vengeful poisonings . not unless usnavi finally got his hands on graffiti pete . ) but more than all of that . a word , that very word . a single word had been all it had taken for him to know there was no way back from nina rosario . one word , a word , THAT word , and he had been hers to keep , either he liked it or not . guess it was lucky he did then . ‘ c’mon , y’know that’s not fair , ’ a whispered PROTEST , licked lips and shifted weight , weakness trembling in each word . just like that , the boy who always had everything figured out , knew not what to say other than what everybody already seemed to know . he cleared his throat . ‘ tu sabes que siempre te prometo lo que quieras . no importa el amanecer . ’ a confession , broken tongue and all , a wave of shameful panic lingering in his lungs at the silence that follows . had he said that right? he had been studying every day since she had left . at least she wasn’t laughing at him like her mother had so many times before , he tells himself . that was a good sign , right? ‘ i just , ’ he speaks before he knows he’s doing it and suddenly his soul goes soft , fingers wrapping themselves around the phone he had barely managed to save enough coins to use as if he feared someone would come and physically take it away from him . take her . ‘ i miss you , alright? that’s all. ’ listen closely . can you hear it? it’s the beating of his heart , BEGGING : don’t forget about me .
