They were friends. He was a player,
and she, she just existed.
But, they were friends,
who trusted each other for more than a decade.
Echo, an ordinary girl, promised herself that
she would never fall in love with him.
Who's him?
Levi, 17 yea...
The last bell rang for the day, and I get ready to go out. I see Levi already prepared to leave the class, he seems like he's in a hurry or so.
I told Layla I was going to head out first as she was talking to a classmate, and told her I'd wait for her by the school gates. I headed out of the classroom, and follow Levi, as I speeded through the crowds, grumbling because of my height as I'm unable to see him. I finally see his back, and followed him cautiously, in hopes that he doesn't turn around to see me literally stalking him. I knew I was being really obvious, but for some weird reason, the whole thrill of it, made it more exciting and heart-fluttering until...
Until I saw him go to the back of the building only to see Sierra waiting for him there. She looked extra pretty today, not that she didn't already look pretty, but today seemed as though she wanted to impress someone, that someone being, Levi.
The back of the building was pretty quiet, as the students started to disperse getting ready to go home, I stood behind a wall where I could see them but they couldn't unless they walked closer to it. I don't know why I was watching them, but my feet refused to move, as though my brain was telling me to watch them.
She smiled brightly at him, and he did the same. He opened his arms, and she literally jumped into them. They hugged for awhile, and as they slowly parted from each other, Sierra grabbed Levi's face and started kissing him. Levi returned the kiss, happily and they started making out for some time, as he held her face in one of his hands and the other hand placed on her lower back, pushing her closer to him.
I left, looking for Layla, only to see a text message from her saying she had to stay back for singing practice. I started walking home, I thought there would be tears, but instead I was in pain, not the physical kind of pain, not the mental kind either, it was more like both, where you could literally feel your heart constrict, yeah, that kind of pain.
After I reached home, I sat at my study table, finishing my homework and preparing for the next day. I heard my phone ringing, and I thought it'd be Layla, so I answered it without checking the caller ID.
"Hey, Layla!"
"Echo?"
Oh shit. It's Levi. Shit, why did I not check the caller ID. Okay, deep breaths, Echo.
"Hey, Levi!"
"Are you free? Can I come over?"
"What? Why?"
"I've got to give you something."
"Can't you give it to me in school?" I asked slowly. What was so important that he had to give it to me now?
"I'm coming over. See you in a bit, Echo!"
He cut the phone call, and all I was thinking was why the heck was he confusing me even more?
The doorbell rang after around 10 minutes, and my mom let him in.
He was a regular guest in the house, everyone in my family loved him, he just fit in so well, with anyone and everyone actually.
"Your mom's the best!" He said.
"Yeah, yeah. She seems to love you more than me, she talks about you a whole lot. Evan too." I said, rolling my eyes at him.
"You seem jealous." He chuckled, nudging my shoulder.
"Am not." I scoffed.
He looked at me a little longer than he should have only for me to realise what I was wearing.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
God, this was embarrassing. I shifted uncomfortably while grabbing my white cotton cardigan to cover myself.
"Erm, so what do you have to give me?"
He cleared his throat and looked away, answering, "This."
He passed me a ticket.
"Happy early birthday, Echo." He softly said.
I looked at the ticket, which stated "To the roof, where the sun sets and the stars come out to play." I looked back at him with tears brimming from my eyes. He remembered how I loved watching the sunset, waiting for the stars to come out.
"Your mom said you could stay over, I already asked her." He said, looking at me closely.
"There's school tomorrow, Levi." I remembered.
"So? It's your birthday, and we promised each other we'd do something special for one another on our 17th birthday before our graduation."
I thought for awhile before I agreed, "Okay, let me get my things. I'll meet you downstairs." I said smiling at him.
I realised that this might be the last time I would ever be able to spend time with him, and after this, I would completely let him go. I have yet to tell him that I would be moving to Paris right after graduation. I can't believe I'm already leaving by the end of the week.
So, I promised myself, that this would really be the last time. With that mindset, I got ready to face the person I love, for the very last time.
"Our 17th birthday, let's do something special for one another." I said. We were at our favourite diner, hanging out as usual.
"That sounds so childish," he said sticking his tongue out to me while stealing my fries.
"Let's do it, Levi. Please, pretty please," I pouted.
"Ugh, fine."
"Pinky promise?"
"Fist bump?" He held out his fist.
I fist bumped him and that was how our childish promise was formed. My birthday was earlier than his, so if you're wondering what I was going to do for his birthday, well that's a secret for now.
I saw him waiting at the porch of my house, he was on a phone call, and from the looks of it, it looked like it was with Sierra. I ignored the uneasy feeling and waited for him to be done with the phone call before I walked over to him.
He looked at me, pointed his thumb to his car signalling me to get in. I nodded and got in, fastening my seatbelt.
All I could think about was why did he always make me feel like I had a chance to actually call him 'mine' ?
