Until Next Time

The summer sun warmed Olivia's smooth tan legs. She stretched out on a beach towel in her backyard with her eyes closed beneath her large black sunglasses. Olivia listened to the sound of the pool water splashing in and out of the filter beside her. Her torso lay under a large white umbrella, shielded from the bright rays overhead. Olivia was trying to enjoy the last seven days before school started again. Exactly one week from today she would officially be a high school junior. Over this next year her future would be decided. Career choices, picking the right school, college forms and essays, all the things she still needed to do flooded her head. Olivia was excited to be a junior this year, but she also had so many decisions to make, so much work to put in. But, not today. Today she still had a week.  

Olivia was rustled from her thoughts by the sound of close footsteps in the grass. She tilted her sunglasses up and tried to peer past the bright sunlight. Standing before her was one of her best friends, Jake. Jake was your average guy. He stood at about six feet with messy thick brown hair and dark blue eyes. He always dressed in jeans with converse and a graphic t-shirt nearly covered by a flannel shirt over it. Jake had moved to town when they were in fourth grade. He and Olivia and their friend Grace were instantly peas in a pod. They spent afternoons after school together, vacations and even holidays. They were inseparable. Olivia smiled up at him. He squatted down to her level so she could see him better.  

“Hey stranger! Long time no see.” Olivia said, sitting up and pushing her dark auburn braid over her shoulder.  

“Hi Liv. How’s it going?” he asked. There was a sadness to his voice. Jake was a really positive guy. Always up for whatever was next and not one to say no, he always had a contagious energy. Today though Jake’s face seemed sullen. He was great at showing his enthusiasm, but horrible at faking it when he was upset. Olivia pulled her sunglasses from her face and tossed them on the ground next to her.  

“What’s wrong?” she asked softly. He shook his head and kept his eyes on the ground. His fingers fiddled with a blade of grass. “What’s wrong, Jake?” Olivia said more sternly. He looked up to her, but didn’t meet her eyes.  

“I need to talk to you about something.” he glanced around the yard. Jake’s eyes stopped on the old treehouse that sat in a giant oak tree behind Olivia. “Can we talk in the treehouse?”  

Olivia’s nerves were tingling. She could feel something horrible coming in the pit of her stomach. She nodded and they both rose from the cool grass. Olivia tried to brace herself on the short walk from the pool side to the treehouse. It was no use. The moment she started to climb she felt her legs wobble beneath her. Her foot slipped a few planks from the top. Jake’s hands quickly came around the waist of her denim shorts and steadied her. She took a deep breath and exhaled, demanding herself to get it together!  

The treehouse was built when Olivia was six. Her father painted it purple on the outside with white shutters. Inside the walls were covered with posters of bands and movies. There were drawings and notes here and there in mixed colors of sharpies and fingernail polish. And on the floor of the house were huge pillows, each one in a different patterned fabric. Olivia maneuvered herself in the house and sat down with her legs crossed on a sunflower patterned pillow. Jake slid in the doorway just after and positioned himself similarly on a black and white checkered pillow. An awkward silence ensued between them for several minutes.  

“Oh my god, Jake. Just say it. Whatever it is can’t be as bad as you not saying anything right now. Seriously!” Olivia exclaimed, impatiently.  

Jake cleared his throat. He wiped his sweaty palms across the knees of his jeans.  

“Right, so I have two things to tell you actually. I guess I'll start with the easiest.” he forced himself to meet Olivia’s eyes. “I’m moving. My dad’s company reassigned him to Tennessee. We leave in the morning.”  

Olivia's heart stopped. And then it shattered. She felt the tears welling in her eyes, but refused to let them fall. “How long have you known this?” she asked. She couldn’t breathe. So many feelings were pulsing through her. 

“A couple days. We had to get everything packed, so I’ve been helping my parents. We still have a few things to do, but they knew I wanted to say goodbye to you and Grace so...” 

“Yeah! Okay. You’re moving. Okay. So, let’s have a party! I’ll order pizza. You call Grace and we’ll have a blow out for your last day!” Olivia felt scattered.  

It was all too much. She couldn’t process how she felt quickly enough to give him a response she thought he wanted. So, she deflected. Jake seemed unsure of how to take this response. But he didn’t want to hurt her anymore so he agreed. With one condition.  

“Oh, Okay. That sounds great, but I’ve actually already said bye to Grace. I went to see her before I came here. I wanted to give you some time. And, Grace was really upset so I don’t want to put her through it again. Can this just be you and I? Is that okay?”  

“Of course it is. My phone is in the house. Let me just go call in the pizza and grab some sodas. I’ll be right back.” she said. Olivia hastily climbed down from the treehouse and bolted for her back door.

The tears she had held in were streaming down her face now. Once inside, the cool air of the house dried them quickly. She allowed herself a few minutes to calm down before calling for a pizza delivery.  

Jake grabbed the sodas from her as Olivia climbed back into the treehouse. The time it had taken the delivery guy to bring the pizza was just enough for Olivia to feel ready to face him again. Jake didn’t want his last day with Olivia to feel like this. He couldn’t bare to leave with this awkward horrible feeling hanging between them.  

“Hey, do you remember that concert we went to in Richmond a few years ago? Your parents drove you and Grace and I. And your dad lectured us about how if they dropped us off at this concert, they expected us to behave like adults in that stadium. And he kept going on about how if we came out drunk or high, he would know it and our parents would make sure we never seen the light of day again!” Jake laughed, trying to get the words out. Olivia could barely chew her pizza she was giggling so hard.  

