After the sky went to sleep leaving us in a cloak of darkness, we ran through the vacant streets leaving only our breaths in the cold light of the lampposts. My bare feet rhythmically pounded against the slick pavement, trying to keep up with him. The brisk air we ran through cooled the beads of sweat that clung, for dear life, on my forehead and arms. He was always a mysterious boy, overflowing with secrets and adventures. That’s why I liked him. That’s why I loved him.
Every summer night he would climb through my window, his beautifully messy dark brown hair ignited by the moonlight. Our adventures ranged from hunting down his enemies and exploring local hideouts to meet and talk at. I always questioned why he choose me, his young naive neighbor, to join him on his twilight quests. But I am happy to be the chosen one, even though it makes my heart yearn for his hazel eyes and pristine smile when he chose to ignore me during the sunlit hours of the day. I may be his go-to partner in crime, but I’m not cool and older like him… and I certainly am no Corrina Emmerson.
His name is Bodhi Miller, otherwise known as Bo. He is 17 years old whilst I, Jocelyn Evans, am only 15. We have been neighbors and friends since birth but as we grew up we talked less and less. Our friendship wilted but we never let our tradition, the midnight adventures, die. We always found new hangout spots behind the abandoned shacks of our town and through the winding forest trails. We exchanged our deepest darkest secrets and thoughts there, leaving them to remain concealed by the night. He always talked of his love for Corrina… it made my heart diminish and crawl into the depths of my stomach. But I listened and gave my honest advice, leaving out the part where I am the one who truly loves him. They date off and on, I try not to keep up.
I try to keep up with his swift cat-like movements through the narrow alleys and streets. We have been running for ten minutes before he skids to a halt at an abandoned shop. The whole exterior is gray and the glass windows are covered in a glossy blue tarp. We climb through a shattered window and I graze my arm against a jagged edge, I ignore the small slit, filling with blood, now present on my skin. Bo doesn’t even look back and walks to the corner of the store. He slouches down sitting atop of the old dust and dirt. His hair brushes gently over his forehead that's now facing the floor. I could tell he was upset about something tonight, I was always faster than him… except for tonight. Anger pounded out of his heavy breaths as we ran, pushing me farther and farther away from him.
I sat across from him on the floor until he finally looked up. His eyes were glistening like diamonds, he never cried and he never will. He pushes my dirty blonde hair behind my ear with one graceful movement. He just looks me up and down for a while, studying me like a textbook. Every page. Every chapter. He notices my cut.
“You’re bleeding.” That’s all he says.
“It appears so.” I pull down my sweatshirt sleeve to conceal it.
“I should take you home… you might need stitches.”
“We haven’t talked yet.”
“I have nothing to say to you anyway.” He sounds almost angry.
“What did I do?” My stomach starts to ache with sadness.
“You did nothing Jocelyn. It’s what I didn’t do. What I should’ve done.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It was always you. You were always there for me… you loved me. But I was too foolish to see it and you probably hate me for it.” I can feel my heart quicken and a few tears slide down my cheeks.
“I could never hate you Bo.”
“You should.”
“I don’t.” We lock eyes and I can see the last bead of sweat leave his forehead as he scooches closer. Our knees are now touching as we sit criss cross on a dirt caked floor. He puts his hands on my head and pulls me towards his lips. Soft and warm he kisses me. A long, tear filled, beautiful kiss. And that’s when I realized he loved me too.