He had just turned 18, and I was on my way to 17, when he told me he loved me. We were young, foolish… But damn, we were in love. I was nothing more than a book loving wall flower that he picked out of a field of roses and daisies. He wore leather jackets and nice fitting pants and had messy hair that I loved to pull my fingers through. We were the most unlikely couple, but we were our towns lovebirds. Everyone knew I was his and he was mine and anyone that dared to mess with that was in for a fight. He was reckless, I was safe. He was a fighter and I was a lover. I had big dreams, and his big dreams were of me. We told my parents that we planned on getting married in the spring and I have never seen Mamas face turn that white, I’ve never heard Daddy quite so angry and I had never been so afraid of them. I clung to his shirt as Mama tried to pull me away from him and Daddy pushed him out the door. I was heart broken. I was shattered. “He’s trash.” They said, “You’re going places and that boy is going to find himself in the county jail. You won’t see him again. You can bet on that. You’ll thank us.” I cried for what felt like days locked up in that house. He only came by once, and Mama was quick to lock me inside my room and I pounded that door until my hands were so sore they could’ve bled. He tried to come in but Daddy wouldn’t let him and one punch to the face had Mama calling the police and they took him away. Mama called him unstable. I didn’t eat for almost 2 days. It had been almost two weeks and I thought I would never see him again. I was barely let out of the house and when I was I was with Mama or Daddy. I searched the streets for him as we drove into town, I searched for his friends… I saw no one. I felt more alone than I ever had in my life. I knew he had given up on me and moved on. I just knew it. It was late one Sunday night, I was almost asleep, and I could hear the smallest of tapping from my window. My heart fluttered faster than I could move and I threw open the window and got a pebble to the forehead and it didn’t even matter. He was standing on the grass below, hand full of rocks, leather jacket and messy hair. “Run away with me.” He was whispering just loud enough for me to hear him and I ran back into my bedroom just long enough to grab my coat, shoes, and my bag with barely enough money in it to buy a bus ticket and I was scaling the side of the house. My fingers found their way into his hair and I could feel his heart beating against mine and I have never been so in love. He had bags packed and money saved and he was prepared to steal me away. We walked in the dark of night until we couldn’t walk anymore and found ourselves a bench to sit on until the bus came to get us. The chill of the wind caught me off guard and I tugged my coat tighter around myself as I leaned into him. I pulled my knees up to my chest and he threw his arm around me. I clung to that leather jacket for dear life, no one was going to take him from me. He laid his head on mine and I felt myself drifting off to sleep, safe and warm with the love of my life by my side. The bus would be here in a few hours, and we were going to start the rest of our lives.
