A Well-Said Goodbye

     The light in his room illuminated the dull moonless night. She was restless in bed and his apparent sleeplessness next door gave her comfort. She was not the only one who had trouble sleeping at night. It was a Monday morning, probably after 4am. The week was not starting on a very pleasant note. She shuddered at the thought of attending school the next day. Sleep-deprived days did not qualify as good days.
       She got up and checked her phone. He'd texted her precisely 7 minutes back. She couldnt stop herself from smiling. Had he guessed her restlessness too? And yet again her heart skipped a beat.
          He was her neighbour; the school jock with a girlfriend and a ton of female fans. She had a crush on him, as is apparent. He was completely oblivious of her feelings, as was expected. A very typical high school love story, hackneyed to be exact. She realised how much her situation resembled a Taylor Swift song, yet she could not laugh at the humour behind it. She was too love-lorn for that.
        She was a tiny, frail creature. Pretty in some people's book, fairly ordinary in her own judgement. He was tall, well-built and perfectly handsome. Yet that was not the reason for her infatuation. She knew there was an amazing person behind that pretty face, an amazing person under the semblance of arrogance and pride.
           She texted him back, "Walk?". This was their midnight ritual. They would sneak out of their house and talk under the starlit sky in the rare occassions when sleep refused to cooperate. He gave an affirmative answer. She again smiled briefly to herself in the dark, feeling moronic.
          They hadn't talked to each other in a while. His girlfriend and soccer kept him busy. Oh-so-busy. She, on the other hand, was too busy looking busy. She was also preoccupied with thoughts of him, however she stubbornly denied this to herself. She wasn't the kinds to admit submission easily.
     "What keeps you up? " , she whispered. Her voice trembled and she put her might into making it sound steady. His voice was gentle, "Nothing". That one word reply roughly translated to "Everything". She could feel his grief in the still night. They walked silently for a while. Finally, he puckered up the courage to whisper, "My parents are getting divorced. Im moving with my mom, to the other part of the country. "
         She was speechless. Of course. Things always have to go awry. Why was she so surprised? She choked out the word, "When?". "In 3 Days. Im sorry." She briefly pondered over why he was apologising. He dint give her a lot of time to mull things over in her head. Her pulled her in a bear-like hug, knocking the wind out of her. He mumbled , "I love you", incoherently against her hair.
       They could hear the birds chirping. The first rays of sunlight shone through. Dawn was breaking. A fresh day, a fresh start. She decided it was best to keep him in the dark. It would make the separation easier for him. Silently, she smiled and walked back home, leaving him alone on the road.