Memories of Love.
By: Jason Linder

It had been at least two months since Melody Star moved away. "Melody, why did you leave me?" Joe asked aloud to no one in particular. He was all alone in his room, staring at pictures of her and him together. He missed her so much. "Why did Melody and I connect so well?" Joe asked; "Maybe because we actually cared for and understood each other so well. After all, she was the only friend I had back then. And she and I actually trusted each other."
He flipped through his photo album sadly, recalling all the good and bad times they had had together. "Ah, the school picnic at the beach," he recalled, looking at a picture of him and her screwing around for the camera at the Green Hill Falls beach. "I remember that day very well."

It was three years ago, on the last day of school. Joe and Melody were friends, but not best friends yet. Joe was chatting with his buddies, whom he called; Dude and Homey. They were sitting at a picnic table under the shade of a tree, when Melody came over. Melody smiled at Joe sweetly as she sat down to join the guys.
Joe and Melody had met only the previous winter. Neither of them had any friends at the time. It was only after Joe met and became friends with Melody that he met Dude and Homey. Maybe meeting each other helped Joe and Melody to be more social. Anyways, they both weren't quite as shy as they used to be. In fact Joe had been able to go up and talk to other people now, a feat that he used to consider physically impossible for him. Melody had also made a few friends of her own as well. Dude and Homey soon left to go swimming, leaving the two of them all alone. Joe grinned sheepishly at her and she smiled at him and asked, "Joe would you maybe push me on the swings please?"
"No problem Melody." Joe replied, grinning at her. They walked over to the swings. Joe held onto the swing as Melody got on. He then pushed her, right off the swing. "Oh no! I'm sorry Melody! Are you ok?" She spit out a bit of sand and replied, "Just peachy."
Soon, Joe had managed to actually push Melody on the swing. However, he just stood there inattentive to Melody, as she came swinging back, kicking him right in the face!
"Joe! Are you ok?" Melody cried, jumping off her swing, running over to Joe, who had a big foot print on his face. "I'm sorry Joe." she replied. Joe looked up at Melody's pretty face and said, "It's alright Melody, I'm fine."
"Let's go sit down," Melody said, gesturing towards the picnic table. Joe got up and walked over to the picnic table and asked Melody to help him move it into the sun. While moving the table into the sun, Melody's grip slipped and she accidentally dropped the table, right on Joe's foot! She rushed over towards him in apology and their heads collided. "I'm so sorry!" she wailed apologetically. Joe just grinned and said, "Its ok Melody, I'm fine, really."
"I just don't want you to be mad at me." She admitted.
"How could I be mad at you?" Joe asked, "I really like you. I couldn't get mad at you. You are too sweet a girl for me to get mad at."
"Well, I really like you too Joe," Melody replied, biting her lip in nervousness. She needed to tell Joe something, but she really didn't know what to say. She thought and thought, "I need to give him some sort of a hint that tells him just how much I like him." She got a sudden idea, and before she could think it over, she found herself blurting out, "I really want a boyfriend." Joe looked at her and replied, "Well, I would like a girlfriend. Since we both seem to like each other how about going out with me sometime?"
"I would love to." Melody said, smiling warmly.

Joe found himself laughing at this memory back in his room. It was amazing that their great relationship began because of a little hint. He began to miss her even more than ever. He flipped through his album for a few seconds, until he came across a movie ticket stub. "That was from our very first date." Joe realized, recalling that event.

It was a week later since the day at the beach, when they went on their first 'date'. They went to a movie theater and saw Finding Nemo.
"Two tickets please." Joe said. "That will be $.8.00" The person behind the ticket counter said, as Joe pulled out his wallet, Melody started looking through her purse. "Melody, what are you doing?" Joe asked. Melody replied, "Paying for my ticket."
"No. I'm taking you to this movie, and I'll pay for you ok?" Joe insisted.
"At least let me buy the snacks." Melody said. Joe agreed.
They had soon sat down in their seats. He was cracking jokes, making her laugh. They really seemed to connect with each other very well. Except for the fact that Melody really was in love with Joe, and he didn't seem to have any clue. But, Joe also felt the same way about Melody. They were both so afraid of being rejected by the other. So neither of them knew how the other felt.
Later on during the movie, Joe risked holding her hand, and was relieved to feel her grabbing his hand in return. There seemed to be a perfect chemistry between the two of them. What made it so great was that they both cared for each other. However, neither of them said anything about their feelings.
Near the end of the movie, Melody took a big chance with Joe by kissing him on the cheek. He responded by kissing her back. After a second, both of them turned to kiss the other on the cheek at the same time, and as a result, they kissed each other on the lips. They both pulled away quickly, embarrassed. And didn't say much after that.
It was really too bad they didn't accept that kiss; they did have so much in common; they both didn't have many friends, they understood each other, and most importantly, they felt an affection towards each other.

Joe began to think more about his relationship with Melody. When he really thought about it, it seemed pretty obvious that Melody did care for him. Joe sighed painfully as he came across the four leaf clover that Melody had given him that summer. It was the last thing she had given him, before it happened.