“And then...and then..” she laughed, “They picked us up and he was wasted! He slurred ‘King of the Road’ all the way home and mom had to help him out of the car.” She couldn’t contain her laughter. And that is how the afternoon went. Olivia and Jake in the treehouse they had shared so many memories in, clinging to them one last time.  

Before they knew it, the sky was getting dark. Olivia flipped a switch on the wall beside her, lighting up strings of twinkle lights that lined the walls and roof of the treehouse. They had been having so much fun remembering that she had forgotten all about the reason Jake was there. Until now. A quiet moment fell between them. A moment that was just long enough for her to come back to the realization that Jake was leaving.  

“Hey, we’ll stay in touch. This isn’t the middle ages, right? We have phones and text and social media.” Jake tried to soften the pained look on Olivia’s face.  

Olivia knew Jake would call or text. And yet somehow, that wasn’t enough. This time the tears could not be held back. She finally let her heart break and all at once she was sobbing into her hands. She felt Jake lean forward and ease his arms around her waist. He pulled her close and leaned his head next to hers. They both hoped if they held on tight enough, long enough that the pain would ease. But, no matter, the ache remained. Olivia sniffled behind her hands before moving them down to her lap. As she looked up again, her eyes met Jake’s. His hands moved from her waist to the sides of her face. He closed his dark blue eyes and his nose grazed hers as he bent down to catch her lips between his. Once, twice. They gently pulled away. The feeling lingering on their lips like electric.  

“I’m sorry. Actually, no I’m not. I’m not sorry at all. This may be way too much right now, but I can’t leave here without telling you, Liv. I couldn’t live with myself knowing I didn’t tell you all this time...” 

“Jake!” 

“I love you. I’m in love with you Liv. I have been for a while. I should have told you sooner. I thought we had time.” Jake blurted out.  

“I love you too. I think I always have.” Olivia said before Jake captured her mouth once more in an intense kiss. A kiss that became hundreds of kisses. A kiss that made time cease to exist. But that’s the thing about time, it always catches up to you. 

Jake's phone rang loudly from the pocket of his jeans. The sudden noise made Olivia and Jake jump apart. A brief conversation with his parents later, he ended the call. Olivia knew this was goodbye. It came too fast. She still wasn’t ready. She would never be ready.  

“I have to go. God, I can’t even begin to tell you how much I’m going to miss you.” he said, choking back tears of his own.  

“Then don’t.” said Olivia. “Let’s never say goodbye Jake. It can’t be goodbye. I’ll see you again. You can’t get rid of Olivia Martin that easily!” she tried to smile through her tears. He nodded.  

“Until next time.” he said. Jake softly kissed Olivia one last time. It was the saddest softest kiss Olivia had ever felt.  

“Until next time.” she replied, her voice barely above a whisper. She closed her eyes so tightly it hurt and let the tears cascade down her face. When she opened them again, Jake was gone. She didn’t look out of the treehouse to watch him walk across the yard and out of her life. It was too hard. She needed that last moment with him, that last kiss to be the moment she replayed over in her head.  

Two years passed. Olivia Martin had chosen to attend a local college and major in education. All her hard work had finally paid off. She was three weeks away from moving into her dorm. She had decided that she would treat herself to some well-deserved rest and relaxation. She laid out a large round rug in the grass by the pool. Olivia slipped on her sunglasses, turned up the music on her phone and leaned back, letting the sun warm her not yet tanned, and much too pale skin. Olivia had thought a lot about the summer in the treehouse with Jake over the past two years. They had kept in touch, though not like she had hoped. A “how are you” message was exchanged a couple of times a year. They followed each other on social media. Olivia was happy to see pictures of Jake spending time with his new friends at his new school, getting into actives and spending holidays with his family. But it always pulled at her heart to know that she couldn’t be sharing in any of those things with him.  

The music was pumping so loudly in her ears that Olivia did not hear the footsteps approaching. But she did hear her name. Liv. There was only one person that called her Liv. And her name never sounded sweeter than it did that second.  

“Hey Liv.” his voice gave her goosebumps all over. Olivia's eyes fluttered open. She slowly pulled her sunglasses from her face.  

“Jake? Oh my god.” she leapt forward and enveloped him in a tight hug. He held her just as tight.  

“What are you doing here? I mean, I’m so happy to see you, but what are you doing back here?” she asked, flustered.  

“You must not have seen my last post. I’m coming back for school. I applied to a few in Tennessee but the local college here has a better program for me. Looks like we’ll be going to school together.” he said with a wide smile. 

“Hey, do you want to order a pizza by chance? Hangout in the treehouse. You know, for old time’s sake?” Olivia asked, nervous that she was being too forward.  

“I would love that actually. I’ve been waiting a long time for our ‘until next time’, Liv.” he said softly. She smiled a smile she hadn’t felt cross her face in quite a while.  

“Me too.” 

And so Olivia and Jake ordered a pizza and drank soda and spent the evening in the little purple tree house talking about memories and catching up on the past two years. The last time they had sat in the treehouse it was an end to something that could have been everything. And now, they finally had a chance at that everything. There in the treehouse, they said goodbye again. Not to each other, but to waiting. In the treehouse, they found their beginning.  

The End...  

Until next time.