Stay with me

Epilogue

“This was love at first sight,

Love everlasting: a feeling

Unknown, unhoped for,

Unexpected – in so far as it

Could be a matter of conscious awareness; it

Took entire possession of him, and he understood

With joyous amazement,

That this was for life.”

-Thomas Ma

Six Months Ago

ollie

SINCE FIVE IN the morning, I’d been awake. Everyone had left around four, and I’d had too much to drink. It was a rare occurrence, me drinking, but Oscar always gifted me with bottles. Half of me wanted to believe he felt terrible for pi

She couldn’t have been real, though—the girl from the mess hall. It happened instantly, my heart and soul coming to an automatic agreement, promising their all to her, and frankly, I have too much.

Too much heart and too much soul.

But last night, Jake and Alicia confirmed her existence. They said her name was Mia. How could a three-letter word sound better than poetry? Mia.

She’d sat at the table against the window, couldn’t have been more than thirty feet away, but my body had liquefied and turned into lava, wanting to flow in her direction. Everything had stopped. Though, she couldn’t have been real. No one could’ve physically affected me the way she did. It had to have been a dream—a mirage—a reflection of what I’d been waiting for. She wasn’t real, I’d kept reminding myself.

But she was. Her name was Mia, and she was fucking real.

They had invited her, but she hadn’t shown up last night.

I couldn’t get her out of my head.

The doors automatically unlocked and I grabbed my plain white shirt (the collar on the Dolor shirt was constricting), my black jeans, and fresh pants before heading out, slinging them over my shoulder. The morning was my favorite time of day. I’d always been a morning person. The smell was different in the morning. The air felt different in the morning. I breathed differently in the morning—a new day. I always felt the need to beat the rising of the sun. A sunrise was different from a sunset. When the sun rose, it spoke of new begi

My head pounded—bloody hangover. Walking into the bathroom, I rubbed my fingers over my eyes. Another shower stall was already turned on. The water beat against the tile. Steam built across my skin. Something slowly changed inside me. I felt it before I saw it.

Her presence, it was overwhelming.

My hands dropped to my side.

Mia.

I only saw her, and she saw me.

Her eyes on me kept me steady. Her eyes on me allowed me to exist. Her eyes on me made me important. She made me feel like I was something to be in awe of. Something to be worthy of.

A somebody. Her somebody.

A rush of emotions washed over me as I stopped in my tracks. My feet were useless and unable to move. I felt lost, utterly lost, and I suddenly didn’t know where I was or how I had ended up here. I felt found, discovered by her, and I never wanted her eyes to leave mine. I felt scared, fucking petrified, if we lost this eye contact, she would disappear. I felt peace, undeniably calm in her existence. I felt resurrected, awakened, and I didn’t know how I had lived this long without this privilege of being in her presence.

The pounding of my heart was the only sound as everything else went silent. It beat so loud. Could she hear my heart beating? It was speaking. It told me I had found her.

There.

She.

Is.

There was the girl I had been waiting my whole life for.

I was so weak, it was embarrassing. Staying on my feet became a struggle, when all my body wanted to do was fall to my knees.

Dammit, Mia, I already fell for you.

And suddenly, everyone was wrong. Except for Thomas Ma

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t force away the stupid smile on my face. I was smiling, and it was the first bit of movement my muscles were able to overcome since the shock.

If I didn’t speak now, I would scare her away, but I had forgotten how to speak. It was right there, just one word. Bloody hell. It came up from my chest. The word pumped from my own heart. The heart she now owned.

“Hi,” I breathed. Oh, good, I was breathing. I wasn’t fucking dead. I was alive, and she had become my heaven on earth.

She smiled, and I fell all over again. Her top lip thi

Morning.

I knew I liked the mornings for a reason.

This was the begi

“Hi,” she said, and the one syllable engulfed me entirely. I swam in it. I drowned in it. I wanted to say something more, but my heart was still recovering. Though, I doubted it would ever recover. Nothing about me would ever be the same after her.

I was certain of it.

We stood staring at each other, and I was not sure how long it had been. I took all of her in. Her eyes, though we were five feet away, were golden brown. Yesterday, they had been dark brown. Today, they were like coffee with two—no, three—tablespoons of creamer. Did she like coffee? She was American, so of course she did.

God bless America.

Her hair was wavy, but straight at the ends. Her hair was brown but lighter near the ends. It was like God couldn’t decide. I didn’t blame him for it. Despite his indecisiveness, she was a masterpiece.

But it was not the almond shape of her eyes, or the style of her hair, or even the way her lips moved when she uttered the simplest word causing my heart to stop. No, it was how I was finally home. It was not love at first sight, Mr. Ma