• He grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him. Their tan, lean bodies were warm and close now. She leaned her head on his chest as he gave her a hug. "I need you. Don't go. Please? I don't understand why your leaving."
    But she knew exactly why she was leaving him. She pulled her head up and wiped the tears from her cheeks.
    "My train leaves at 7:30 and it's 6:45 now," she paused; holding back her tears. "can you drive me to the station?"
    "No."
    She could see the tears in his eyes. His voice got shakier but he managed to make out a set of words that seemed to fit into a sentence.
    "Please, please don't go." one single tear rolled down his soft, tan cheek as he looked her square in the eye.
    "It'll be okay. We'll still talk over text messages, phone calls, and e-mails. I'm always here for you, Alex, you should know that by now....It's going to ba alright..." she knew, though, that from that day on, her life would never be the same again. She loved him, but he never loved her more than just a friend because to him, that's all she was.
    Her plan was to tell him how she felt towards him once she got to New York. She decided that she shouldn't even mention anything about it before she left because she was afraid that if she did, it would be harder for her to leave him in California. In 45 minutes, she would be boarding a train to take her thousands and thousands of miles away from him. possibly, forever. Wait, she thought, these were her last few moments to spend with him, she shouldn't be wasting them by going deeper and deeper into her thoughts. Then, she looked up to meet a pair of dark brown eyes gleaming down at her. It was amazing. How just one look from him made her feel like he could easily read her every thought and dream wandering in her mind.
    "I still don't understand why your leaving," he said interrupting her train of thought. "why can't you tell me?"
    "Don't worry about it. Hey, this could be the last time i ever see you. Do --"
    "Don't say that."
    She dropped her head to her chest trying to find the right words to say to him without making him wonder even more about her mysterious good-bye.
    "I know you may not want it to be true but the reality of it is that it probably is trrue." her voice began to hesitate on the next thing she would say. His brown eyes yet still focused on hers. His black hair was shining in the light of his bedside lamp, and his hands searched for something to cling onto. His room was warm and lavished with the color of stem green painted over the plain white walls. Then, there she sat, with her shoulder length dark brunette hair. Her deep, dark brown eyes laid on her hands, wondering what she should say. She glanced at the clock which read 6:58 now. It took 20 minutes to get to the train station and if the lines were long, considerable since it was a Saturday night, it would take her 10 minutes to get all her baggage settled in for herself.
    "Well, I guess I'd better leave now," her legs began to feel weak as she began to balance her body into a standing position and it was easy for him to notice how hard it was for her to leave his the way she was planning to. "and since you don't want to drive me there...i guess this is good-bye." the words stuttered in her mind but when she spoke, the words came out clearly like if there was no sign of sorrow in her heart. He didn't look at her when she spoke. In fact, he just stared at the picture he had pinned to his wall of both of them buried in sand trying to make sand castles when they were 11 on a nice and breezy Hawaiian beach.
    "Why?" he asked.
    "Why what?"
    "Why are you leaving me here?"
    She looked down at her feet that were covered by the soft carpeting in the room.
    "I'll tell you later, Alex."
    "Why cant you tell me now?"
    "Because...because I'm afraid that if i tell you now...it'll make it harder for me to leave you."
    "Then don't leave me. Stay here. I need you, Ivy. Please, I'm begging you, please...you can't go."
    He was standing now. Holding her with both his arms wrapped around her. She stepped back, then, and let his hands collapse into hers and stared right into her eyes once again. Staring into her soul.
    "Alex, I have to go now," she could feel the grip on his hands tighten as she closed her eyes and a single tear drop escaped her timid eyelashes. "good-bye, Alex."
    Then, she ran before he could see her cry. She opened the front door of his house and ran to her car. Opening the door, she slopped inside and took cover from the pouring rain. The sky was gray now and heavy raindrops covered her car in a heavy blanket of clear and drained water. She slouched back in her seat, drenched in water. Looking towards the second floor window, she could see his silhouette looking down on her blurred figure sitting in the drivers side of her car. That's when she knew she had to go, before she ran back to him crying and soaked. She pulled out of his driveway and sped on throught the forrest of towering trees and out through the back headed for the crowded city of streets and lights.

    She had a nice seat view. Right next to the window. She sat and stared out to the suns glow slowly dropping behind what seemed to be an army of clouds. The seat beside her was vacant. She plugged in her earphones to her ipod and attempted to drift away in the flow of the words in the music. She had about two days to think of what to say to Alex once she got to New York. All of a sudden, she felt the train come to a slow stop. They were stopping already? That's when she heard the conductors voice flow over the loudspeakers above her saying that this was their first stop in Bakersfield. Great, she thought, more time to think.

    At nearly 6:30 in the mornin, she felt a second halt and that's when she realized that she was in Winfield, Kansas. But she hadn't even gotten a chance to think about what to say to him yet and now she only had maybe a day left to think, and with the distractions surrounding her. it would be especially hard for her to think.
    "This will be our last stop. For travelers boarding the New York stop, your train will be boarding in 15 minutes. For travelers boarding the Boston stop, your train will be leaving in 10 minutes...." She heard the conductors voice go over the loudsspeaker once again and this time she realized this is where she'd have to get off the train.
    She stepped up from her chair and reached underneath her seat towards the baggage she stored under her feet while she was sleeping.
    "Your truely amazing, you know that?" a voice spoke clearly behindbehind her. So familiar, so warming. It soothed her body and eased the pain from resting in a train seat for around 11 hours.
    "I always knew there was that one thing about you i loved," she froze. Now she knew who it was.
    "I can't believe it took me this long for me to realize why i need you in my life."
    "Alex?" now she was facing him. Her eyes immediatly locked with his in a quiet but comfortable silence. "How did you manage getting on board? The train left the station after 7:30 last night and im sure you didnt get onboard then."
    "When you got into your car last night, i could tell something wasn't right. So from that moment on, i learned how much you meant to me," he took a step closer to her and, while grabbing her wrist in his strong, dark tan, and soft hands, he pulled her closer to him. "I knew i would have to do anything for you, but i remembered your train left at 7:30 so i called the station to see where the next stop would be at and they told me Bakersfield. So i drovw all the way over there and boarded on your train but once I got on, you were fast asleep. I have to say, though, your onw beautiful young woman." He spoke in a hush tone. like if it was a secret, but leaving a grin on his closed lips showing that he, in his own way, wasn't joking.
    "But realy, Alex, why would you do all that? If you didn't make the Bakersfield boarding you wold've been driving around the entire South-Western part of the country."
    "You know, all this time wile you were asleep, I asked myself that same exact question until I finally found the answer. Ivy, I love you."
    "Aww Alex, I love you too. I was so afraid to tell you before i left because I was scared of what you might say so i thought I'd tell you once I was in --"
    He pressed his lips to hers and kissed her the way she'd always dreamed of kissing him. So passionate. So sweet.

    That same morining, they both stepped off that train hand-in-hand promising they would never let go of eachother no matter what the consequences could or would be. As they stepped off the train, though, Ivy slipped on the concrete pavement because of her still wet shoes. She slid right underneath the train wheels right when the train was about to go back to California. Then, everyone's head turned towards a shriek and a screeching stop of the train. The conductor ran out to check the tracks and there they were. The remains of two totally in-love teenagers holding tight onto eachothers hands. Never letting go no matter what. Covered in blood and and bruises, Alex knew he woldnt be able to grab her out from under the train before it would go. So he slid underneath the train with her and grasped her hand while holding it tightly. They lived and died together. Love never ends, and death would never effect the strong bonds that Ivy and Alex had. Together, forever. True love.