"So you're leaving?" the girl asked.
"Yeah." the teenage boy answered. His voice was barely above a whisper. He stared down at their hands combined together, refusing to look at her face as he spoke. "I have no choice. My dad needs to take this job."
The girl squeezed his hand. Tears formed in her eyes. "Hey, Brian, it's not your fault." She lifted his chin up with her free hand forcing him to look at her.
He stared right into her eyes. "I know, its just... I don't want to leave you!" Tears poured from his eyes as he was overcome with grief.
She wrapped her arms around him instantly. She began sobbing. "I don't want to loose you either, Bri."
He stroked her hair lovingly. "We can make this work. I love you, Dana. We can make it work."
"I'll call you everyday." she added.
He pressed a sweet kiss upon her lips. "We'll be fine, you'll see."
She placed her head on his shoulder and looked out into the sky. Suddenly, a grin crossed her face.
"Brian, look...", Dana said pointing to the stars. "a falling star! Make a wish."
She watched as he closed his eyes and made his wish.
"What'd you wish for?" she asked when he finally opened them again.
"If I tell you, it won't come true."
She laughed at him. He stroked her hair, and they both stared at the stars for the rest of the night.
Brian moved away the next week. Dana couldn't stand it without him. She felt lost.
"You really miss him don't you, Dana?"
"Hmm?" she asked searching for the owner of the voice. "Oh, hi Joshua."
"Hey, I know how hard it is to lose someone you love. Remember when Kelly moved?"
"Oh, I never told you how sorry I was..."
"That's ok." he cut her off. "When she left, we weren't as close as we once had been. One week after she left we broke up."
Dana just listened to him. She was speechless. She didn't know how she could comfort this boy.
"You know what really sucks?"
"What?" she questioned.
"That people like us, we're even lucky that we were able to have such deep feelings for other, and we're only 16."
"I know. It almost scares me." she squeezed his shoulder, for comfort. Then immediately, they walked home.
As soon as Dana walked in the door her phone rang.
"Hello?" she asked.
"Hi, Sweetie!" Brian's wonderful voice filled her head.
"Brian, I'm so happy it's you. It's been hell and its only been 3 days!"
"I know. I miss you so much."
"Brian, what are we going to do?"
A month had gone by like that. Joshua and Dana became good friends. It was nice to have someone to talk to that had gone through the same thing. He was a good comfort when all she wanted to do was cry. The phone suddenly rang, interrupting her thoughts.
"Hello?"
"Dana, its me Brian."
"Hi!" she could tell he was upset about something.
"What's wrong?"
"I have some bad news."
She sat down and prepared herself.
"Dana, you're my angel. I love you, but I can't call you any more."
"Why not?"
"My mom got the phone bill today. It was pretty expensive. I do live in another state now."
Tears threatened to spill from her eyes. What would she do if she couldn't hear his sweet voice any more!
"That's not fair." she declared.
"I know. I'll write you a letter everyday, I promise! It'll be fine."
"Brian, it can't be fine!" she screamed. "It's bad enough I can't see you, but if i can't hear your voice either..." she slammed the phone down on its receiver. She was going to loose it, and she didn't want Brian to witness that. The phone continued to ring, but she ignored it. She ran out the door straight to Josh's house.
Months Later
She got her tenth letter from Brian. It turned out he was extremely busy, and that's why it took him so long for him to write her. He tried out for his basketball team. He wrote such a short letter though. After months of not hearing from him, you'd think it would it would b so long. It was 2 paragraphs long. Signed Love, Brok.
She knew she wouldn't write back. She just could feel they were over. Not forever though. She couldn't explain it.
Valentine's Day is supposed to be the best day for romance. It didn't feel like it though. Dana and Joshua were going to meet up today. She felt so weird not being with Brian. Now she was 17, it had been a year since this whole thing happened. She was just grateful she wouldn't be alone on this day.
"Hey Josh!" she greeted him when he arrived in his car.
Joshua had become her closest friend. He understood her so well. She felt lucky to even have him in her life. Especially through this whole Brian ordeal.
She hardly ever thought of Brian any more. It was bad. "Very Bad!!" she told herself. Because in the back of her mind, she knew she didn't even feel like they knew each other any more. Or even love each other.