Every Girl I've Loved A Lifetime Ago

Virginia

TW- Mention of parental abuse/mistreatment

Then there was Virginia.
She tasted like Hennessy and cigarette smoke, had a face shaped like a heart, and hair as wild and untamed and red as a forest fire.
She had sharp, piercing green eyes, faded, faint freckles splattered all over her body, and thin, ever frowning lips.
Virginia's teachers all called her Ivy and her friends called her Ginny. I called her Vi.
Her eyelashes were long and left shadows on her cheeks when she closed her eyes.
She was short and curvy, mean and lonely, lovely and unhinged.
Virginia and Daniela smoked with the senior guys in the school parking lot.
Her black reusable water bottle she brought to school was filled vodka, and all the teachers knew it.
She told me she loved me after three weeks.
She was reckless and judgemental, she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, she was the epitome of beauty.
Virginia had her ears pierced but she never put any jewelry in them.
Virginia's music taste was acquired.
She was never seen out in public without a Zippo lighter in her purse or a pocket knife in her jeans.
I was attracted to Virginia like a moth to a flame.
We had something feral and primal and purely hormonal. We did not take it slow nor did we think before we acted.
Virginia was mellow with me, tamed and quiet.
She still didn't smile but her jade eyes sparkled and twinkled with something akin to mirth.
I had given up on trying to make her laugh a long time ago, but every time her eyes emitted that soft glow of amusement over whatever I said, something in my chest sparked with pride.
Her mom was not a patient, fair parent, I could tell by the sickly yellow bruises covering Virginia's rib cage.
I could tell by the way her eyes widened and pupils dilated at loud, sudden noises.
I could tell by her red inked tongue, skin like armor, and her tattered heart.
I didn't say anything though, wouldn't give anything away as I kissed her bruises till they were healed.
Wouldn't look at her candied apple face when I saw her mom's Phoenix Fire hair, smelt her Dior perfume, heard the foreboding sound of her red platform heels clicking.
Didn't help even though I knew I could.
I showed up to school one day, and Virgina wasn't waiting by my locker, she wasn't blowing bubble gum at the back of our shared calculus class, her mother's Bug wasn't hanging around after school.
Vi never skipped school, her mother wouldn't let her. I remembered watching her sit in Spanish 1 with a runny nose and a hacking cough back when I barely knew her.
Daniela was caught up in a guy behind the back of the school, her long legs wrapped around his waist, his mouth eating hers whole, fingers curled through jet black hair.
They startled apart when I cleared my throat, guilt in her eyes, fear in his. It occurred to me he probably had a girlfriend, but I didn't have time for petty drama and gossip politics.
"Where is she?"
"Who?"
"Vi, who else?"
"Oh. She didn't tell you?"
"Clearly not. Now stop beating around the bush and spit it out"
"She moved."
"What?"
"Yeah. To Maine or something. Her mom's got a new guy."
I never saw Virginia again.