There she went, as she always did at this time with her infectuous laugh and sprightly walk. Surrounded by friends and hardly noticing the lone figure leaning against his locker and staring with hope of a glance in his direction, she came and passed, as she always had, with no attention paid to the boy standing with the silent admiration.
Things would go in a different direction as time passed. The boy took a fancy and started dating one of the other girls in the group of hallway travellers and his once frequent thoughts of solitary moments of intimacy with the girl lay dormant under the rug of impossible curiosities. He would see her on occasion and question at times, however briefly, his decision to pursue the girl's friend but was appeased with the light in the friend's eyes.
Time would pass, relationships would end and new situations would arise. Heartbroken and lonely a chance occurrence with the girl's mother would bring hopes of lasting love to the romantic boy's mind as connections in communication were forged. Though limited to emails and phone calls, the boy clung to the hope of evoking interest in the girl's heart. A Christmas vacation home would afford him the opportunity to drive through a snowstorm, against his mother's approval, to see her. He would act nervous and out of character and soon be back in his car wondering whether there was ever an opportunity, during the visit, to kiss the lips that, at times, had been just a few of inches from his.
The boy would grow. Of course, the girl grew too. They grew together, while apart. They became friends but not the kind of friends that spent time together when they were both home. They became the sort of friends that complained to each other about their disappointments in the pursuits of love. They would meet only once before the boy joined the army; in a car, in the parking lot of a mall. The boy's heart was elsewhere and the conversation congenial and he would hold on to that image of her for years after when the army would bring him to foreign locales.
The two would grow closer the further they were from each other. Their friendship became increasingly less about gripes than about being there for each other through the hard times and the good. They would offer the same support to each other that they would a family member and even thinking of each other, to a certain extent (as good friends often do) as part of their family. They would argue at times but their hearts always had good intentions for the other. There would come a time when the boy was at an emotional low in his life, that the two would arrange a visit. The anticipation of the visit would be carried through the boy's daily activities as one of very few lights that the boy could see ahead for him. The girl would wonder, after reading an email of his before this visit what this meant for the travels that lay ahead for her. The boy would assure her that the email meant nothing, that it was just his way of trying to show her that she holds a special place in his heart as a dear friend.
