Once Upon a Summer: The One That Got Away

It was summer of 2015, I went home to my previous hometown to spend vacation with my mom and my younger brother. It was the usual for me to spend the summer vacation there since I was staying with my sister in a different region for high school. I can no longer remember how it started but one thing is clear to me: on that fateful summer, I met my young summer love – the one that got away.

I have known him since I was little because we were schoolmates in elementary. He was one year ahead of me and I remember having a huge crush to one of his best friends and I actually got a little close to the other one. I never, not even once had any interaction with him back then and I only know him by his name since we also live by the same neighborhood. Who would’ve thought that it’s not his friends I’ll end up falling in love with some years later, but him?

It never crossed my mind either. I always see him the previous years I spent my vacation there because he’s one of my cousin’s circle but it was 2015 when the magic happened. I think it started during the league of basketball in our barangay and him, my cousin, and their circle of friends were one of the participating teams. It has been a routine for me and my friends (who are also my cousins) to watch every day since it’s really fun and we’re all fan of basketball leagues. I remember sitting in the bleacher with my cousins one day when he suddenly asked me if I was my mom’s daughter, so I said yes. He knows my mom because we live in the same neighborhood and because he is very close with my cousin. I don’t know if he remembers that we were schoolmate but I think he knew, and he just wants to confirm it. I recall a few more interactions with him in the bleacher while watching a game, until we ended up being text mates. Messenger chat is still not so popular that time and people were still more into texting.

I know something is going on between us that time. I was always so excited when it’s their game because he’s good at it and it’s one of the reasons why I ended up eventually liking him. He looks so handsome wearing their uniform. I remember getting teased by my cousins whenever he’s looking at me before shooting a free throw or even before he shoots the ball during the game. Those little gestures of him were enough to give me butterflies. We were texting day and night, before and after every game. He even had a nickname for me that he came up as a joke from my first name.

When my father’s uncle died, he was also there during the funeral wake because he also knew my grandfather and another cousin of mine was his former classmate. We were playing “Kindat Killer” (Wink Killer) and it’s always me he will eliminate first just so he can wink at me. My friends noticed that but I don’t know about his friends. Up until this day, I’m not sure if his friends had an idea that something was going on between us. When I think about it now, it still brings smile to my face because I don’t know if his friends never really noticed or they were just acting clueless.

He was in first year college that time and I was an incoming Grade 10. They were the last batch of the old curriculum and I belong to the pioneers of K-12. We shared about our dreams and he told me he wants to be an architect. He was indeed taking up architecture that time in a university in Manila. Like me, he just went home to spend the summer vacation with his family.

We continued talking through out that summer and it was a happy memory for me, with a not so happy ending. We eventually stopped talking when I had to go back to my sister to continue schooling and it was the same case for him. He told me he will focus on his studies and I perfectly understood that. Looking back at it now, it may sound like an excuse but it was the right decision he made as I don’t think we can stand it if ever we continued to be in a long-distance relationship. He also knew that I needed to go so I can pursue my studies. We became friends on Facebook and that was the last interaction I had with him as I was not able to go back there the next summer vacation because my mom and brother moved with us already.

I moved on with my life and so as him.

Years later, I saw on Facebook that he already has a girlfriend but they broke up and as I am writing this, he has yet again met the love of his life. But what’s better than that is the fact that he is already an architect – he fulfilled his dreams. And that makes me so happy for him, knowing that at one point in his life, it was me he was sharing his dreams with.

But sometimes when I think about it, maybe if our magic happened in a different time, in a different circumstance, we might have had a different ending. He may had been my endgame, not my one that got away – and I’m not his once upon a summer.

This is based on a true story. :) Thank you for reading this. I just suddenly remember him because I was actually dedicating him the song Statue by Lil' Eddie as I was always stuck staring at him when he's playing basketball. I listened to the song again today and it brought the memories back. My beloved summer. :)

Fun fact: My mom knows we had something before. Just this New Year's eve, she asked me randomly, just out of nowhere, who in the (his surname) was the one who courted me. I asked her how she found out because I never told her anything about him. And she said she thinks it was his uncle (who's only few years older than him), which is a batchmate of my sister. I was curious why she asked but she said she just suddenly remembered it haha.

Fun fact #2: The most memorable thing he said to me was that someday he'll design my dream house for free but I guess it's never going to happen. :)

I hope you enjoyed my short trip to memory lane. Until the next article.

- glossyberrycraze ♡