Oregon Or Bust (Part 13)

After fixing my poor car and returning to my own town, I immediately found myself back at my boyfriend’s place.

When I had left his place the last time I had spent nearly two hours sobbing about nothing, but things were definitely turning around when I decided to visit him a week later. I had spent only about a day with him, but when I left his place I wasn’t really sad at all. I mean, I knew that I was going to miss him and all, but it felt nothing like the time before.

A day of talking and just enticingly gazing into each other’s eyes eased the manic depressive emotions that spilled out the weekend before. I hated to admit it, but I really never felt like that about any other guy before.

I never visited other boyfriends who lived hours away like I do with my current boyfriend. I never cried about possibly leaving anyone, or actually felt guilty about other guys trying to talk to me. It was weird for me to move from being a serial dater to someone who was actually invested in a relationship.

“I don’t know, this is definitely a different situation this time around,” I told my friend from second grade.

My friend softly chuckled behind a smile and then sighed.

“He told me that there’s something about you I just can’t let you go,” my friend from second grade told me about her Oregon crush. “He really liked me Jas, and after all these years we still like each other.”

My friend and her guy from Oregon had spent only a month with each other under the blazing summer heat. Every second that they shared brought them closer to each other and strengthened the foundational bond that they had when they were children.

“Jas, I always dreamt of winning that cheesy teddy bear from the county fair and it all came true that night.” And after a whimsical ride on the Farris Wheel, her guy even won her three fish for her.

“Those fish are going to last a month because I got them for you,” her guy from Oregon said. It was the last time that they were probably going to see each other for a while, and the two of them were not too keen on long distance relationships.

“If he lived here we would be dating,” my friend said.

“What’s so bad about long distance relationships?” I asked.

“It’s too hard—and I don’t really want to be alone. But you know what? That night at the fair was such a beautiful memory to add to all the other beautiful memories. I may or may not love him, but my cup runneth over. He definitely knows how to make everything perfect.”

I felt the deep pain welling up inside her aching heart as she spoke to me. Tears nearly fell from her eyes before she caught them with her gently shaking hands, and I knew right then that there was something magnificent between those two.

A little piece of my best friend’s heart was taken away to Oregon after that. I didn’t know if they would ever get married, or if they would even get the chance to date again, but I knew that in the end that all it was worth it—and that it wasn’t a bust.