My Classic Love Story (A True Story) It started when I went to these bunkers by the beach; I had a crush on Ben. Ben was in the army, going away for ATI in a couple months, and then when he came back, he had four months before he would be deployed to Iraq. He was such a nice guy, and he was incredibly cute too. I would try so hard during our games of Man Hunt to follow him, keep him in sight. Maybe he would feel the same way. He would invite me places, but I think he just did it because we were friends. I was bored, he was bored. So we hung out. He took me to Castle Island, he wanted to go for a walk, and I wanted so much more. I wanted him to hold me close, and kiss my forehead. For us to gaze into each other's eyes, and for him to like me back. His graduation was a couple days later, I watched him as he received his diploma. He was graduating, and I still had two more years of school. I was a junior. He was already gone. We walked in the rain to his car; he was going to drive me home with his crazy friend, Noel. We had some laughs, I probably would barely talk to him now, and as much as it depressed me, I knew I had no chance anyway, I accepted it. And as he walked me to my door, we were both soaked from the rain, and the bottom of our pants were drenched. I leaned over to hug him goodbye, and as I did I looked up at him. My heart stopped beating, his lips were against mine. And as soon as it happened, it was over. He was leaving and I shut the door behind him, standing in the same spot for ten minutes. I was paralyzed. I wanted him. However, it wasn't as simple as I wanted it to be. His best friend, my friend too, Steve, liked me very much. And Ben was engaged a week before to Steve's sister. She was gone, and she was evil to Ben. I didn't want her to have him, I wanted Ben. He was all I wanted. All I wanted. Even though he was graduated from school, he would come back and sit at lunch with us. With me. His friends would tease and jeer at him 'Ben! Why are you still here?' and finally he said 'I came back to see Sam' and I couldn't help but to smile. One day he drove me home, and no one was home. We took advantage of the time and kissed on the sofa, the most passionate kiss. The aftermath was a large hickey on my neck. When Steve caught wind of it, he was raged. But it was a very difficult thing to hide, and I loved it there on my neck, it made me remember every moment of our kissing, and I loved it. Days went by, and Steve slowly got over me. In fact, he fell head over heels for my best friend, Becca. And Ben and I became closer than ever. We spent almost every day together. All of us hung out. Me, Ben, Becca, Steve, and our other friends too. It was the best month of my life. I still had some issues with Steve's sister, she would call me and argue with me, over how I ruined her life and ruined everything she threw away. It wasn't my fault, I couldn't even feel any pity, I wanted Ben, and he was all I wanted. All I needed. She would tell me things I didn't even want to hear, things that made me sad and angry. She told me about her and Ben's relationship. About how they almost had a baby. I didn't even want to think about it, it was aborted, but the way she kept telling me that she had wanted that baby made me think 'what if Ben did too?' I finally built up the courage to ask Ben about it, he reassured me that she hadn't even cared about it, she was just saying it to make me feel guilty, to make me think that Ben was a screw up, to bring upon me all his faults. But I was falling in love with him, his faults and all. One day we went to the beach. We found a spot over looking the ocean, and the sunset. We laid there on the rocks and gazed up at the sky, and kissed each other gently, I couldn't help but to remember that he would be going away in a couple weeks. Going away for 3 months for AIT. And then I couldn't hold back the tears that started to find there way along the side of my face. It seemed as though we were just starting to be so close, and soon he would be torn away from me, and what if he forgot me? I could never forget him, ever. I still had time, a few weeks to make the most of, a few weeks to be with Ben. They consisted of trips to random places. A couple of times we'd go back to the bunkers in which my crush had first developed. It was there where his hands breeched the border of my shirt. Before I knew it, it was the 4th of July. And we were gazing up at the fireworks. And since we were sitting far too close, the ashes of the fireworks rained down on us like hail. I would catch the pieces and shove them in my pocket, for keep sake. I would always remember this. The loud booming of the fireworks kept rhythm with Ben's heart that I could hear with my head leaned up against his chest, and through the loud noise he cried, 'Sam, you know I love you. But to make it official...will you go out with me?' And I know he knew my answer before it came from my lips. 'Of course.' And we had only 6 days left. 6 days to embrace in each other's arms. We spent those 6 days together, and we both acted as though the inevitable was never going to come. And two days before his departure I completely ignored my mother's wishes and lied to her. I slept over my friend Shawn's house with Ben, so that we could lay in each other's arms and never let go. It was then where we let our pleasure get in the way with our decency, and we didn't even care. I wanted everything to be perfect, because Ben was perfect, and this perfection we had would be gone in a matter of days. We crossed the boundaries of the zippers on our jeans, and clothing was not necessary. Suddenly we were wrapped up in a moment of ecstasy, and nothing was more important than the feeling of his bare chest against mine. But I couldn't let him take my virginity, because I was smart. We were so soon in our relationship, and I was still uncertain if he was to lose remembrance of me. Shawn kept telling me that I would not matter, that in a matter of time Ben would just go back with Steve's sister. They would be in the army together and live out their once planned life of happiness and I would be dumped to the side. So, as much as I wanted to forget everything in the world and let my emotions take control of my mind, I had to stop. He whispered into my ear, “I love you, Sam” and I whispered my reply, “I love you too, Ben.” And we fell asleep in each other's embrace. The next day was his going away party, and everyone was having a blast, it still hardly felt like he was going away. That tomorrow we would be hanging out again having a heck of a time like we always did, always. I wanted him, I needed him, and I loved him. His parents took me aside and lectured me harshly about what having sex with Ben would mean. It would mean me giving up something really important to someone like Ben, which to me was the world, but it didn't seem like they had much confidence in his loyalty to me. They wanted me safe; I wanted them to leave me alone. Ben felt sorry that I was faced with their words, but I didn't mind. It's not like I hadn't already thought about it. They said I had all the power, and Ben would do whatever I wanted. I just wanted Ben, and whatever he wanted. We wanted what each other wanted. That night as we drove in the car, I could see the outside zipping by me as the car sped on towards Ben's house to drop him off. It suddenly hit me that he was leaving, and I was going to have to say goodbye. I was going to have to say goodbye and simply wait. Wait and see whether everything would work out or whether I had wasted all of my energy harvesting this uncontrollable feeling for him, and he was simply going to forget, and go back to his old life as if I was a plastic toy, used in place of his real love. We stood outside his house for 20 minutes, avoiding any real goodbyes. We hugged and kissed and I had tears running down my face. I loved him. I wanted him. I wanted him to stay. I wanted him to stay, with me. I confessed that I was afraid he'd forget, and I told him how much I'd miss him. Now I was crying. My voice was cracking as I tried to fight it back. He whipped my tears with his hand and said, “Look at me,” and it was hard for me to, because every time I looked into his eyes I felt at home. And my home was leaving me. He tilted my head so that I was forced to look at him and he looked deep within my eyes, “Sam, I could never forget about you. I love you.” And I could see in his eyes he was crying too. “I'll miss you so much.” And I left. Crying, all the way home. For a while, he didn't call me. I had told him it would just make it harder. But when he did, I felt suddenly like everything was ok. He was going to come back to me, and love me just the way he left me. And we talked almost every night. Until one day his phone got taken away, and suddenly I hardly ever could communicate with him except through Myspace. So we started exchanging letters. I would haunt the mailbox every afternoon, in high hopes that there would be a letter from Fort Lee, VA. And when there was I immediately retrieved it and read it over and over again. His letters were reassuring and he would even write me mushy poetry. It was cute, and he was cute. I couldn't wait for him to come home. ....To be continued when Ben comes back from Fort Lee, VA.