May

1992

Her mother stormed up the stairs, leaving us alone in the hall.

"Will you be ok Cal?" I asked not knowing at all what to say to her. I'd never actually witnessed one of her parents fight's before, but I knew that this was a big one.

"Yeah. She just needs to calm down, they've done this before." I took her hand in mine again kissed her forehead lightly.

"Bye Cal." I whispered and as I turned to walk away she pulled me back and kissed me, hard. I could tell that she just needed some reassurance.

"WHAT! Calleigh Margret What are you doing!" the shout completely shocked me. I hadn't heard her mother coming back down the stairs at all. Calleigh turned around. "You! Delko. Get out of my house! Now!" her mother roared at me.

"Mom…" Calleigh started.

"No Cal I'll go." I said and walked out the door. I closed the front door behind me, I had no intention of leaving, not until I was sure she was ok. I crouched down beside the door and leaned against it trying listen.

"Mom what was that!" I heard Calleigh shout. She rarely rose her voice normally.

"Calleigh you are not to see that boy!" her mother replied.

"Why Mom." Calleigh asked.

"Because you're a Duquesne!"

"So what? He's one of the best people I know! What's the problem?" I felt my heart soar when she said that but the feeling was quickly erased

"Calleigh he's below you!" I'd known her mother didn't like me but she'd never really said it. Then Calleigh said something that I'd never ever expected of her.

"Mom if you haven't noticed we've hit rock bottom! You and Dad drink, D.J. and Benny wont come near us and we've absolutely no money!" then I heard a slap and a thud as something fell to the floor. I stood up and grabbed the door handle but stopped when I heard a shout

"Don't you dare talk to me like that! You are not to see that boy anymore."

"But I love him!" she said and my heart stopped. In all the time we'd been together neither of us had ever said that. It had just been implied, an unspoken thing. But now she'd said it.

"Love! Calleigh you don't want love! Look where it got me." Her mother snapped and I let the door handle go. She was right. If I stayed with Calleigh now the chances were she'd be held back. We both would be. So I turned from the front door and walked away down the path.

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I'd lost count of my lengths at around sixty, and that had been a while ago. My body was screaming at me to stop but my head wouldn't let me slow down. Length after length I just kept going. Suddenly my calf cramped and I had no choice but to stop. As I climbed out of the pool I saw someone sitting on the wall watching me.

"How long have you been there dad?" I asked. He stood up.

"Long enough to know that you were pushing your self way to hard."

"I had to clear my head."

"You could have hurt your self." He said. I didn't reply. "What's wrong?"

"Calleigh's parents divorced today. She rang me to tell me and we…"

"Broke it off?" he said and held out a towel for me.

"Yeah. Something like that. It's for the best she's going off to Tulane after school anyway… her mother found out about us.."

"I know that didn't go down well." He said. I looked at him, my father had never spoken to me about my relationship with Calleigh before.

"Not exactly."

"It's probably for the best Eric. You both have a lot of growing up to do." He said.

"I suppose." I sat on the wall.

"You're both going to go off to collage and move on to the future. And maybe you'll meet again." I just nodded.

June

1992

"Man you're not dressed!" Chase said walking into my room. My mother must have left him in.

"I told you I'm not going!"

"But you got the tux!" he said pointing at the suit bag hanging up on my wardrobe.

"I got that months ago." I shrugged. Turning around to the door I looked him up and down. He was wearing a tux that was very similar to mine. "Nice get up man!" I smiled.

"You're coming with me!" he repeated and took the tux down off the wardrobe. Throwing it on top of me he said. "Come on get dressed we'll be late!"

"I'm not going I told you." I repeated.

"Calleigh will be there…" he said sitting on the edge of my bed.

"I know." I said looking back down.

"Oh come on man. You have to want to see her at least once before she leaves! You keep avoiding her in school and it's not as if you ended it on bad terms." He said.

"I don't want to…" I said stupidly.

