People often say your first love never truly leaves you.
For me, that saying always carried a bittersweet meaning.
Jordan wasn’t just my first boyfriend.
He had been my best friend for as long as I could remember.
We grew up on the same street.
Our families knew one another.
We attended the same schools, celebrated birthdays together, and spent countless afternoons riding bicycles, studying for exams, and talking about the future.
Everyone around us assumed we would eventually become a couple.
Ironically, we were the last two people to realize it.
Special Occasions
Throughout middle school and most of high school, we insisted we were “just friends.”
Our classmates laughed every time we said it.
Looking back now, they probably understood our feelings long before we did.
Prom night finally changed everything Jordan arrived wearing a navy-blue tuxedo that fit him almost perfectly except for sleeves that seemed slightly too long.
I still remember how nervous he looked while standing on my parents’ front porch holding a small bouquet of flowers.
Neither of us talked much during the drive.