Story from 1999 by Rachel F.

I have loved Ethan Sommers all of my life. Well, since I was seven anyway. That’s when the Sommers family moved in next door. Ethan was eight, and at first sight of him my heart melted. He was tall with spiky black hair and huge brown eyes. My family lived in a house on an acre of land. There was a vacant house on the adjoining acre. Mom and Mrs. Sommers had known each other back in their Junior High days, and when Mrs. Sommers returned to town with her husband and five children, my mom suggested they buy the house next to ours.

The land we lived on had at one time been farmed, but the previous owners had let the land go. The fields were covered in rocks and waist high weeds. On the edge of our property, over a hill where no one could see, was a lot of old junk that had been left over the years. My parents called it a junkyard, but I called it my own personal playground. I spent many afternoons climbing on the old tractors and searching for treasures.

Ethan seemed oblivious to my adoration. At first he ignored me, but by the time I was nine, he realized that I wasn’t so bad and we became best buddies. I was always a tomboy. My mom tried to put me in pink dresses, but I refused. I only wore jeans and t-shirts. My long brown hair always hung loose, except for the occasional ponytail on windy days. I much preferred building forts in the junkyard to playing with dolls.

My love for Ethan turned to admiration during our pre-teen years. Ethan had all the cool ideas. I was happy just to be his sidekick. Ethan had three older sisters and a baby brother. I, on the other hand, had two older brothers and no sisters. Ethan and I spent countless hours sifting through the ancient junk behind our houses.

When Ethan turned 15 and entered High School, things began to change. All of a sudden he realized that he was quite good-looking. The girls liked him, and he liked them back. Except me, of course. That year I spent a lot of time alone.

The next year our parents decided to clear the fields and try to farm again. I was the youngest, and the Sommer’s baby Kyle was too young. Ethan’s sisters would not lower themselves to hauling trash around in a pick-up, and my brothers were away at college. So Ethan and I were volunteered. I was glad to do it; this meant more time with Ethan. He was not too enthused. I suppose he thought valuable dating time was lost, or that this work was now below him since he was part of a “popular” crowd at school that didn’t do that sort of thing. But he did it. We worked together after school, hauling junk into my parent’s pick-up and down to the ancient burial ground.

“Look at this car door, Ethan! I wonder what type of car it comes off of.”

“Who cares? Let’s hurry and get another load. Jenn Smitts is coming out to study.”

Jenn Smitts. A beautiful blond cheerleader. I doubted much studying would go on, and I felt like throwing up at that thought. My romantic feelings for Ethan were still as strong as ever. He had gotten much more handsome over the past few years.

One day while we were getting into the pickup after unloading some junk, I looked over at him, and I noticed his eyes. I had always known they were big and brown, but that night, as he sat staring at the sunset, I really saw them. He had long, dark lashes. “Ethan?” I said. He turned to me, and I saw two deep pools of confusion. I don’t know what he was thinking, but I will never forget that look. He looked at me for a few moments, and then smiled a far off smile. “Yeah, we’d better get home,” he finally said. I could have spent the entire night sitting next to him in the truck. We wouldn’t have had to say a word. There was a feeling there, like we were ten and eleven again, and we were thinking quietly about some mysterious treasure we’d dug up.

After that day Ethan was more courteous to me. We still didn’t do much together besides haul junk and till the ground. Jenn Smitts was his steady by now. I saw her car at the Sommers’ often, and Ethan’s car gone more often than not.

