Anita

I was thirteen when I met her. She had just transferred to my school and she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my life. Before that, my life used to be very dull. I had typical regular idiot friends who would jackasses and would embarrass me in front of pretty girls. I lived in the city suburbs with my two parents and my younger sister. My mother was a nurse and worked at the local hospital, and my father was the assistant city attorney. Just a normal kid from a small town. Her name was Anita. A short girl with long curly hair, bright brown eyes, and relatively round small nose. I can’t remember much of her face these days, but her smile was so bright and pure I always remember her whenever the I see the innocence in a child’s smile. Anita and I were classmates for almost five years. During most of this time we had never talked much; Maybe because I was more shy with girls at the time, or maybe because we are always surrounded by other people. She was very popular at school, but she never let that change her. Anita was kind and caring. She would always be willing to help anyone, and always knew what to say. She was a few months younger than me, but as always she seemed more mature than the rest of the boys in the room. Anita always wore her mind on her sleeve. She was brave and would never stay quiet when she saw something that wasn’t right happening. By the end of eight grade we were still no close friends. I admired her and she respected me. But there was always something that prevented us to talk more than a simple hi in the school’s corridors as her friends whispered funny comments about something on her ear. One afternoon, I happened to be behind her in line in the cafeteria. I greeted her and all of the sudden we started a conversation that lasted the whole lunch period. We discovered we had so much in common. We liked the same music, the same movies, even rainy days, we both liked it. That day, she waited for me outside our school when she was done with classes and asked me to walk her home and we kept talking. When I got home, I was so happy that I kissed my mom hello when I saw her. The days passed and we would spend hours talking about us and things we liked. Whenever I talked to her it was like I was being thrown out of an airplane, my heart would start pounding so fast and I felt butterflies on my tummy and all the excitement that comes with it. Some time passed and we started dating, she introduced me to her mother who was nice and agreed that we stayed together as long as we behaved. Anita’s parents were divorced. She never talked much about her parents separation, but. she would feel sad every time that subject would be brought up. We used to spend our afternoons in her house. She would tell me how she wanted to change the world and make it a better place. She dreamed of a day when people wouldn’t have to fight each other and every single children in the world could be loved. At the time I couldn’t understand much the meaning in her words, but I was always amazed how a girl that age could have these transcendental thoughts. It was official, I was in love with her. And the more time I would spend with her and get to know her better it would always seem I couldn’t get enough of her. A few years had passed and we were both in high school now. We both had aged and with it came puberty. Even though we were very good friends and were dating for years, we had never kissed before. We were both inexperience in that area, and it was like we also didn’t want to spoil what we had, our connection without getting physical, our chemistry. One afternoon, She asked me to watch our favorite movie, The age of Adeline. She would always get very emotional after watching it. We were both sitting on the couch in my parents’ house, she laid her head on my shoulder and held my left hand with her right hand. The room was cold, so we both covered ourselves with my silk game of thrones blanket. I could hear her breathing against my chest. Her curly hair, smelled like the. fresh and exotic breeze in an autumn afternoon. But something wasn’t right. She was different that day. Almost like she never wanted that day to end and we would never leave that place. She turned her face towards mine. Held my hands tight close to her chest and looked me in the eyes, we both said nothing. Now we were both breathing onto each others faces. Her bright brown were brighter than ever. And all of a sudden, we kissed. Gently, our lips touched, and her vanilla lipgloss taste was all over my mouth. She placed her hand on the back of my neck and pulled me to her. Caressing my cheek she kissed me with such tenderness and excitement. That was our first kiss. She told me she loved me and that I meant the world to her. She said that I would always be a part of her and that we would always be together. That night I couldn’t stop thinking about that moment and how special it was. I convinced myself that Anita was the perfect woman for me. I was happy. I slept hoping that I could dream of both of us in the future. The next morning, excited, I went to school hoping to see my love. She wasn’t there. She didn’t go to school. I was a little worried but I knew that I would see her later. I texted her after school asking if she wanted to hangout. No replies. In the evening, I started to get more preoccupied that something serious could have happened. I went to her house to check on her. The house was empty. in the yard, a “for sale” sign. She was just gone. The love of my life. Gone. I never heard from her again. I never knew what happened. My heart broken into a million pieces. I knew that she loved me and that she was truthful in everything she said. But still I never understood why she left without saying goodbye. I did not hate her for it. On the contrary, Anita is and will always be the great love of my life. Sometimes I think on all the things we lived together and all of the many things I learned with her. And among all those things, the most important one was that we should never take any moment for granted because it may well be the last. And I will always carry this lesson with me. Always.