Free Truth or Dare by Sloan Johnson

stars with the man I firmly believe was sent to me, I’m seeing that not everyone is destined to take the same road in life. Colby has a gift that doesn’t require a degree hanging on the wall to thrive. And as painful as it is, I know it’s my duty to encourage him to follow his path and be his number one fan.
    “Hey, where did you go on me?” Colby asks, brushing bright red wisps of hair away from my face. I roll on my side, mirroring his position and take in the sight of him.
    “You have to go to Nashville,” I blurt out before fear chokes out the words. The last thing I want to do is watch him leave, but if he doesn’t, he’ll spend the rest of his life wondering what could have been. The passion I saw and heard when he was singing to me won’t diminish over time.
    “Wow, I wasn’t expecting to hear that,” he says, sounding dejected. Daring to look at his face, I see the uncertainty pooling in his eyes. “I figured we might have at least one night together before you tried to get rid of me.”
    Running my hand along his trimmed beard, I brush my lips against his, holding the embrace. “Colby, now that we have one another, it’s not going to be that easy to walk away. And that’s why you need to do it now. We’ll find a way to make it work, but you have to promise me you’ll start making calls and planning. What you have is a gift and I won’t be the one to hold you back.”
    Between the two of us, I think we’ve done everything we possibly can to make this the worst first date in the history of first dates. He takes me to a cemetery and I tell him that he has to leave me. We’re quite the pair. Then again, if we can make it through this, we’ll have one heck of a story for our grandkids someday.
    “Babe, I can wait until you graduate. I’ve waited this long, a couple more years won’t kill me.” He rolls onto his back, pulling me on top of him. It’s not the most comfortable position in the world, but our bodies are pressed together and that’s all that matters.
    “No, there are no guarantees in life. I want you to do this while I’m busy with school. You can come up and see me whenever it works out and I will be in my car, heading down there as soon as breaks start, but you have to do this.” Tears are streaming down my face, creating two wet circles on Colby’s t-shirt. Before any more fall, he reaches up, gently swiping my cheeks with his thumb.
    “Can we talk about this tomorrow? I’d like to see if we can turn this date around, otherwise I’m afraid you’ll never go out with me again,” he teases. Despite the pain in my chest, I laugh because I was having the exact same thoughts. This is how well we get one another.
    **
    When I told Colby I wanted to watch the planes from Veteran’s Hill, I never thought it would turn into camping under the stars. For the second morning in a row, the blinding sun wakes me and I turn to see Colby lying next to me. It’s hard to believe how much life has changed in the past couple of days, but I’m not going to question it. As Grandma always said, “Everything happens for a reason, and it’s best that you don’t ask why. That’s just daring God.”
    It’s funny how their memories have faded over the years, but one night on the hill has brought them back to the front of my mind. When I told Colby that this would be my dream date, it was because very few things in life brought me joy at that time in my life. My grandparents had died within months of each other, less than a year before Amanda brought me out for the first time and I thought my life was over. Being on the hill was how I still felt a connection to them and I would have gladly moved there if I could have. Today, I have peace because I realize they’ve been close to me this entire time.
    “Good morning, beautiful,” Colby says, his voice hoarse from the early morning air. He cracks one eye open to look over at me. “Whose bright idea was it to sleep out here?”
    I giggle as I