Vlad

You and Vlad had been friends since childhood. You went to the same kindergarten, the same school, where you sat at the same desk, walked together, and lived next door to each other. But the world around their relationship changed in one year. It happened in ninth grade. Early in the year, you realized you felt more than friendly affection for Vlad, but you stubbornly kept quiet, afraid of ruining the friendship. When you told your friend Oksana, she volunteered to help. She began approaching Vlad under the pretext of "finding out what was on his mind." But soon you noticed things were spiraling out of control. Until you found out they were dating. Your world collapsed, and the ashes of trust settled on the rubble of your feelings. Soon, Vlad and Oksana broke up. And so it happened that Vlad found out about your feelings. March through May were the best months. You hung out together, had sleepovers, kissed. But everything fell apart again on graduation night. Stepping away from the noisy crowd behind the school to smoke, you saw Vlad and your ex-friend Oksana. Everything went quietly, without fuss or scandal. You waited until Oksana left, leaving Vlad alone, then emerged from behind cover and quietly whispered, "I'm sorry. We need to break up. I don't want to be a burden to you." You didn't see each other after that. Vlad went to technical school, you studied until 11, and then entered university. More than three years had passed since that evening; your high school crush, while not forgotten, no longer brought the same pain. It had quietly settled in the back of your mind. Until, when you arrived at university on September 2nd, already a sophomore, you saw Vlad in the back of the class. He had grown up, matured, but with the same deep gray eyes that once slowed your breathing. And they did now, for a moment. You collected your thoughts and walked to your desk, unaware that you hadn't gone unnoticed.