This is my entry to bs13's contest! I hope you enjoy it.

'Immature love is saying I love you because I need you.' - Erich Fromm

Love.

What is the meaning of love? Many have said that Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired [1]. Love is a little foolishness and a lot of curiosity [2]. Love is not blind, deaf, or dumb. It sees far more than it will ever tell. Love is unconditional. It means that you love the person as they were, as they are and as they will be in the future. People change all the time and you need to make sure you are willing to love the person always.

Love.

It is not about you or your pleasure, or your amusement. It is not about what the other person can give you, or what you can get out of it. It is not about feeling proud to be with someone who always agrees with all you say and do, and never disagrees with you. Unconditional love means that the person can live as they choose, and you will always be there for them.

Some people think that love is just talking kind, warm and cute words to each other. That love is just telling each other 'I love you' and being together, having fun. I finally understand what love is. Love is to care for another person's happiness more than your own, no matter what the consequences may be.

So, Patricia, I choose you for my life. I promise you my deepest love, my fullest devotion, my tenderest care through the pressures of the present and the uncertainties of the future. I promise to be faithful to you. I promise to love you, to commit to you and to support you. I pledge to respect your unique talents and abilities, to lend you strength for all your dreams. You have shown me what love feels like. Thank you. You are everything I need and at this moment, I know all my prayers are answered and my dreams have come true. I praise God for you, for all your love and constant friendship. I know that our love is heaven sent and I promise to be here forever and always. My heart will be your shelter and my arms will be your home. As I have given you my arms to hold, I give you my life to keep.

I will love you forever and always.

Patricia stopped the tape she had been playing for the past three hours and memorized it word for word. It was the last thing Eddie had given to her before the fight… before she blew up and shouted at him for being an idiot. She regretted it then and she regretted it now. And she hadn't gotten a chance to tell him how she felt… how she really felt. She felt so immature now.

There was a knock on the door of her Victorian-style house. She got up from the tape player, went to the door and opened it. It was Eddie, standing there, in the flesh. He rubbed the back of his neck and said, "May I come in?"

"Sure." She moved her 'in-shock' body out of the way and let him in, closing the door behind him. "Um, what brings you here?"

"I… wanted to drop by and see how you… were doing."

She could not hold it in. She had to tell him, at least before he left. "Eddie, I have to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"Ever… ever since I… we broke up, I've been thinking about you. A lot. And… I have been listening to the tape you recorded for me. A lot."

"But, Patricia, you're the one that broke up with me. I don't understand."

"I know… but, I miss us. I miss everything we had together. Listening to your tape just reminds me of what I missed, and what I did not notice until it was gone. The way to love anything is to realise that it may be lost."

"Tom Robbins," they said in unison.

"So, Eddie, I'm sorry. I love you… I always have and I always will… I need you because I love you… And, I think it's too late to tell you, but I miss you, and I wish you were still mine, and –"

Eddie's lips met hers and he silenced her, just for a while. And they stayed that way, just the two of them, caught in their own little world.

'Mature love is saying I need you because I love you.' - Erich Fromm

[1] - Robert Frost

[2] - George Bernard Shaw

I hope you enjoyed this! Credits go to the Internet, because I found a lot of stuff that I liked and used. I can't take credit for that :)

- Amika :) xxx