Ever since Lita was younger, her mother would always make her neighbor's son walk her to school. Nephrite was his name. He was four years older than her. He was the epitome of handsomeness. Lita would know. She loved him from the first moment she laid eyes on him. But due to their age difference, Lita knew nothing was going to happen.
Nephrite would drop her off early in the morning at her elementary school, while he walked two blocks down to his middle school. Every Wednesday after school, Lita would wait for Nephrite after he was done with soccer practice. They will walk hand in hand back to their homes. She would stay at Nephrite's house until her parents came home from work. She fall asleep on the couch and deep in her sleep she could feel her father's strong arms picking her up from the furniture all the way to her bed.
As she grew older, her feelings for Nephrite grew. Being twelve in middle school and the tallest girl in class was always difficult to deal with it. Lita noticed that she was taller than most high school boys and girls. The only person who was taller than her was Nephrite. For her thirteenth birthday, December 5th, he gave her a pair of rose earrings. She loved it so much, she wore it every day. Lita felt like this gift was a sign of his affection for her. Maybe she finally had a chance.
But Nephrite has changed with her. He had become more distant. The more she tried to speak to him, the more he began to avoid her every chance he got. She even dared to show up to his school and demanded why he was acting the way he was.
"I have a girlfriend now. I can't keep hanging out with a little girl like you." He told her so rude and disrespectful. When did he have one? She never saw him with a girl, but then again she barely saw him to begin with.
That broke her heart. From then, Lita refused to associate with him. His friends that knew her would ask her about him. Probably trying to convince her to talk to him again. She ignored them as well. Then tragedy struck. One raining night Lita was cooking dinner for her and her parents. She always loved cooking. It was her passion and dream. As she waited for her parents to return from work, the doorbell rang. She cautiously opened it to find two cops. Lita knew something happened.
"Are you Ms. Kino?" the taller cop asked.
"Yes, is there something I can do for you?" Lita was nervous. Was she in trouble? She would never hurt a fly…what if her parents are in trouble?
"I'm sorry Ms., but your parents were killed in a car accident earlier today."
Lita didn't know what happened because she woke up in a hospital with Nephrite sleeping by her side on a chair. She slowly arose from the bed. Her movement caused Nephrite to wake up.
"Hey, how you doing?" He asked, stretching.
"What you doing here?" She asked.
"Lita. I'm here for you. Your parents just died and all you ask is why I am here?"
Lita looked at Nephrite. "That was real? They're gone?"
Nephrite wrapped his arms around her as she broke down in tears. She clutched onto his shirt, screaming mom and dad. It was real, they were gone.
"You know, you can always live with us." Nephrite's father said as he helped Lita with her suitcase.
Lita shook her head. "I have a feeling that my place is in Tokyo." She told him. Nephrite was there as well. Watching her speak to his father as he surveyed the movers taking all of Lita's parents' furniture and prized possessions.
"Yes, I know you said that already, but what are you going to do living by yourself there. And with all this furniture?" his mother asked.
"I'm going to pawn some of it. A middle schooler needs shelter and food, living in Tokyo by herself."
"Lita, are you sure?" they asked.
Knowing the only way for them to back off was to smile sincerely at them. Only Nephrite knew it was fake. That was the last time she saw him.
A few years later passed before they met once more. Lita was baking cookies for Serena, one of her best friends. Growing up in Tokyo was so great. Her first day at school, she met Serena and Amy. A week later, she met Raye and Mina. Two months afterward, she met Trista, Michelle, and Amara.
Now Lita was celebrating Serena's 18th birthday. Mina put her in charge of all the goodies. She didn't mind, she loved it. But as she was piping designs on the cake, she couldn't help but think of Nephrite. He always loved her cooking. In middle school, she used to make his meals for lunch. All of his high school friends hated him for it. She wondered what he was up to. Last she heard he went off to America for college and haven't heard of him since.
Lita snapped out of trance to finish the cake and cookies. The doorbell rang as Lita was taking out the cookies to cool down. She ran to the door.
"Hi," he said. Standing there looking as gorgeous as ever.
"Hi," she replied. She looked down to see a large luggage at his side.
He followed her eyes. "I found a place around here. I asked my parents what was your address and they gave it to me. So I'm here."
The two stared at one another before Lita said, "I'm so sorry for being rude, please, come in."
He thanked her and entered the apartment with his large luggage. "I'm sorry for intruding. You must be busy?"
"A bit, I'm baking for my friend's birthday. I have to go in an hour." She motioned for him to sit on her coach. He sat looking around at her apartment.
Lita was proud of herself. Eighteen years old and can afford a two bedroom apartment with a balcony. He must be amazed.
"Oh," his voice sounded disappointed.
"You can come with. It's a special event and most likely I'll be the only one without a date." She caught herself. "I mean, not a date, I'm just bringing a friend." She corrected.
Nephrite laughed. "I will be honored to go with you. But are you sure it's okay?"
Lita nodded. "Mina will have a great time interrogating you."
"Mina? As in Mina Aino?"
Lita was shocked. "You know her?" what if Mina was an ex of Nephrite. Everyone knew Mina had plenty of boyfriends to last a lifetimes in her young eighteen years.
"Yeah, my roommate back in college, Kunzite, that's his girlfriend."
"Kunzite was your roommate? But he went to Tokyo U, I thought you left to America."
"I went to America for a summer course. That's all."
"Wow, you were in Tokyo all that time, and never bothered to visit me?" she felt insulted.
"Lita," he began. "We kind of ended our friendship on a bad note and it wasn't your fault." He told her not looking at her face.
"So it was yours?"
He closed his eyes for a moment before replying. "I was in love with you." He confessed.
Lita gasped. Those were the words she was dying to hear all her life.
"But our age difference killed me. I was turning seventeen and you were thirteen when I realized that. I knew it was bad. So I began dating this girl from my class, Molly, but it didn't work out. And then your parents dying really got to me as well. You were so miserable, that you just went up and left. You never came back. I asked your friends about you. I asked my parents about you, but all they told me was to 'give you time to heal.' It was hard, so when I graduated I went to Tokyo U hoping to see you one day. And I did, two years ago."
When was this? Lita thought.
"I was shopping for some computer I wanted with Kunzite, you were walking with some friends of yours going to an arcade. You looked so happy. I knew your life didn't have room for me, so I left. Ever since I saw you again, I knew I had to take this chance. So I gathered all my courage and came here, moved next door just to be near you. I know this may sound stalker-ish, but I had to take my chances." He confessed.
Lita could not help it, she jumped on Nephrite as he sat on the couch and kissed him. They kissed and kissed until they forgot the world around them.
Nephrite was one who broke the kiss. "The party," he reminded her. Lita, with tears strolling down her face, nodded and got everything ready for the party with Nephrite's help. Everything just seemed so right.
"So how long did you and Lita know each other?" Mina asked as she bite on a cookie.
"Mina, leave them alone." Kunzite said, smirking at Nephrite.
"I've known her since she was four." Nephrite answered. Their hands intertwined.
"That's so adorable!" the birthday said as she listened in. she walked up to Nephrite. "You better treat her right." Serena warned.
Lita wrapped her green sleeved arm around his brown knitted cardigan. He stared at her with the love she always wanted to see.
"Trust me, I will treat her like a queen." He said.