By Ethan’s senior year the land was tilled and farmed. Our mothers took over the work, but I helped as often as I could. I loved being outdoors and watching things grow. One day I was helping in a field, which had become quite muddy from heavy rain the night before. I was wearing jeans and an old flannel shirt. It was breezy and my long straight hair was pulled into a careless ponytail. As I trudged through the mud, Ethan and Jenn drove up to tell his mom they were going out for the evening. I didn’t look, but I could feel Jenn’s eyes on me. I could sense the smirk, hear her thoughts. “What an ugly girl, playing in the mud.” I looked at Ethan, and he came over to me and put his hand on my cheek. He stared at me with those beautiful brown eyes with such a serious expression. Finally a grin took over his face. “You have mud on your face, silly.” He winked at me, then walked back to his car. As he drove away with his princess, I felt my heart begin to ache. “I need to go home and study now,” I told our moms. I went into my bathroom at home and stared in the mirror. My face was splattered with mud. My hair was coming out of its confines. I had never worn makeup, and had never cared. I only washed and brushed my hair in the mornings, and I wore outfits similar to my current one to school. “How ugly Ethan must think I am,” I thought.

In May of my 17^th year, Ethan graduated from High School. He and Jenn were going to different Universities, so they spent most of their time together. I had made some new friends at school, so I spent most of my time with them, or helping my parents on the farm. When Ethan left for school in August, I was away visiting my oldest brother. The last time I had seen him I was driving into the driveway, and he and Jenn were coming out. He had absentmindedly waved, and that was our goodbye.

A few months after Ethan left, his parents divorced. I hadn’t even seen it coming. Before they left the house, Mrs. Sommers asked me to come over and help her pack. She assigned me to the office. There I found a stack of old photo albums. There were several pictures of Ethan and I, posing in front of our forts, swimming, laughing. As the years went on, I was in less and less of the photos. Jenn had replaced me. I’d never thought of it this way, and it startled me. I hurried and finished packing the room, then ran home and cried.

My senior year was the best. I finally took some notice of my appearance, and developed some very strong friendships. I was happy. I missed Ethan, but I had put him in the back of my heart. I began dating here and there. I still loved to go out to the treasure pile, but now more to think than to search. I did take my best friend Allison out there one day, and we had a fun time treasure hunting.

When graduation came I was ready for it. I wasn’t in the top 10 of my class, but I was pleased with my grades and had gotten into a University only a couple of hours away. I’d decided to attend there because it was a good school, and not too far from home, and I got a good scholarship. I didn’t want to admit it, but I think another reason for my decision was that Ethan went there too.

After graduation exercises Allison had a party at her house. Her parents were quite well off, and had a large home. None of my crowd drank, so we had the party in her basement with soda and chips and candy.

As I stood talking to some friends, I glanced around the room and had to do a double take. I saw those eyes! Those deep, searching, yearning beautiful eyes! And they were staring at me.

“Ethan!” I couldn’t help crying out. He came to me and held my shoulders and stared at me.

“Erin, I didn’t even recognize you!” He stood there and smiled at me. Right then I felt like I was 7 again, and seeing Ethan for the first time. How beautiful he was, with his black hair and big eyes.

I don’t know how long we stood there just smiling at each other. Finally he reached out and hugged me, just holding me tightly in his arms. It was the first time he’d ever hugged me, and I had never felt so warm and happy as I did at that moment.

We exchanged small talk, how’s your family and so on, but his eyes never left my face. As I looked into them, I noticed something different about hem. The confusion was gone. Only a sort of peace was held in them. I realized we weren’t talking anymore, just staring and smiling. Finally Ethan took my hand and whispered, “Let’s go.” He led me to his car and silently we drove to, then past my house, his old house, the fields, and then stopped at the ancient pile of treasure. We sat on two overturned buckets and Ethan held my hand lightly. He told me about Jenn getting married six months into school, and how hard it was when his parents divorced.

“When they told me they were selling the house, I couldn’t believe it. All I could think was ‘Then Erin won’t be our neighbor. What will I do without Erin?” He realized that he loved me, had loved me since the days of building forts and digging treasures. “I just hadn’t realized what it was until then.”

Then Ethan kissed me for the first time, there under the night sky, beside the ancient treasures, and my heart sang, and Ethan’s eyes shone brighter than the stars.