Submission E is our choice so I wrote another short story. This is the last submission of the semester. I am working on all of my revisions to put in my final portfolio which is due December 7th aka my last day of college! I loved everything about this class and highly encourage all of you to take a creative writing class at some point in your life!

Three Little Words

              I found your letter sitting on my porch swing. The same porch swing we sat on when I was chosen to host that awful ugly sweater party for work. I had come outside to get away from the speakers which currently were spewing out Christmas past times that Susan insisted I put on to get everyone into the “holiday spirit”.

It was cold outside and there was a fresh blanket of snow from earlier in the day. I never expected you to walk outside and sit right next to me. I was calm and collected while you were bold and confident.  We sat outside until my cheeks were chapped and my hands were numb from the cold. I never expected us to come so far.

I sat on the porch swing and gazed into the yard. The white covered branches of my oak tree had been replaced with green leaves and blossoming flowers. I held the letter in my hands. It smelled of cinnamon with a hint of pine, just like you. I tore open the letter.

*****

Emily,

Remember the night we pitched a tent in the backyard and camped out all night watching the sky? We talked about how the stars were just holes in the sky where a different species in a different universe was looking down on us? That was nice.

Remember out first fight? You told me to be honest about if I liked the dress you were wearing and I was. We had officially crossed our first milestone. Remember when we went to the 4th of July festival and we watched the fireworks explode into an array of bright colors? That night you told me in order to take our relationship to another level we had to say those three little words. You said them and told me I had to say them too.

I can picture our future now. We could adopt our first dog together and name it after a piece of food such as Muffin. I hear couples do that. Maybe one day we would even move to the suburbs and build our own house. We would have a garden and grow, I don’t know, vegetables if down the road if we were into that sort of thing. We’d have four kids and at least one of them would be good at sports. We could tuck them into bed each night and tell them the story of how we met.  Um, well, maybe four is pushing it. One is more realistic and we’d hope for a boy who happens to be good at sports.

We could follow your dreams too. Maybe you’d rather live in the country in a wooden cabin and sing with the birds while I go out into the forest to cut down some wood for our old-school fireplace because you don’t believe in heat coming out of the walls and it would just be more economically friendly. You could quit your job like you always wanted since you tell me all the time about how boring and repetitive it is.

You were right though. In order to move this relationship to the next level I’d have to say those three words. I don’t say those three words very often. I say them to my mom, and I say them to my dog Kovu. You would be the first person I said those words to with a different meaning behind them. I started this letter so sure of how I was feeling so, here goes nothing.

Let’s be friends.