It was summer, Joe had left town to attend the Upward Bound summer program, leaving Melody behind. "I'll talk to you next Saturday! I promise." He said as he left, "Bye Melody, I love you." As she watched Joe speed away in his parent's car, a feeling of dread came over her. She felt like something bad was about to happen, something that concerned her and Joe.
It was during the first week. Joe was talking to his friend, Mickey. She just so happened to be the roommate of Angel Evan, the girl that Joe had liked since the day he had met her. The thing was, Angel didn't really seem to like him much. In fact, it seemed as if she hated Joe.
As they were talking, Mickey mentioned Angel; "You know Joe, Angel actually does like you."
"She does?"
"Yes, and she told me that she would go out with you if you asked." Joe froze, now this was a problem; stay with Melody, or give Angel a chance? He debated with himself for two and a half days. His original plan was, "Stay with Melody, because it wouldn't be right to break up with her to go out with Angel. If I did that I know I would feel guilty knowing that it might break Melody's heart. Why did this have to happen now? Just when we were starting to have a serious relationship. It's wrong, it's selfish. Think of what this would do to Melody, I'm all that she has, but. Am I really responsible for her? What should I do? Is it right to do this? I don't think I can do this to her. But I didn't promise that this would last forever. ARRRGGHH!!! WHAT SHOULD I DO?!"
In the end, Joe decided to give Angel a chance. It was the hardest thing for Joe to do. He wasn't brave enough to tell Melody to her face since he still loved her (he didn't know it but the feeling was there still, deep down), so he called her on the phone.
"Melody? How are you?"
"I am so glad you called me Joe." Melody said over the phone, "I had the most supremely awful day."
Joe gave a nervous laugh and said, "Hey that's not good." He took a deep breath and tugged at his shirt collar, "Melody," He paused trying to think, "Hi Melody." She giggled a little at him, until he said," Ok, here we go. I don't think we should go out anymore."
Silence on the other end.
"Melody?" Melody cleared her throat and said, "Well ok. I guess that's it then," She seemed to take it awfully well; Joe started to worry about her. "I guess I'll see you around Joe." She said, not sounding at all upset.
"You're ok about this?"
"Sure, I'm not one of those 'clingy people'. I don't get attached to
things." Joe didn't quite believe her, but he said, "Well, ok, I'll
see you later Melody. Bye."
"Bye."
As Joe hung up the phone, he began to think if he was really doing the
right thing.
Meanwhile, Melody had just hung up the phone, and she bawled into her pillow. It was incredibly tough for her to hide her crying on the phone, and she could hardly stand it. She truly did love Joe and this. it broke her heart.
Angel didn't treat Joe so well during the next two months. She seemed to be taking advantage of him. If she really did care for him, she didn't show it. When Joe returned to school for the next year, Melody approached him. It was then that she found out about Angel, and just could not hide her heartbreak.
"Joe, we aren't really broken up are we?" she asked, a look of total heartbreak on her face. Joe couldn't bear to tell her that they were, so he said, "Does this answer you're question?" and hugged her close, feeling her tightly hug him back. Eventually, Joe decided to stay with Melody. Because she did care about him and she showed it. And Joe really did still care for her as well. He did, after all, feel guilty all summer long. He thought about her almost the whole time. Joe broke up with Angel soon after. However, the trust that Melody had in Joe was not as strong anymore.

Joe thought about that whole little escapade. He was so glad that Melody took him back. He had never regretted the decision that he made, choosing her over Angel. However, Melody's trust in Joe took a setback because of that little stunt. He was able to gain her trust back. But in a way that sort of hurt him.

One day, a couple months after Joe took her back, during lunch, Melody began to cry. "Melody, what's wrong honey?" Joe asked her. She refused to look at him, "I can't do this anymore." She sobbed.
"What do you mean?" He asked, "Do you mean us?" Melody didn't reply, she just gave Joe a look that told him everything she wanted to say. Joe didn't wait for her to explain why she wanted to break up with him, he didn't care. He rushed out of the cafeteria as fast as he could. His heart breaking more and more with each step he took. Joe could never remember feeling so miserable in all his life!
Melody soon followed him out, and found him sobbing uncontrollable into his shirt sleeve near a garbage can. "He really does care about me. No one could fake sadness like that." Melody realized. She approached him and touched him gently on the shoulder. He looked up at her, his face stained with dry tears. "Joe, I've changed my mind, I don't want to leave you. I love you with all my heart."
Joe stared at her, he didn't ask why she had said it in the first place. He felt all the heartbreak seep out of him at those words and he felt warm and happy. He hugged her tightly, and said, "Don't ever leave me Melody. Ever!" "I won't, I promise" Melody replied with a sly smile, "Because you passed."

It was then that Joe realized she was testing his faith in her, trying to see just how much he did care and love her. And he really understood why when he thought about it. Her trust in him had weakened a lot because of his little mishap during the previous summer. She wanted to have faith in him knowing that she really cared for him, and if he would care if she ever left him. Joe's love in Melody grew more, because she actually cared enough to see if he loved her, in his eyes, it was a sweet thing to do. He found out just how much he truly loved her. In those brief two minuets which he thought he was going to lose her, Joe had never felt so miserable in all his life. Now he could relax, because the Melody's trust in him, that had recently been shattered, had been fully restored once again.
Joe wiped away a stray tear in his eyes. "But she broke her promise to me." Was all that he said.

Meanwhile, several states away, Melody Star looked up from her tear soaked pillow. She stared into Joe's smiling face in which stared back at her through the picture frame. Her eyes filled up with tears again as she began to miss him more, and she buried her face into her pillow again.
The End

*Based on a true story*