Ghost of You

Present Day: Septemper 2021

“Last night was the best night of my life. I promise I will never forget you.” I said as a tear fell from my eye.

“Goodbye Scarlett.” He said, wiping the tear from my eye with his thumb.

I woke up from my dream gasping for air. I hadn’t dreamt about Trevor in many years. I hadn’t seen or spoke to him in 16 years, but he still came across my mind from time to time. This dream was of the last moment I saw him, the weekend I fell in love for the first time.

***

August 2005

“Scarlett wake up it’s time to leave.” Isabella exclaimed.

“Ugh okay, geez give me a minute.” I cried.

I am not a morning person, and why we needed to leave by 6 a.m. I didn’t understand. My dad made it seem like it was some epic adventure, but truthfully I just wanted a getaway to the beach. I just turned 18, and all I cared about is listening to the waves and working on writing. Apparently this trip was a big ordeal of halibut fishing, drinking and hanging out.

Isabella was of-course already awake, as she was a morning person. I looked over to see her putting her brunette hair in a low bun and her bangs swept to the side. She had a grey sweater, and light washed American Eagle boot cut jeans with her black vans. She came over to where I was laying to check if I was awake yet.

“Scarlett, seriously you need to get up. We are leaving in literally 10 minutes.”

“Okay, I’m up.”

I rolled out of bed, grabbed my clothes and walked to the bathroom to change. I put on my black oversized sweater, and light blue jeans. I had curly hair, and the beach was only going to make it more frizzy. I decided to throw my blonde hair in a messy bun and call it a day. I walked back to the bedroom, to continue packing my bag.

“I told you to start packing last night, but instead you chose to stay on the phone with Devin.” She lectured.

“Yes, Isabella I realize that, he was just going through a lot with Kelly and needed someone to talk too.” I replied, not in the mood for a lecture this early in the morning.

I started grabbing sweaters, jeans, and socks. My dad said that it could be cold there in the morning and evening even though it was August and the hottest part of the summer.

“Of course he’s having problems with her, just don’t let him string you along again thinking you have a chance with him.” She said.

"Look I know you’re just trying to look out for me but I am just really not in the mood right now.” I exclaimed.

I knew what Devin was up too, but I always put my feelings aside for him. He and his now ex Kelly kept breaking up. On their first breakup we ended up going out on a date to a Broadway Production of “Beauty and the Beast.” It is my favorite movie, and it was his birthday gift to me. When he took me home he walked me to my door and kissed me. I came inside and told Isabella all about it. I hoped this would turn into something more.

Of course that wasn’t the case, when I showed up to work a few days later he took me aside to let me know that him and Kelly were going to try and work it out. I was devastated, and having to work beside with him for our shift didn’t help. When my dad told me about the camping trip I jumped at the chance for a get away, and forget about boys for at least the weekend. I had never had a real relationship, I was pretty much planning on being a dog lady when I was older.

“Are you two ready to go?” My dad asked peaking his head in the room.

“Almost.” I replied, shoving all my belonging my duffle bag .

I went over to my nightstand and grabbed my iPod and headphones, and stuck them in my back pocket. I couldn’t be stuck in a car with my family and not have music.

“Well, hurry up we are already running late.” He said shutting the door.

We were finally on the road, we had been driving for almost two hours, when my dad informed us that we were getting close to the campground. The place we were going was called Dillon Beach, it had a campground next to the ocean but was surrounded by sand dunes. Isabella had fallen asleep right after we started driving and I was listening to music on my Ipod day dreaming of laying out on the beach when we arrived.

We rounded a corner and started driving down a hill. On the right side of the car was lovely beach houses. Straight ahead I saw the beach, and in the distance there was some sort of peninsula. Looking out at the beach, it was filled with families, kids running into the ocean while their parents tanned or napped. We drove down the small road, to a drive up check in. After checking in we drove straight ahead toward our campsite. The road was pretty narrow, bumpy, and campsites on either side of us. After a couple of minutes we pulled up to the site that we would be staying at for the weekend.

