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Hopefully I don't sound too pushy…

"What if they hate me?" she asked him as he turned left onto the road he lived on. He looked over at her, then squeezed her hand.

They'd been dating for a month and a half. His parents were wondering who he spent all his time with, and they assumed it was just a bunch of different girls. They figured he was looking for his right type of girl, but then James told them he had been "hanging out" with the same girl.

His parents were ecstatic, and they wanted to meet her.

"They won't hate you," he said, then kissed the back of her hand.

After he pulled into the driveway and turned the car off, he looked over at her. She looked like she was about to vomit, to say the least.

"I can't do this," she said.

"Yes you can," he encouraged, squeezing her hand again. "You're amazing. And I love you." She looked over at him now, still incredulous that he said those words to her. "And that's all that matter, okay? Nothing even matters but you and I."

She smiled, then leaned over and kissed him gently.

"I love you too," she said. He got out of the car, then went over and opened her door. She grinned, then linked her arm through his as they walked toward the front door.

"Do you remember Brylee?"

Ashley looked over at her older brother, who sat in the passenger seat of her car. They were on their way to the hospital, their mom at work, Jeremy still at home in bed. He was so inconsiderate. His father was dying, and the boy couldn't even get out of bed at nine am to go visit him.

"Brylee. Brylee Anderson. The first girl you loved."

"The only girl I loved," James admitted softly.

"What? That can't possibly be true! Even though I never met any of the other ones, you had to be in love with one of them," Ashley said.

James shook his head and said "Nope. Brylee was the first and only girl I've loved."

His baby sister couldn't believe this. So, all those girls she had seen her brother with in pictures…he just slept with them?

She wanted to be angry because she hated people like that, but she could tell this was a sensitive subject for James to be talking about.

"Do you remember her?" he asked again.

"Of course I remember."

"Have…have you seen her around lately?"

James was just begging to god that she still lived around here. He wanted to see that beautiful face he'd stare at when she wasn't looking at him. He wanted to see that perfect body of hers that he'd kiss and touch and cherish.

Ashley thought back for a moment. She saw Brylee all the time, mostly while she was out and running errands, and they'd exchange a smile and wave, but they never talked.

Because that inevitable subject would come up.

James.

And neither Ashley nor Brylee wanted that to happen.

Brylee's heart stung every time she saw James' little sister. She remembered all the memories she had made with the younger girl, but most of all she remembered all the memories she had made with the girl's older brother.

"No," Ashley lied. "Not recently."

James' heart dropped. Had she moved since then? Gotten married? Started a family?

"Well…how was she?"

Ashley swallowed, trying to figure out what to say. She hadn't spoken to Brylee in years. She merely saw her every once in a while.

"We didn't talk," she said. "We just smiled and waved. We were busy."

"Oh," the man said sadly.

"Why are you asking me all this?" Ashley asked.

James knew he should lie right here. But it was his baby sister. He could trust her with anything. And he had to get this off his chest.

"Be-because I still love her."

Ashley was taken aback. James still loved the same girl he did eight years ago? The first girl he loved? The only girl he loved? This was…unreal.

"So…are you going to try and find her or something?"

"Well, I mean, I don't know. I don't know if she's in a relationship or anything like that."

"I know she started dating Jake…after you…"

"Jake Walker?" James asked.

His sister nodded, and he felt his blood boiling. How didn't he know this before? Why was he just finding this out? Brylee probably got her heart broken by him because he wasn't straight in the head.

The boy was ridiculous. All the girls he dated, most of which were only for a few weeks, and Jake wouldn't let them be around anyone else. He wanted the girl to be his, and only his.

"What the fuck!" James spat suddenly. He was upset, and he felt like crying.

He broke up with a beautiful, smart, loving girl and she fell into Jake Walker's trap?

He let his head fall to the side, and it bonked against the glass window. He closed his eyes, and tried to calm down.

They were still in North Carolina, and James and Brylee had snuck out to the beach late one night. It was a cool night, and she wore his hockey sweatshirt. They were walking down the beach, his arm tightly around her shoulders, her arm wrapped around his waist.

"James?" she said softly.

"Hmm?" He looked down at her, and when she smiled up to him, he smiled back.

She wanted to ask him a serious question, but now that she was about to do it, she didn't want to.

"Nevermind," she said, looking down at the sand beneath her feet as they walked.

"Baby, what is it?" he said, pulling her closer to him.

"It's stupid," she said, still not looking back at him.

"No it's not." He stopped walking, then wrapped his arms around her waist, waiting for her to say something more. "Come on, tell me," he said, poking her in the side. She laughed, that harmonious sound that rang through the air.

"It's just…will you stay with me even if you go out to California?"

"What brought this about, beautiful?" James asked. Brylee didn't look to meet his gaze, instead her finger traced over his chest, the fabric of his shirt soft beneath it. "Bry, come on, tell me."

"It's just- I don't wanna lose you, and I'm sure you'll be going out there soon. I mean, you're so talented, and the right time is sure to come soon and I-"

James kissed her tenderly, shutting her up for the moment. When he pulled away, he looked in her eyes and brushed her hair out of her face.

"I wouldn't even think of doing that. It's you and me forever, babe."

"I lied to her," James said after that memory subsided.

"What are you talking about?" Ashley said.

"I lied to Brylee. I promised her that we'd stay together if I ever went out to California. I lied to her and I lost her forever."

He let out a deep sigh, pushing the tears away.

He knew what he had to do now.

He had to apologize.