the dam

they breathed in the warm july air, shadowed by his house, both knowing it was time to say goodbye. how did it come so fast? they stood there clinging to one another, promising so many promises.

reluctance permeated their footsteps to the driveway. 

she did not want to acknowledge the last time his arms would embrace her whole soul; the last time their lips would meet; the last glance of him she could glimpse.

but she forced herself. to preserve his memory.

that was the last time.

she couldn't. she wouldn't let him go.

then, resting his hands in hers with the car door open wide, he leaned in and kissed her again.

short.

so short,

almost as if he his lips would brush hers again within a fraction of that second.   

but they did not, and that was their last kiss.

they smiled sad smiles, and she left part of herself on the driveway with him.

.....

against all odds, she saw him again. mere glimpses, nothing more. distance cemented their frames and hearts, of complete necessity.

walking into another goodbye, he extended his arm. she took it, briefly, and willed herself to let go of their memories.

goodbye. that was goodbye.

after the last glint shimmered off his crimson car she shuffled up the cool rocky asphalt, barefoot, stumbling onto the pavement where she stopped beneath a summer oak tree to unleash the dam of tears.