‘Kelli… Kelli, come back to me…’ Damion’s voice echoed.



Kelli turned her head to find him, and suddenly found herself in her room. She was back in high school. Damion was holding her. She was so happy.



‘Oh, Damion… I love you.’

‘I’m sorry for hurting you Kelli… forgive me…’ he whispered.

Feeling his arms wrap around her she smiled and melted into the warmth and security she felt with those words.



Kelli woke up with a start.



“Another bad dream?” I asked.

Kelli nodded in reply and threw on her clothes. It was no secret that Kelli had been suffering from nightmares ever since we returned from winter break. She never told me what they were about though.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked as she grabbed her bag.

“I have to get to class, sorry,” she said and was gone before I could say anything more.



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Sean visited that afternoon. He had a break from classes and came to spend his long weekend with me. He showed up with my favorite flowers and kissed my hand. Isn’t it just so sweet when a guy does that? I think so. Sean is such a gentleman.





We went to a quiet restaurant in town with a beautiful garden. Over dinner, we found that we actually didn’t have very much to talk about, so we mainly reminisced about old times in high school. We spoke on the phone at least 4 times a week, so we knew everything currently going on in each other’s lives. I hoped that our future together would come soon enough and we wouldn’t always have to talk about the past, and ‘how things used to be.’ Still, it was nice just to see Sean in person.





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I didn’t think my roommates would appreciate a guy staying the night, so Sean stayed with Shawna’s boyfriend.

Kelli wasn’t home when I returned to the apartment. I changed into my PJs and sat in bed reading. Before long I heard the front door open, and then Kelli came into our room, clearly upset. I set down my book.



“Kelli, please talk to me,” I begged my friend. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s stupid Damion!” she yelled. “He haunts my dreams!”

“Oh, I figured as much,” I said as I tried to comfort my friend. “What are your dreams like?”

“I usually just see his face, but lately I’ve been dreaming of happy times we shared together and of us being in love,” she explained.

“Well, I’m no dream expert, but usually when you dream about something it’s because you’re thinking about it a lot, or it’s an underlying issue you can’t deal with while you’re awake.”



“Kat, I’m a horrible friend,” Kelli cried. “I should have told you this sooner.”

“Told me what?” I asked curiously.

“Let me start from the beginning. After I broke up with Damion I told him I didn’t want any communication with him for 6 months because I needed my space, but couldn’t wait that long. He sought me out after graduation.

“I had gone to the restroom to get rid of that stupid hat before your party, and when I came out, Damion was waiting by the lockers. He’d seen me leave the auditorium, and figured it would be his chance to talk to me alone.



“I didn’t want to see him, and I tried to walk away, but he pleaded with me to hear him out. He said he’d been thinking a lot about us and it would only take a few minutes.



“I listened to him. It was just a bunch of apologies and professions of his undying love for me. I knew Damion never meant to hurt me, but my pride was wounded and I wanted to be mad at him.



“In the end he said he would respect my wishes and not contact me for 6 months.



“Damion kept his word, but as soon as the 6 month period was over in November he contacted me by e-mail. He sent me a message explaining that he never stopped caring about me and had written letters to me every week since we broke up. He knew I wouldn’t read anything from him until the time had passed, and he forwarded them in his e-mail.

“He wrote me poetry, and apologies, and even told me that he tried to move on and see other women, but that none of them compare to me. They were brutally honest, and deep, and the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me. Damion begged for the chance just to hear my voice again,” she finished.

“Wow Kelli, how did you respond to his e-mail?” I asked.



“I haven’t,” she said flatly, “and every week he sends me a new message, singing my praises. It’s too much. He’s wearing down my resistance, and now I’m dreaming about him!”

“Hang on, I’ll be right back,” I said, leaving the room. As much as I hated the Damion that hurt my friend, I thought he deserved another chance, but I wanted a second opinion. I quickly found Shawna and brought her to our room and we explained the situation.

“Girl, do you love him?” Shawna asked boldly.

Kelli turned away, uncomfortable. “I loved him, in the past.”



“Well, if there’s any chance that you still love him, then cling onto it,” Shawna said. “There’s nothing more precious in this world than love, and if you’re lucky enough to find someone who loves you as much as this boy clearly does, then you’d better never let it go. That kind of love doesn’t come around twice in a lifetime. Everybody makes mistakes, and I know this boy hurt you, but forgiveness is a powerful thing. It can erase all that hurt that you’re holding onto. Girl, you’d better get over yourself and start talking to him before its too late! If you don’t I’m gonna kick your butt!”

I stood there dumbfounded, once again at a loss for words. Boy was I glad I called Shawna in on this because there’s no way I could have made such an impressive speech. In fact, tears were in MY eyes.

Eventually, Kelli turned around. “Yeah, I love him,” she said quietly. “I really never stopped. I just didn’t want to get hurt again.”



“It sounds like the person you need to forgive is yourself. Once you do that, things will fall into place,” Shawna continued. “Now, if both of you crazy people love each other, then what’s the hold up?



Together we helped Kelli find the words to finally face Damion again.



After that first e-mail, many followed, and before long they were talking on the phone again. They agreed to take things slow in order to rebuild the trust that had been broken between them. It would be a long time before they could get past what happened on prom night, but the past could finally be put behind them.
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Let me know what you think! I just couldn't see Kelli getting over her past issues if she was dating anyone else.

Next time:
-A surprise proposal
-Why is Kat spending the summer with Emilio?