Memories of What Kisses Leave

         Once again I wiped the wetness his kiss had left away from my lips, just as I had done a thousand times before. As I did, I began to cry, knowing that it would be the last kiss we would ever share. I thought back to the first time I felt his perfectly plush lips graze mine, and I couldn’t help but smile. It is said that, “it is better to have loved and lost then to never have loved at all.” I have to agree, but let me also say that the “losing” part hurts more than is imaginable.
         The day I looked into his deep brown eyes and knew that I loved him is still fresh in my memory. I had always felt that I was the only one who knew the real him; he was different when we were alone. In a group he was loud, obnoxious, vulgar, and playful. When we were alone, though, we connected inside and out. He shared his deepest hopes, dreams, and fears with me and I came to understand why he put up the front that he did around other people. For as unhappy as he was with his family and where his life was headed, he rarely let it show. The times we spent together remain some of the happiest times of my life.
         We both wanted the same things in life, and the night he told me that one day I would be his wife, was the night I gave in to his seduction. I thought about him constantly and was always trying my hardest to make him happy. He filled me with the greatest joy I had ever felt in my life. He had complete control over me, and he knew it, too.
         Many times throughout our relationship, I could tell when the stress of his life bore down on him much too hard. He took it out on me. We had always bickered playfully, me being so strong-willed and he being so hard-headed. Toward the end of our relationship, though, he’d be furious with me for the littlest things and wouldn’t forgive me until I came crawling back. Which I did countless times.
         Then, finally, one day he was gone without a word to me. He left a message with my friend that broke my heart. For a few days he would stop by off and on, with an “I don’t want to lose you,” and an “I’m just not sure,” then finally he found someone new. Our paths crossed once more and again he tried to reconcile. I told him to spare me the pain and say goodbye now. So, with one last kiss and a wave we said goodbye to a magical summer and relationship we had shared. As I wiped away the wetness his kiss had left, I knew that the love was worth the hurt in the end.