It was just a small trinket, two hearts on a chain that clasped together by an unseen force. Magnets, some would say, trying to minimize the logic, but she didn't need them to agree. When he was there and she was here, across a room that might as well have been a sea, the weight of it around her neck gave her comfort.
She lifted her eyes and found his, hazel green to the darkest brown, smiling. He winked at her and she fingered her charm.
I love you, she said without words.
He lifted the small key he wore around his neck and lifted it to his lips.
I love you too, he answered.
All around them life went on. Most days it seemed unchanged, but they had made their mark, and they would keep on fighting the fight. Growth and change and expansion take time and labor and pain to occur. You had to know when to stir things up, and when to let things simmer for awhile, to rest. Slowly but surely they were learning the recipe – together.
So today, here and now, she sat in the place they wanted her, and he sat where he was told. For now… for the moment…
When the bell rang they'd run to the place where they could be on their side…
And say their I-love-yous face to face.