Goodbye Isn't Always Forever

A/N: Okay another new story, I wrote this while I was at a boring family Christmas Party. I was reading the book, "Bloomability" by Sharon Creech and I suddenly had an idea for another fanfic. So here is what I came up with, for those who have read the book or if you are just starting reading, enjoy. Starts out on page 264 of the book. (Words that are italicized are in Italian, just like in the book.)

—I was getting ready to say goodbye to Mari, Belen and Keisuke when I suddenly stopped in my tracks. I had spotted Belen and Keisuke but they were wrapped up in each other's embrace. They were alone and probably wanted to keep it that way so I took off in another direction in search of Mari. When I finally found her she was saying goodbye to Fadi. Just like with Belen and Keisuke I decided to leave them alone. I sighed and started to walk back to the casa.

I walked with my head down. All of my friends had someone special to say goodbye to…all of them except for me. And well I guess there was—I was suddenly interrupted by my thoughts when I felt someone put their hand on my shoulder, bringing me to a halt.

I slowly turned around, a frown present on my face. I didn't really feel in the mood to really talk to anyone. I was already disappointed that my friends were leaving so soon. I just wanted time to rewind and we could all go back to when school was just beginning. But when I finally saw who was standing in front of me, my frown curved up into a smile. It was Guthrie, he probably had come to say goodbye. His eyes were sparkling and he was grinning at me.

"Hey." I managed to get out.

"Hi." he said.

We stood in silence for a moment before he grabbed my hand, his fingers enclosing around mine. I looked up at him with wide and confused eyes. He just grinned.

"Come with me." he instructed with a smile. Before I could respond he was already dragging me towards the woods. Towards a clearing that we had discovered together a few weeks ago and had pretty much became our spot. When we finally got there he stopped and sat down in the grass by the small creek. He motioned me to sit next to him. So I did.

We sat close on the ground, our thighs and knees touching. He still had my hand in his. He stared out at the creek in front of us. He looked like he was debating something in his head. I shifted to get a better few of his troubled face. I scanned his face over with my eyes, trying to take everything in. In just a few hours he would gone and who knew how long it would be before I saw him again.

Suddenly he whipped his head around to look at me, most likely getting ready to say something but stopped as our eyes locked on each other's gaze. Our faces were nearly an inch apart. When did we get so close together?

"Why are we here?" I asked him.

He smiled sadly. "I wanted to say goodbye to you."

"Oh." is all I replied with; really I didn't know what else to say to him.

"Are you coming back next year?" he asked with hope in his voice.

"Probably." I said. Our eyes locked again and he grinned, his eyes once again glistening with happiness.

"I'm going to miss you," he said, "during the summer, I mean. But at least we will see each other again when school starts up again in the fall."

I found myself grinning back at him. "I'm going to miss you too."

Suddenly he wrapped me in a warm hug. I felt as if my whole body was on fire as he held me against him. No matter how many times he hugged me or touched me, even if it was only a friendly gesture, it still set my skin on fire with a shaky but wonderful feeling.

I sighed softly and held him tighter. I looked up at him and met his intense gaze that was set on my face. Before I knew what was even happening his lips were crushed against mine.

It wasn't a long, passionate kiss but it wasn't a short, friendly kiss either. It was passionate without it being too passionate. It wasn't like a heated make-out session; but it was enough, it meant so much more. I could tell that he really would miss me a lot through that one small kiss. When he kissed me, I shivered, it left so right.

"I like you Dinnie." he said. "I have for a really long time." he confessed.

I blushed and looked down at my hands that were still being clutched tightly by his. "You do?" I asked softly.

He pulled me even closer to him and nodded, "Yeah, I do."

"I like you too." I said quietly but firmly.

He grinned and kissed my cheek.

"I don't want to leave." I announced suddenly.

I heard him chuckle quietly and his embrace around me tightened. "I don't want to either but we both know we will see each other in just a few months." he reminded me.

I nodded, I knew but still… "I know." I said.

"We should probably get back." he said after some time had passed. We were still wrapped up in each other's hold, neither wanting to leave or move or get up. I wanted to stay there forever, right there on that grass, by that river, with Guthrie, forever. But, I knew he was right, he would miss his flight if we didn't leave soon.

We walked hand-in-hand back to town in a comfortable silence. When we finally got back we found the others were waiting for us. We spent the remainder of time saying goodbye to everyone. Belen and Keisuke cried, well more like Belen cried and Keisuke promised her that he would see her again soon, Fadi hugged Mari against him and she settled her head against his chest saying that she didn't want to go back to Rome. But slowly, one-by-one, people started to leave. Their cab would come and there would be a lot of goodbye! Arrividerci! Write! I'll miss you! Ciao bella! Before long it was just me and Guthrie left.

His cab came and he put his bags in the back of the car and them came back and hugged me tight. I felt a few tears coming to my eyes. He them kissed me smack on the lips for the second time that day. No matter how and when he did it, it still surprised me. I brought my fingers and brought them up to his cheek.

"Domenica Santolina Doone, you are such the best!" he chuckled.

"Non è vero!" I laughed. "You, Peter Lombardy Guthrie the Third, are the best!" I said and then kissed his cheek.

"I have to go." he whispered in my ear but didn't remove his arms from where they held me tightly around the waist.

"I know." I said sadly. A tear escaped from my eye. He brushed them away with his fingers and kissed my cheek again.

"Goodbye isn't always forever, Dinnie." he whispered. He then let go of me and said, "Bye Dinnie. See you in a few months. Scriva! Chiamata! Nonlo dimentichi!" he called out to me. He said Write! Call! Don't forget me! I would call and write and I would NEVER forget him.

"Ciao!" I called as he got into his cab.

All the way down the street I could hear him shout from the car, "Ciao bella! Liberooo—"

I smiled softly before turning back to walk back to the casa. I remembered the words he had said, 'goodbye isn't always forever…' I knew exactly what he was saying.

Okay, now MOST of that Italian I got from looking it up in the book but I'm not sure all of it is correct since I don't know much Italian so please do not criticize me if I got a word wrong or if I spelled something wrong or something doesn't make since. I tried my best! Anyways read and review! Thanks ;)