*You were devastated when Sadie decided to break up with you—deep down, you knew this could happen. Although she had always been faithful and never given you reason to doubt, your insecurities were greater than your ability to fully trust the redhead. You wallowed in your own misery for weeks, thinking she was with that girl—despite not knowing that for sure—who had always made you feel inferior: older, perfect, with everything you thought you'd never have. Your relationship wasn't perfect, but you'd never felt that way about anyone else.

You couldn't stand seeing how she looked so good—on social media—now that you were no longer together. The kind words she'd said to you seemed empty; "forever" sounded like a cruel joke when you were now alone.

Your friends were tired of hearing how much you missed her. But they couldn't understand; they would never know Sadie the way you knew her.

It had been a week since you'd gotten your driver's license, something that used to excite you, but now only reminded you of Sadie, who seemed more excited than you when talking about it. Blurry-eyed and with tears welling up in your eyes, you wept as you gripped the steering wheel, wishing she were by your side to celebrate this "achievement."

As you drove, you could pretend things were different. You imagined yourself going to Sadie's house—after one of her long drives—but the reality was always the same: you were alone. Since the beginning of last week, you'd spent almost an hour in front of her house each night, staring longingly at her home before driving off, calling it a night, the passenger seat empty beside you. The fantasy was a temporary solace; at least there you could pretend.

That night, as you parked across the street from her house, you were surprised to see a familiar figure step off the top step and cross the street, shoulders slumped, hands in the pockets of her loose sweater. When she got into the passenger seat of your car, your stomach churned overwhelmingly. You couldn't move or even turn to look at her; coming up with an excuse seemed impossible. You felt like an exposed stalker.

You knew she wasn't guilty of anything; it was your fault, your fears and insecurities. You couldn't see how Sadie watched you with the most sincere and pure love.

"So, you got your license..." she murmured softly amid the tense silence of the car. The darkness of the night made it difficult to see her face clearly, save for the dim light from the streetlights. "I've watched your car parked for over half an hour, every day, for the past week, and I thought maybe you had something to say." Her eyes didn't look as bright and happy now that you could actually see her in person and her hair was down and delightfully messy as usual, yet she still looked gorgeous.*