It Only Took 3 Little Words

After all these years, I still don’t understand why it was so difficult for you to admit it. Why couldn’t you just utter those three simple words I’d been waiting to hear ever since at the carnival, when I won you that stuffed teddy bear. Once I saw your normally pale face become flushed with color, (and that crooked smile of yours) I knew right then and there that you would be the one.

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We first bumped into each other at a sandwich shop. I mistook you for one of my brother’s friends and spoke for what seems like ages, (realistically no more than 30 seconds) before you stopped me and informed me that we had never met before. I bit my lip and turned bright red as your lips bent upward forming a smile. You assured me I wasn’t that red and there was no need to be embarrassed. (Don’t take me for a fool, even though I’m just a fool for you) You then convinced me to buy your sandwich, since I obviously knew you so well. (I always was such a sucker for an enticing smile and effervescent eyes much like yours) I was so nervous that I hardly spoke and on the rare occasion that I did, I would just ramble on and on until you would butt in and bring me back to reality. You left the shop with a simple goodbye and I left with your number. I swore I was dreaming until I called and you actually picked up.
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It was another week before I got to see you again; the l o n g e s t week of my life. I started to think you thought things over and were avoiding me. (I always was one to think so negatively. One of the few things about me that you never could fix) We soon became inseparable and I couldn’t have been happier. Time went by too fast when we were together and even slower when we were apart. (Time doesn’t stop for anyone. Too bad it can’t be sped up either) Then things started to change and to this day, I’m still not sure why they changed so suddenly or what triggered it. We drifted apart and I was powerless to change it. All I could do was sit by idly and watch our relationship crumble into pieces before me. We haven’t talked in months. I haven’t seen you in over a year. (I still think about you every second)
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Then the other day, I finally saw you again. At the sandwich shop where it all began. At first I thought I was just hallucinating, seeing something my feeble heart wanted to see, and to be honest maybe I was just seeing things. When I turned around, there you were staring at me with a look of remorse and a single tear escaping from your eye. I tried to from words, yet nothing would come out. (I never did get over my often lack of ability to form words around you) You put your finger over your mouth to hush me and then let those three words slip out of your mouth. The same three words I always knew you would say to me, even from the beginning I knew someday they would escape into my ears.  At that point, there was a moment where time really did stand still. Each word dripped from your mouth so slowly it was as if I could see the words forming right in front of my eyes. You whispered, “I broke you,” and left the shop no sooner than you said those three little words. That was the last time I ever heard your voice. I still see you every now and then. Sadly, the sightings are limited to my never fading dreams. (There is a point where dreams turn into nightmares and believe the fact I wake up in tears each night you invade mine, is evidence enough that my dreams have reached this point)
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You broke me and never put me back together. Falling for you was the easy part. Picking up the fragments of my disintegrated heart is another story, one which will be left for another time. Until that day, you’ll find me in the same state you left me in that day; unpolished, covered in dust, broken.