Dear Louise...

Dear Louise,

I've known you since the first day we met in second grade.  I've been in love with you for a shorter amount of time, but almost as long.  I've never said anything to you.  I was afraid of what people would think about me.  No, that's a lie.  They can think what they want.  I was afraid of what everyone would be brave enough to say to my face or write on my Facebook wall (if you can consider that bravery).  I didn't want to drag you into that.  You don't deserve it.

Any love letter that I've ever read has something to say about what they like about the person they're for.  It's the cheesiest thing, but it's my favorite part.

Your hair always smells of strawberries and it reminds me of when our moms used to take us to the strawberry fields in town (they were community gardens, really.  An old lady used to come by a couple times of week to tend her strawberries.  When her hands and knees became so arthritic it pained her to do anything she loved, we continued her legacy and sent her pictures).  We would go down there and we would pick handfuls of strawberries, keeping half for everyone else to eat, and eating the other half ourselves.

Your eyes tell me that there's more to you than I can possibly know.  I love a good mystery-worth-solving.

Your smile makes every trouble melt away-- global warming, war, poverty, hunger, death...

Louise, I said that I was in love with you shortly after I met you.  It was that day we went to Lucille Reinhardt's dress-up birthday party.  You picked out this blue Cinderella dress that I loved on you.  I still remember that dress and the way you looked.  I think that was the day that I realized who I was... even though I didn't have a word for it yet.

In a few days, we'll graduate from high school.  I know that we'll be on opposite coasts, but maybe, if you want, we can try and make something work.  If you don't, I'll completely understand and I'll never ask you about it again.

I hope that you'll at least still want to be my friend, because I love you in that sense above all and I don't want anything to ruin that.

Let me know, you know how to contact me.

Sincerely (or Love, if you'll have me),
Amanda

--Jude, 12/23/10

This short story is now available to viewing on the 'Writing' page!