“We’re here.” My dad said.

I unbuckled my seat belt and turned to my right to wake up Isabella.

“Hey we made it.” I said tapping her arm.

“Wow that was fast.” She said sleepy as she unbuckled her seatbelt, and opened her door to get out of the truck.

I opened up my door and stepped out of the truck. I grabbed my duffle bag and slung it over my shoulder. I began walking toward the spot my dad was setting up camp. I looked down for a moment to put my iPod in my front pocket when I ran into someone.

“Oh my gosh I am so sorry! I wasn’t paying attention.” I explained.

Looking up I seen I had ran into a boy, around my age. He had dark brown hair that was shaggy and slightly wavy from the moisture in the air, and the most beautiful hazel eyes I had ever seen. He was wearing dark black skinny jeans, a black t-shirt and checkered slip-on vans. He towered over me, I guessed he was over six feet talI. I felt myself catch my breath as I looked up at him. He stopped for a moment meeting my eyes, flashed a perfectly white smile, and walked away. He was walking over to a campsite next to ours. As much as I hoped I would see him again I wasn't counting on it.

I began walking toward my dad again. I couldn’t stop thinking about the mystery boy I ran into. I know I came on this trip hoping to forget about boys, but maybe that wasn’t going to be the universes plan this time. After getting camp set up Isabella and I decided to head to the beach.

We decided to climb to the top of a sand dune instead of going all the way out to the beach. Isabella began reading the book she brought with her, and I took out my journal to start writing. After a few minutes I decided to tell Isabella about the mystery boy I ran into.

“So I ran into the cutest guy today when I was walking over to set up camp.” I said to her.

“Let me guess this is your latest soulmate?” She asked, rolling her eyes.

“Why do you have to be so rude about it?” I asked.

“Scarlett, less than 24 hours ago you were worried about Devin, now you’re talking about some guy you ran into. You’ll probably never see him again, I wouldn’t think too much into it.”

“Yea you are right.” I said.

I brought my attention back to my journal and tried my best to get my mind off of him.

We returned to camp after sunset, and there was a huge bon fire going. The flame was so big it was higher than the RVs. Everyone was sitting around the fire, talking amongst each other. I found an empty chair and sat down. Isabella decided she wanted to go lay down because she was tired. I got lost in staring at the flames of the fire, I hadn’t realized someone sat down in the empty chair next to me.

“I didn’t expect to see you again.” I heard a deep raspy voice say.

I looked to my right seeing him, the mystery boy. I tried hiding my surprise, but I don’t think it was working.

“Yeah I didn’t expect to see you either.” I tried to keep my cool, but my heart was racing.

“My name is Trevor by the way.” He said, extending his hand to shake mine.

“I’m Scarlett, it’s nice to meet you.” I said, shaking his hand.

He gave me a shy smile, and looked down at the ground. I released his hand and began looking back at this fire, I was too shy to say anything else at the time. He finally broke the silence.

“So how do you know the family? I’ve never seen you at any event before?” He asked.

I looked away from the fire to face him.

“They are friends of my dad, only reason I’m here is to escape reality.” I answered.

“Well, I am really glad you came.” He saId, smiling shyly.

We continued having small talk, when a few boys around our age came up and asked him if he wanted to go on a walk around the campground. He got up from his chair and turned to me.

“Do you want to come with us?” Trevor asked.

“Of course.” I exclaimed, standing up from my chair.

We began walking from our campground, on a dirt path with campsites on either side of us. Everyone else was a head of Trevor and I so we began making small talk about our interest. We found that we both had a love for emo music, and going to concerts. This made me fall for him even more.

After walking around for about an hour we decided to return to our campsite. Trevor went off with one of his cousins, leaving me alone with his friend who I now knew as Hunter. We stood next to the fire for what felt like decades, and he finally decided to talk to me.

“So do you like Trevor?” He asked.

I was so caught off guard, and had no clue what to say.

"No, I don’t.” I said defensively.

At that moment Trevor walked up to us, he had heard our conversation. Hunter walked away as soon as he realized Trevor had heard us talking.

