This is the perfect letter to leave for your parents. You hope they don’t push it and try to find me. You know they will lose their shit and not because they lost their daughter, but because this will be a scandal they don’t want anyone to know.

You get dressed and grab your suitcase before heading out the door to get into the Uber that is waiting for you. As you lock the door and leave your keys in the pot by the door, you noticed Sharon, your neighbour, from the corner of your eye and hope she doesn’t see you. As you walk towards your Uber, Sharon, your neighbour calls over to you.

You don’t stop walking as you answer her.

Your tone is angrier than expected, and you open the door of your Uber.

There was a brief pause before Sharon speaks.

All of a sudden you find yourself hugging Sharon, she gives you the mom hug you longed for years. She kisses your temple softly and whispers before letting you go.

You mumble thanks before getting into the Uber and driving to the airport.

This is the fresh start you absolutely needed: college. Where no-one knows you, no-one can find you, no-one can demand anything from you. This is your time for happiness on your terms.

You get on the plane a few hours later and find your seat.  You can’t help but stare at a group of girls seating in the seats you pass, murmuring comments to each other and staring at the direction of your seat.

You look around to see if maybe you’re on a plane with a celebrity, but there isn’t anyone around you recognize.

You approach your seat when you notice someone sitting on the chair beside the one designated for you.

You can’t see his face as he looking down reading, but you can already tell he is quite sightly.

Instinctively, You turn around quickly to confirm your suspicion that he is the reasoning for the commotion upfront with the giggling girls who are now staring at you with pure jealousy.

He looks up and gives you a smile, and you find yourself blushing. You didn’t realize how breathtakingly gorgeous he was until he looked at you.

Light brown perfectly positioned hair, perfectly chiselled jawline and alluring green eyes that can captivate your soul with one look.

You try to contain your composure, but he is undoubtedly the most handsome guy you have ever laid your eyes on.

You hesitate to move still in shock at his gorgeousness but snap out of quickly as you shuffle yourself in front of him to get to your seat.

Not knowing that his bag was on the floor between his legs you trip and fall on him.

Instead of grabbing the seat in front of you, your arms swing back and hold yourself up by placing your hand on his chest.

He instinctively helps you from falling by holding his hands forward which accidentally cups your ass.

Your hand was only his chest for a mere few seconds, but you can tell his body is immaculately sculpted.

A gasp escapes your lips, but you don’t know if it is because of his body or that his hands are on your ass.

His face turns as red as his varsity jacket, and you know yours probably matches it also.

You bite your bottom lip, trying to not make yourself look like a bigger fool. You nod sweetly and adjust yourself into your seat.

He chuckles and responds.

He turns red once again, and a chuckle roars out of him as if it came straight out of his core.

We talk non-stop through the duration of our flight, not even noticing the seat beside him gets taken by an older woman minutes after I sat down.

We spoke about the book he was reading, ‘Gone’ by Michael Grant which coincidently is both of our favourites,

and other books we suggested to add to each other’s “to read” list, and how he plays football and that I paint/sketch when we aren’t reading.

The pilot’s voice crackles through the plane system notifying us that we will be descending shortly to our destination.

Damon grabs a pen from his bag and scribbles something in his book before handing it to you.

Before you could respond, the lady that was sitting next to both of you, giggles and then pipes up from the silence.

Damon smiles awkwardly as if he was embarrassed by what she said.

He smiles once again and waves goodbye while I slip his book in my bag before leaving as well.

Once in my uber and making my way to campus, I take out his book and read what he wrote inside.

I couldn’t help but blush and smile. I bite my bottom lip and think about our flight chatter and hope that maybe one day, I will see him again.

It’s a few days before college starts, but you walk inside to find your dorm as thankfully you can get settled before classes start.

You are so glad you were able to come on a full scholarship, away from your parents, brother, and … Jonathan.

Your thoughts get interrupted by an overly enthusiastic volunteer.

You make your way through the doors and turn right immediately and follow the instructions Samantha has given me until you reach your dorm.

The first thing you notice is the BBQ dinner new letter invitation taped on your door.  

Without thinking, you knock hen chuckle remembering this will be your home until the end of the year and walk inside.

You look inside as you walk in to see who is responding to your knock. Your roommate is sitting on her bed, looking at you with immense curiosity.

Her beauty makes me feel a little intimidated.

She has beautiful dark skin that almost looks like silk, brown frizzy, curly hair that compliments her face.

She is absolutely stunning, but you can tell right off the bat that she is sweet.

Suddenly the door opens, and an equally gorgeous older woman walks in.

She smiles and hugs me softly before facing Nerezza, her daughter.

Nerezza hugs her mom goodbye then starts helping you unpack.

You instantly feel a lump in your throat, and it was hard to swallow. Do you tell her that your parents don’t know you’re here?

That you only wrote a note saying you left for college and want to be left alone.

How do you begin to explain the situation between Jonathan and yourself, and how your parents want you engaged to him right away at the age of eighteen?

You look at her with a smirk on your face before responding.

We both giggle at my response before Nerezza mentions everyone from her high school that is here.

You stick your tongue out before striking a Superman pose. You immediately remember the Damon you met on the plane.

We both laugh then she continues with a list of names and ends with her girlfriend, Jane.

You can see the love sparkle in her eyes, and it gives you hope that one day you will find a love like that.

It reminds you that leaving home and away from your parents, who just want you to get married for money was the right thing to do.

Nerezza just stares at you with a puzzled look as you finish putting your last book the one Damon has given you on the shelf before breaking up the awkward silence.

Nerezza jumps up from her bed and heads to the door while grabbing your wrist to hurry you up.

As we get to the BBQ, you notice all the tents with free stuff and food for all the students. There are information booths with clubs and everything.

You want her to have some privacy with her girlfriend before introducing you, as she may not have had a chance to say hi.

You wander around checking out all the different clubs and get information of on some potentials you really like, especially the dance and drama clubs… the debate club is a must though.

You haven’t felt this free in a long time. To be able choose who to talk to, hang out with, date, and love.

Your mind wanders to thinking of Damon and what he might be doing. Realizing that you might never see him again you trying to distract yourself with club pamphlets.

As you get carried away reading the debate club pamphlet, You bump into someone not realizing and drop everything accidentally.

You bend down to grab your things before looking up to see your victim’s face, and freeze upon realization of who it is.

His smirk is one of many things about him you’d never forget, and which gets you blushing like the first time he wore it proudly as he did on the plane.