Is it Real?

He use to think he knew what love was. He met her on April 1st, 2007 at approximately 9am. It's crazy, he knows, you can't love somebody at first glance right? But he thought he did. From that very first moment, her shimmering laugh echoing down the empty school hallway as the sunlight streamed through the double doors behind her, he knew he wanted nothing more than to be by her side. He wanted to hold her hand, wanted her to laugh at all his jokes, wanted her to want him. But he was just a silly seventh grader - he couldn't know what love was right?

But that seventh grader grew into an eight grader, a freshman, a sophomore, a junior, a senior, and once more is a freshman. All the while, the girl with the shimmering laugh stayed in his mind. They had the same friends, they were friends. He thought about her constantly, imagined a future with her. He could see them walking in the park holding hands, kids playfully running around them. It could happen. He wanted it to happen. It was an unstoppable pull in his chest. The one thing he truly knew and understood.

But he didn't.

Now, the girl with the shimmering laugh and the boy haven't spoken in months. She has changed, he has changed - their lives no longer cross paths. But he still thinks about her, still imagines a life with her, and he is happy. He looks for another, someone to replace this feeling.

And he may have just found it.