Every summer the same to me, 
visiting family on the east coast. 
Leaving Ohio with my chin in the air, 
Being around them was when I was happiest most.  
By mid-summer each year, though, 
I was ready to return to my friends. 
I was ready for school to start, 
I was ready for that summer to end. 
The summer lost its “newness”, 
by the time mid-july rolled along. 
The faces, the setting, the adventures 
all seemed terribly wrong.  
But last summer was something different, 
(different in a good way too!). 
It was a summer of pure happiness. 
Remembered as the summer that I met you.  
I went to South Carolina, 
with expectations so relatively low. 
But after befriending someone so sweet, 
new feelings began to grow.  
Two people that are meant to be, 
joint together by summer vacations. 
Two people destined to fail, 
for not having the correct locations.  
That didn’t stop our friendship 
from growing deeper and stronger. 
Each morning, a new adventure. 
Each night, wanting to stay longer. 
Two months with you was all it took, 
for us to grow so incredibly close. 
And two weeks apart was all it took, 
to make me miss you the most. 
The night before you left was bittersweet— 
surely the best night of my life. 
But also one of the most painful , 
worse than the sharpest of sharp knives.  
I told myself I wouldn’t cry, 
when I woke up on the final day. 
I couldn’t let you see me like that, 
or make you feel my dismay.  
But night approached us quickly, 
and our annual movie night was about to begin. 
I saw the happiness on your face, 
and I wondered how you could even grin. 
I sobbed like an infant, 
and then you too, broke down. 
We sat there crying, until our eyes were dry 
about your final night in town. 
We promised we’d keep in touch, 
that this couldn’t be the end. 
That these feelings wouldn’t just die, 
and that our hearts would mend. 
But we both knew the truth, 
The odds of us ever crossing paths was slim. 
And although neither would say it, 
we both knew reality was too grim. 
So we sat in silence your final night, 
with our sniffling to assure the other was awake. 
I tried to speak once, but you hushed. 
I knew it was for my own sake. 
Then the time came for you to leave, 
your cousins waited for you outside. 
We told each other “It’ll be okay” 
And we felt we both had lied. 
I probably kissed you a thousand times, 
just in case it was to be the last. 
In case our future paths would not cross, 
In case you would be a thing of the past. 
This past summer was different, 
It was the warm season of something new. 
The summer spent in South Carolina 
was the summer I fell for you.