I Love You

"I Love You"

Lonely thoughts begin

     to fill his head

and he again

     starts

thinking

about

     the first time they met.

"Hi," she said with a bright smile he'll never forget.

"Hi," he replied, 

     "so what are you looking to get?"

          ...he worked concessions for the high school games.

"Can I get umm..."

     ...he couldn't pull his eyes away

          he felt the warm fuzzies as they say.

"a large coke and some popcorn."

"Sure thing," he replied

     as an unexplainable fondness was born.

"I think that's it," she said.

"Okay," he ended 

     as he glanced at her lips...cherry red.

He remembers

     them

making love in bed

     among the midnight hues,

"My heart is complete with you,"

     he told her,

She replied with

     "me too."

He couldn't concentrate

on the road

as the tears

     veneered

his eyes

     making it

hard to see

     the road

in this night drive.

All he could see

     in those tiny spaces of 

          ambient thought

     was her face.

It wasn't fair.

Why did it have to be this way?

"What's your family like?" he asked.

"Nothing I would brag about."

"Oh, why's that?"

"Just some stuff I wouldn't...just stuff needs to get sorted out."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, you're alright. What's your family like?"

"They're pretty boring, but I love 'em.

     My sister is pretty big on collecting Star Wars things."

"I love that. Maybe I can get her a gift this Christmas?"

"She would love that."

"Maybe I could come with you for the holidays?" she asked.

"I would love that!"

He hated this.

     Things became not what they were.

Somewhere a fork happened

     and each led away from each other.

Just then another flash of light

     blinded him

pulling him back from memory.

His mind was a mess

but focusing on those

     sweet memories

helped him focus.

He loved her.

He hated thinking of 

     the reality of what happened.

"I want to tell you something,"

     he said barely above a whisper.

She looked into his eyes

     waiting for the words

          to leave his lips.

"I love you," he said.

She closed her eyes

     leaning in to kiss,

and as her lips caressed his,

she replied with,

     "I love you too."

There was nothing left to do

but drive these miles

to her.

His eyes glossed

     in salty pain,

     trying to find the road.

He just knows 

the only thing he ever knew

     that he still loves her.

And nothing would ever

     keep his heart

     the way she could.

He would regret it forever 

     if he never tried.

Here in his destruction

     He has nothing left to hide.

He reaches to the backseat

and cracks open another can

barely able to see the car lights

     in the night.

Feeling every thing he has ever felt

     at the same time,

          he loses himself

drifting into the oncoming lights.

I love you

     he finally tells the night sky.

-Armando Torres