Puppy Love

“Speak now!” his stepfather says to me over the phone. “If you don’t, you will be speaking to the police. We will not need to get them involved if you just tell us where he is.” My palms are sweating, and I feel dizzy. The police? This is really bad. What if they call my parents, I will be grounded forever, then how will I help him? “Sir, I swear. I don’t know where he is.” I told him. “I have not talked to him since yesterday morning. He didn’t tell me he was going to run away. I have no idea where he would go.” I know he doesn’t believe me. But there is no way I will tell them where he is. I promised him that no matter what, I would never tell, and I would not break my promise to him. It is the only way we can be together. “Have it your way!” he says and hangs up on me. My heart feels like it is going to come through my chest. What does that mean anyway, have it your way? The phone rings again and I jump. I have to answer it. If I ignore them, my parents will find out for sure. This time it was his older sister, Lisa. “Maria, please tell us what you know. He cannot hide out forever, you know that. He has to go with them today. They need to meet the movers this afternoon. Please tell us where he is.” Oh, this is much harder to do than I thought it would be. I really hate lying to Lisa, but I have to. “Lisa, I’m so sorry, I really don’t know.” I tell her, to which she replies “Ok, well as soon as you do, please call the house. They are not going to leave without him. I know you will do the right thing.” She hangs up and I take a deep breath. I am starting to doubt our plan is going to work. 

One month prior to this David told me his mom and stepfather announced they were moving. They had been talking about it for months, but he didn’t think his mom would go through with it. His stepfather was offered a different job three hours away. “This is so unfair!” I shouted when he told me. “This can’t be happening! How can they do this to you? What about us?”  

“Maria, please don’t cry. This is not the end of us. I am not moving, that is all there is to it. They can’t make me; it’s not going to happen.”  

“Really David,” I said through my tears “how is not going to happen? Can’t they let you live with Ryan, or Damian, or someone?”  

“No, they won’t. They just keep telling me I will adjust and make new friends, blah, blah blah.” he said, “But I will come up with something, I am not going the next four years without seeing you.” Even with how determined he was I had my doubts that he could come up with a plan that would work. Afterall, we are 14 and controlled by our parents. I know how parents think, they think it is not possible for us to really love someone. “It’s just puppy love” my mom always says, which I can’t stand. She doesn’t know anything; she doesn’t know that he is the only person in my life that truly understands me. He believes in me. He loves me. 

I met David 11 months before the night he ran away. I guess I had seen him around school before, but one day I really seen him. We did not hang out with the same crowd. I was in the “popular crowd,” and he had just a few close friends. The boys in my crowd called him a “band sissy” and said he had a flute up his, well you know. But they didn’t know him. I saw him one day walking out of the music room and that day I knew I would love him forever. His thick glasses hid all that was glorious about him. He had a dark complexion, brown hair, brown eyes, and perfect jawline. Eventually I got up the nerve to approach him and said stupidly “Hey David, I’m Maria.” “I know” he said with a smile. And as was customary in our school, I had a friend give him my phone number. He called me the very same day.  

From that day on, I felt like I was in a dream. Every waking moment I thought about him. Every chance I could, I would be with him. Since our parents did not allow us to hang out without them within earshot, we snuck around for time alone. After school my parents would think I was going to my friend Mandy’s house. His parents would think he was riding four-wheeler to his friend Scott’s. But we would ride his four-wheeler from school to the train bridge and hang out for hours. I could talk to him about anything. “Do you think we will be together forever?” I asked him one day as we were laying on the grass next to the creek. He looked over at me with a crooked little smile and said “If it is up to me, we will. I would marry you right now if I could.” He leaned in to kiss me and everything in my whole body came to life. We were both a little scared to do more than kiss, but I could not wait for the time to come when we would. We talked about music and movies and our siblings and our parents. He teased me about liking country music. And I thought it was so sophisticated that he knew all about classical music and could play most instruments. I watched him one day in the band room from the doorway as he was playing the piano. He did not know I was there. I had never heard or seen anything more beautiful. I was mesmerized by him and everything he said and did. And when he looked at me, he made me feel like I was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.  

The big night arrived. I was excited, and terrified. What if this actually works?! Around midnight my sister, my friend Mandy, and I snuck out my sister’s bedroom window. If my dad caught us, we would never be allowed to do anything ever again. That was the terrifying part. As we got out of the window, our dog barked. I jumped and softly whispered his name so he would see that it was just us. As he ran over to us, we all stood frozen, waiting for one of my parents to turn an outside light on. When that didn’t happen, we made our way down the road to the river. We had to take the dog along, so he didn’t give us away when we got back. We reached the riverbank but could not find David right away. As we walked up and down the bank calling his name, he finally heard us and came out of the woods. We walked back to where he had his camp set up. We had a backpack with some more supplies. Thankfully, we brought him some crackers because he was starving. All he could find for food to bring along was canned vegetables but did not have a way to open them. His friend Damian had picked him up on his four-wheeler and dropped him off near the river over 10 hours ago. “Are you going to be ok out here?” I asked him “Won’t you be scared, what if some animal comes after you?” He was so strong, fearless, and said, “I am not scared, and everything will be fine.” He put his hand on my cheek, “Do you know how beautiful you look right now? I love you, don’t ever forget it.” He smiled and I really did not want to leave. “I love you too, I will be back as soon as I can.”  

Just before daylight, we snuck back into the house. Before I fell asleep, I prayed he would be all right in the woods all alone. And I prayed his plan would work, that his parents would see that he needs to stay. 

The good news was he did not have to stay another night in the woods. The bad news was his parents convinced Damian to tell them where he was. He was forced to move away that day, along with my heart. Over the next few months, we talked on the phone three times. Calling long distance was expensive and our parents rarely let us call each other. We wrote letters but it wasn’t the same. It turned out four years was too long to wait.  

Forty years later he still walks through my mind and has a piece of my heart. We will never be together again, but that does not mean “puppy love” does not last forever.