For anonymity purposes, I’ll call him C. I’ve known him since I was in sixth grade, and back then, everything was easier. Life wasn’t easy, but easier than it is now, all because of him. When we met, we instantly connected because of our similar pasts and broken homes. As we got closer, I started to fall for him, and he fell for me. We both knew it, but we chose not to do anything about it. It was obvious; he knew that I knew and I knew that he knew. We talked 24/7. We flirted almost constantly and knew each other inside and out. On the last day of Spring Break of eighth grade, I jokingly asked him to be my boyfriend, and he rejected me, thinking it was a joke. Immediately after, he asked me to be his girlfriend, and I said yes. For the next few months, everything was great. We were closer than ever, but when I started high school, and he went to rehab, our relationship fell apart as a result of all the stress and emotional distance from each other. We had a rough break up, but we pulled through, and we’re still best friends to this day. I’m still a junior in high school and he graduated last year, but I know I love him more than anything in this world. People say that young love never lasts, but mine has lasted for five years and I still continue to love him. This past month, he left for Basic Combat Training for the U.S. Army. It kills me to not be able to talk to him daily, and when I received his first letter to me, I cried. He graduates in December, and I can’t wait until then.
People may not believe me when I say I love him more than anyone in the world, but I do. I know that no matter what happens, I’ll love him, maybe until the day I die. We share a bond that I could never create with someone else. For the short seven months that we dated, I learned how to love and to let someone in, despite the pain that I felt every day. He’s always been there for me, and for that, I’m thankful. He knows how much I go through, and he always makes time for me, no matter how busy he is, even if it means he has to lose a few hours of sleep. He’s my first love and my best friend.