The Promise Case

He looked up and saw a few stars twinkling from afar. There were almost no clouds visible but on the western part was the seemingly smiling moon, so calm yet radiant. As he blankly stared at the sky, he suddenly felt a shudder through him. The fresh breeze of air keeps on blowing. And nearby are the whooshing waves, rolling and rushing back the shore. He opened his mouth wide and took a long deep breath. He doesn't really mind sleeping under a coconut tree on a beach, as long as she is with him. Kelly had leaned on her chest as they seated and now she has dozed off with her hand holding a smooth pebble from the sand. He saw her having goose bumps so he cuddled her in his arms and smelled her scent. He knows she always wanted to be there on the beach, in that place where he first found his elf falling for her/ first fell in love with her.

He has known Kelly for 12 years now, who was his neighbor in one of the more private subdivisions in the city. He, being the only child in an environment where adults dominated, was desperate for a friend. He didn't mind that she was bossy and a know-it-all. All that mattered to him was that she liked to play. So they clicked together as friends. Sure, they sometimes played house and other girlish games, but she was always up for a game of dodge ball and tag. She was never afraid to get dirty.

They went to the same elementary school and the same high school. He was a year older. He had his own set of friends and she had hers, but that didn't stop them from hanging out. He used to visit her in her house, where he could bluntly be himself. He could be lazy, productive, happy, sad, bored, or angry. And he knows that she would still accept him, the same way he would accept her even through the premenstrual syndrome and the craziness that most girls are into. Before they knew, they already grew up to be the best of friends. They were Ham and Cheese, the two great combos of pizza Cheesy Kelly and Hammy Tavey. At least that was the way he thought of her until 3 years ago.

It was November and their families were at that same beach, celebrating Kelly' 18th birthday. One thing he noticed about her was that she did not fuss and fret about the way she looked. But until that night, he should admit to himself that he never did look at her that way. "She was a friend and not anything else," he thought.

Until that night. Tables and chairs were readily set with her favorite band, Spongecola, singing in front, as her closest friends and family members had seated, waiting for her to arrive. When she finally came into view with her dad as her escort, his jaws sagged at the image before his eyes and thought she was no more Kelly. She looked so pretty in her plain white summer dress with her hair piled up high and with just the right amount of make-up on her face; gone was the girl in baggy jeans and oversized T-shirts climbing trees and catching fireflies