He sits next to me, his leg under my leg, under my desk.
To anyone else this just looks like a normal high school couple.
But our love is a special story is a special one…
And you are about to find out why.

It’s kind of like Romeo and Juliet, but better because it’s real. We sat next to each other in French for two years, always friendly. Jake was cute, but like out of my league kind of cute, and his girlfriend back then… well she was interesting.

This year tho, things were different. Him and his girl broke up before the end of school last year. I was dating someone, but Jake would remind me everyday that I could do better, that this guy was a tool and needed to go. After homecoming, off he went.

We talked, we laughed, we touched. The Halloween dance came, and it was like the crowd parted and we danced, and grinded and cuddled. We were one.

I fell in love that night. He kissed my cheek goodnight and promised to call when he got home. We talked for what felt like hours until I fell asleep to the sound of his voice…

I woke up to a tornado, spiraling, spinning, tearing me apart. He was too old. He was too handsome, too untrustworthy. My parents said my night, once reality, should become a memory. A memory to be forgotten.

Id lost my slipper at the ball and my prince was searching. But my parents did not approve and our love was forbidden.

Oh, how untouchable things are so irresistible. I didn't care what they thought, what they wanted. I loved him. I still do. They way he kissed me was always passionate, always needy, always intense. His thumbs grind into my hipbone, his fingers lace around my waste. His mouth meets mine, repeatedly. always more insistent and intrustive than the previous one.

Five months, five glorious months droned on with hidden meetings, daily PDA and constant connection. Then one day… it’s like it hit us. We are being watched. We are not free. We never were. Things were tight, kisses where rare, and "I love you" was extinct.

I had a surprise. I would ask. I would ask my parents for him to come to my piano recital, and I would ask to “get his number” so the secret phone calls wouldn’t be so secret anymore. Things would change, and for the better.

My dad adored him. Jake is fast, one of the fastest sprinters on the track team. The best long jumper we have. And my dad loved it. He loved watching, he loved cheering, and he loved talking to him.

My mom hated him. She hated the way he was strong, popular, and old. He was just too old. Two years was a lifetime for her. To everyone else, it was natural. We were so perfect with each other no one cared about the age.

He couldn’t come. The family was coming to hear me play, and my piano teacher needed me to be focused, as I was the closing act. But he wanted to come. The captain of the football team wanted to be at MY piano recital. That thought will never get old.

His name is in my phone. His name, not a fake, comes up when I text him. He is in there, and he’s staying in there. I don’t have to worry about getting caught for anything, because he’s in there. And they know he is.

Now… life is perfect. My dad and Jake are best friends. My mom tolerates. Jake comes to my softball games, he drives me to my grandmas for picnics, and he comes to piano practice just to listen. It’s amazing. We sit in the grass with our legs intertwined, my arms wrapped in his. He plays with my hair in the open and we kiss whenever we want.

He says he wants to marry me. The thought seems inconceivable to me. He’s leaving for college this year. Ill only be a senior. He’s leaving me here and only coming back to visit. And marriage? I wont get married till I’m at least 21. But will he stay that long? Will he still love me? I believe him. I do.

So while we are skinny dipping in my backyard we are picking out the baby names. The babies that come after med school, the family that is already laid out for me.

My Romeo is here, and my life is perfect. We have are quarrels, but there’s nothing a few kisses and a little tickling cant fix. We were made for each other.

For three years this boy has been my everything. I never imagined id have a love story like this. That the girl in the band that would marry the football captain would be me.