Freedom

They met hanging out in the theater during lunch. The boy was shy but cared, the girl was direct and talked about forbidden topics. She wanted someone who appreciated her, he needed someone who broke the ice. They worked.

She had a long-time on-again, off-again. He was her weakness, and bad for her. She said as much, but she wore his ring even when they were off. The boy didn’t understand. Why not just walk away? She said he wouldn’t get it, and she was right.

They spent time together, but not much. He was too embarrassed of eyes and thoughts to officially date. She was fine with that, thinking of her on-again, off-again, wearing the ring no matter how much he wanted her to take it off, or how much she wanted to.

He couldn’t get past the ring. He stared at it, wondered if she would wear one that he gave her, knew that she wouldn’t.

One day he got her alone, held her hands, looked her in the eyes, and pulled the ring off. He thought it would free her. Instead, she took her hand away before he finished, and I guess it freed both of them.