“So you don’t like me?” He asked. He looked defeated.

“Even if I did, it wouldn’t matter anyway would it? We’re just here for the weekend.” I asked.

He stepped closer to me, wrapping his arms around me.

“Of course it matters Scarlett, because I like you. Time doesn’t matter, take a leap of faith and have fun.” He explained, walking toward me and embracing me in a hug.

I admitted to liking him too. We went and hangout with everyone at the bonfire, laughing and sharing stories. We snuck secret looks at each other, and held hands under the picnic table so no one would see. Eventually everyone began going to bed and me and Trevor were left alone. We got up from the picnic table and begin walking toward the beach. I wasn’t sure what time it was, but if I were to guess it was after midnight.

Once we reached the beach it was dark, except for the full moon and stars glowing above us. You could hear the waves crashing on the shore. Most people might have found this scene scary, but I found something peaceful about being on the beach this late at night. I walked hand in hand with Trevor down the beach, until he stopped suddenly.

He wrapped his arms around my waist, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness, so I could look into his hazel eyes. I felt an intensity I had never felt before just looking into his eyes. Before I realized what was happening we both leaned into to kiss each other. The electricity that I felt from this kiss was unlike any other I felt before.

Trevor pulled away from the kiss.

“I am so happy I met you Scarlett.” He said rubbing his thumb on my cheek looking into my eyes.

“I am so happy I met you too Trevor.” I said looking up at him.

He leaned down and gave me a gentle kiss on the lips

We walked back to camp hand and hand, I felt over the moon. When we reached camp, the fire was still going. I sat in Trevors lap next to the fire for the rest of the night. We sat an exchanged stories of our past, present and future. We stole kisses from each other, and held each other. I was cuddled up to Trevor, half asleep when I looked at the sky realizing it was almost sunrise. I knew our family would be up at any moment.

“How is it almost sunrise already?" I asked sleepily.

“I know, this night went by so fast,” he replied.

“We should probably head to bed, our parents are going to put everything together.” I explained.

“Yeah you are right.” Trevor agreed

I looked into his hazel eyes one last time, and leaned in and kissed him. He kissed me back and held me as if he didn’t want to let me go. We freed ourselves from each other and walked toward our tent trailers. It was past 5 in the morning, but it felt like I could have stayed up forever just to spend more time with Trevor.

Eventually I woke up, and my dad let me know we would be leaving for home soon. I noticed that Trevor was about to leave with his cousins for a bike ride. He overheard my conversation with my dad, and dropped his bike walking toward me. Once he reached me we embraced in a hug.

“Last night was the best night of my life. I promise I will never forget you.” I said as a tear fell from my eye.

“Goodbye Scarlett.” He said rubbing the tear from my eye with his thumb.

I hugged him on last time, we parted ways. I walked toward my dads truck as I watched him grab his bike and ride off to catch up with his cousins. I hoped that one day I would see him again, I had never felt this way about someone before.

***

September 2021

After waking up from my dream I decided it was best that I go for a drive. It was raining outside, these were my favorite type of drives. I turned on my Spotify playlist and the song “Ghost” by Justin Bieber came on. As the song played the lyrics began hitting home, I hadn’t realized how much I missed Trevor.

“I want you to know that if I can't be close to you

I settle for the ghost of you

I miss you more than life”

It had been 16 years since we said goodbye to each other. I didn’t know then that was the last time I would see him. I always hoped that I would see him again but in many ways I am glad I didn’t. Our story stays suspended perfectly in time. Never to be ruined by fights or breakups. Just two people who met, fell for each other and parted ways. He will always be apart of me and will remain my greatest love story.

Suddenly my cellphone began ringing interrupting my music. I looked at the screen seeing a number that I didn’t recognize. I don’t usually answer numbers I don’t know but I had a feeling that I should answer this call. I pressed the answer button on the screen.

“Hello?” I say.

“Scarlett?” A male voice asks.

I recognized the voice immediately.

“Trevor?”

***