12/17/23 10:14 am

  We stood there for a few minutes, not saying anything. I finally got the courage to start, "Jake? I need to te-" He cut me off. "No Sammi, I need to tell you something first, I don't mean to be rude, but I have to say it while I have the courage to. Sammi Munroe, I like you. A lot. Maybe love you. Yeah, I love you. A lot." He sat down. I gasped. "You. Love. Me? Jake, I was going to tell you that I love YOU, and that I have since I met you. I fell in love with your sparkling blue eyes, how you don't laugh too often but when you do, the area around you seems to glow. I like you a lot too, Jake. A lot." Now it was HIS turn to look surprised. "But I'm ugly." He protested. "I'm ugly. Why would you, some one small and perfect, love someone like me?" He was pretty persistent. I slowly said "Well, I guess if you put it THAT way..." I turned around, grinning to myself. "No, no, no, it's okay, if you like me, that's a GOOD thing!" He never could take sarcasm. Ever. I looked at him and smiled. "Jake, I was KIDDING. I like you for YOU, not whatever's on the outside. Besides, in 5 years, you could look completely different." He thought about that for a second. "So, what does this mean for "us"? is there an "us"?" It was my turn to think about THAT... "I want there to be an "us". But would it work? I'm dead. Dead. I can't have kids, I won't die. You'll grow old, and I'll have to watch you." He got a brooding look on his face. "Uh, Sammi? Yeah. There's something I gotta tell you. Um." I assured him he could tell me anything. "Whatever it is Jake, I can handle it. Just tell me." He took a deep breath and said "I'm mumble mumble mumble..." I couldn't understand him at all. "What? You're what?" He replied "I said, I can't die either. When I was little, my grandpa had some ind of anti-aging serum. He was a scientist when he was younger, and he created this to help him to keep from getting older. I found it when my mom was clearing out the attic. Being age 7, of course I unscrewed the bottle and swallowed it. My mom screamed when she saw what I had drank, and ran me to the hospital for tests. To make a really, really long story short, I can't die. My growth will be stuck at 24, forever." I gasped. "This is good! That means we CAN be together! There CAN be an "us"!!" He picked me up and swung me around in a circle, and then we flopped down on the bed, smiling.