Louis and Tawny were sitting in silence in Louis's room, holding hands. They had both recognized – even without saying it – that they needed to have one of their conversations, after all that they had felt last night. Yet as was the case so often, they took their time to figure out where to begin, gathering their thoughts and coming up with the right words. Louis thought again about how many times they had been here before and yet how he could feel the butterflies every single time, as he did now. But then he remembered how Tawny gave him, among so many other things, the courage to look deep into his own heart and express his feelings to her, every single time.
"Tawny," Louis finally began. "I've been thinking a lot lately…" He trailed off as a smile formed on his face. "It's one of those things you taught me. Digging deeper into my own thoughts and feelings and analyzing them." He looked deeply into her eyes. "You mean so much to me, Tawny. You always have. But it's only in the last few weeks that I've come to realize just how much."
Louis could feel his heart stirring with a strange feeling that he couldn't quite pin down. It was a feeling…somehow greater than love. He recalled the sensation he had felt upon seeing Tawny standing in front of his locker. He didn't just love Tawny. She meant the whole world to him, she was the whole world to him.
"Tawny," Louis said. "You're so much more to me than just a friend, or even a girlfriend. There are times when I feel you're like a mother to me. And a sister. And a teacher. You're someone who brings me the greatest possible joy and teaches me the most valuable of lessons. Someone I have more fun with and yet look up to more than anyone. Someone I can open up my heart to, and whose heart I can explore in return. Someone I know I love and am loved by, no matter what else happens." He looked deeply into her eyes, taking in the feeling one more time. "But then I realize that you can't be any of these things. Because you're so much more than the sum of those parts. I felt it that morning two weeks ago. You're my source of life, you're what holds my world together." Louis couldn't hold back the tears, though he knew he still had two sentences left. "You're everything to me, Tawny. You're everything I've ever wished for and still wish for."
"Louis," Tawny said softly. "Don't cry." But tears formed in her eyes. She embraced him and he embraced her back. It felt strange to be crying now, after all the healing they had gone through together. But this time, they were tears extracted by the forceful impact of two hearts connecting, by a feeling that Tawny couldn't quite pin down. She wondered if there could be a feeling even greater than love to describe what she felt as they held each other in their arms.