That's why I love fall

“Start your story with the line, “By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire.” (Whether this is a literal fire is up to you.)”

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. I don’t like fall, actually. The memories of the just-finished summer start to get blurry, confused, just a picture of happier and carefree times. Every day that goes by it gets colder, the leaves on the trees start to fall, the sky darkens earlier than before. But there’s something about fall that makes me like it, just a little: before falling, leaves turn fire-red, as they wanted to be noticed one last time before vanishing for months. They want to be admired. I have never seen it this way before meeting her. That shade of red reminds me of her hair.

I close the door of my house and start to walk to school. I feel terribly cold and my hands start to shake. I hide them in the pockets of my coat and I hurry up because I don’t want to be late, and I don’t want to freeze to death either. I hear the leaves crackling under my shoes: that dry noise makes me think about her laugh. I can’t help but smiling: I know that her laugh and the crackling of leaves aren’t even slightly similar to each other; but when you’re in love, you tend to see that person everywhere you go. You picture them in your head while listening to any song you like; you find something that reminds you about them in everyone you meet, aware that you’ll never find someone exactly like them; you wish you’ll find them while walking to school so you could talk for a while, just you and them. That’s being in love: finding light where everything is dark. I’m definitely in love now, and the world has never been brighter.

I hear someone calling me. “Hey! Wait!” I turn around to see who talked, even if I already know that voice. Of course I do, and every time I hear it I...I just feel like everything is fine. Before meeting her, I never thought that someone could make me feel this way without even trying. I manage to act normal, I wave at her, hoping that my face didn't turn as red as leaves falling from the trees. We walk together till we reach the school yard, where she leaves me to say hi to her friends. I look at her walking away from me, and suddenly I want her back, close to me, but I can’t do anything about it. With this bittersweet feeling, I stare at her curly, ginger hair once again before start to look for my friends.

I try to stay focused during classes, but sometimes thoughts run faster than your capacity of stopping them from wandering, and I find myself totally lost in imaginary scenarios that will never, ever happen. I can’t stop thinking about what would happen if I told her that I like her. Would she look at me in awkwardness, mumbling something like “sorry, it’s not the same for me”; or would her eyes light up of joy because she feels the same as me? I say to myself “You’ll never know if you don’t ask her”, but do I really wanna know it, though? What’s worse, having the chance to be with the person that makes me feel right but never finding it out, or having the certainty of being either rejected or loved? I look outside, the wind is making trees’ branches shaking violently, leaves are falling. I can’t take it no more. I will tell her that I love her.

I’ve been patiently waiting for the bell to ring for a time that seemed endless to me, and when it finally does, I dash downstairs, looking for her in the yard. It’s not easy to spot someone in a huge crowd of students who talk frenetically about their day, but I manage to find her anyways. I could recognize her hair even in a billion people. It’s now or never.

“Hey! How are you doin’?” I can’t control my voice from shaking.

“I’m fine! What about you?”

“I’m fine too” I’m not fine. What am I doing? Why am I doing this? I can’t return on my steps now. There’s no going back.

She’s beaming at me and, dammit, she’s so pretty. I get lost into her fawn-eyes for a moment. It’s said that blue eyes are the most beautiful ones. I don’t agree, actually. She has those gorgeous brown eyes that made me realize how incorrect that sentence is. Every time she lays her lovely eyes on me, I feel blessed, special, I feel like I should thank her. And, right now, her eyes are staring into mine.

“I wanted to tell you something...if it’s ok for you..” my hands are shaking, but at least I can blame the freezing weather for this.

“Of course it is! Spit it out, I’m so curious!”

“Well. I, huh...I’ll tell you right away. I like you. A lot. I didn’t want to tell you at first, but then I changed my mind. A few days ago, I was looking outside, and leaves falling from the trees were as red as your hair. Once I’d noticed it, I couldn’t help but thinking about you. I’ve been thinking about you a lot. I realized how lucky I am to have you in my life. You’re a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I the last thing I want to do is wasting this opportunity of mine. So I told myself “It’s make it or break it”...and I decide to risk it all.”

She’s staring at me in disbelief. My eyes are filling up with tears and I can’t stop them from falling, I can feel them, warm and painful, on my skin. I messed it up. I shouldn’t have done this.

“You don’t have to tell anything. I know I put you in an awkward position, and I’m so, so sorry for all of this. You don’t have to say anything, really. Just pretend that nothing of this had happened.”

She’s standing still like a statue. She didn’t say a single word. I just can’t take it no more. My face turns red, I start crying again, I lost control over myself. I’m about to run away, ashamed and lonely, when I feel her hand grabbing my arm. She’s crying too.

“Please, don’t go.”

This time it’s me who didn’t say anything. Her amber eyes are filled up with tears, but her mouth is curling into a smile. Her tears are tears of joy. The wind starts to blow gently, moving her ginger hair softly.

The last thing I remember is her beaming face, leaves fluttering in the background, blending with the reddish shade of her hair. Then, she says it.

“I love you too.”