"Ok Eric. Stop being such a girl and get that tux on we're going to our prom!" he stood up laughing and walked out of the room. "I'll be waiting downstairs if you're not down in five minutes I'll be forced to dress you myself." He laughed. I slowly got up and opened the bag.

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I walked in with Chase and a few of his friends. They went straight into the crowd but I went to the back of the room and just watched everyone else. About ten minutes after we arrived the door opened and everyone turned to look at it. Then Calleigh and her group walked in. Tess, Amy, Adam and Jamie. The it crowd. Calleigh looked stunning. Her Silver dress fit her perfectly, her hair was curled and her make-up was perfect. I had never seen her looking more beautiful. I saw Tess turn to Calleigh and say something. Calleigh smiled and took her friends arm.

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I clapped and cheered for Chase when he got King. I loved the mortified look on his face. While I was still laughing they announced that Calleigh was queen. I stopped short as she walked up the steps to the stage. She looked just as shocked as I felt. As Chase started his speech I caught her eye. She smiled slightly and held onto my gaze until Chase walked her down the steps for the King and Queen's dance. As I watched Chase wrap an arm around her I winced. I knew he wouldn't do anything. He was my friend. But it still hurt. I turned on my heel and left the hall, unable to watch anymore.

I was nearly at my car when I heard my name.

"Eric…" I stopped and turned around. "… leaving?" she said and I smiled at her. She really did look perfect tonight.

"Thinking about it…" I paused "…You see there's this girl that I'm crazy about inside and she's dancing with this other guy. She looks amazing and I want her so bad but her mother hates me…." She grinned at me.

"I heard her say you look great in a tux…" she said slowly. I stepped slowly towards her almost afraid of what I was going to say,

"I don't want to lose you Cal. But I know I have to let you go. So I'm just going to leave."

"Please don't Eric…"

"Cal I don't know how long I can do the right thing…" I said now really worried of what I'd do. How my actions would affect us.

"Dance with me" she said slowly.

"We're in the car park Cal." I grinned.

"So we don't need music." She put her small hand out towards me and I took it in my considerably bigger one. I then pulled her in towards me and swayed us both from side to side.

"You really do look gorgeous tonight." I whispered no longer able to hide what I was thinking.

"Thank you…" she looked up at me and looked deep into my eyes. She was the only one who ever looked that deep. The only one that could.

"Let's get out of here." I said after thinking for a few seconds. I couldn't be the bigger person anymore. I'd tried but it was to difficult. I wanted her to much. She bit her lip, a sign to me that she was thinking, hard. After a moment she replied.

"Ok…" and she slipped her hand into mine.

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She shut her bedroom door and turned back to me. Her mother had been out when we'd arrived and Calleigh was sure that she wouldn't be coming back for another few hours. She smiled and kissed me lightly. My hands went up her sides and around her to her back, the low cut dress leaving her skin bare. We turned and I lay her back on her bed. I pulled back and looked down at her. Her cheeks were flushed and her lips swollen.

"Are you sure you want this?" I asked her softly. she smiled and rose her head up just enough to kiss me again.

"More then anything…" she said quietly.

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Ok Cal… I'll stay…" I said as I kissed the top of her head. She relaxed back into my arms and for the first time ever I felt absolutely completely at peace.

We both fell asleep for an hour and then spent some more time talking.

"Where will you be living during collage?" she asked me.

"At home for the first year at least." I replied playing with a strand of her hair. We were both lying on our sides facing each other.

"That's good so I can send you my address once I get there."

"I'll be waiting."

"Eric. Please don't come to the airport on Monday." She said.

"Why Cal?" I asked my brow furrowing. I'd presumed that I'd be able to come and see her off.

"I wont be able to get on my plane." She sighed.

"Ok Cal. I wont…" I kissed her forehead.

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I watched as she walked thought the gate my pink gift bag in her hand. I'd had to se her leave. I couldn't just stay at home knowing she was leaving even though I'd promised. I had to see her leave so that I could convince my self that she was really gone.