All I've Wanted All I've Needed

by A.E. Valdez

I don’t want to fall back into old ways because familiarity is so comforting.

I hate hanging out with people who don’t give a damn about me and who I don’t give a damn about. Why pretend?

I ignore his last text because he knows that I don’t talk to those people. Not that my high school experience was terrible, but they weren’t people I cared to carry on lasting friendships with.

I didn’t mind it that way because I liked to keep to myself. I was “friends” with everyone else by association.

I’ve learned that laughter is her medicine. If it were bottled up and sold, I would buy a lifetime supply.

“I think Sunshine is more fitting for who she is as a person.

I get the sense he’s used to Harlow doing what he wants because it made things easier for both of them, while I simply want to be in her company and will take her anyway I can get her.

She doesn’t censor herself like she does when she isn’t lifted.

“I’ve noticed every time something happens that affects you in a major way… you do something drastic. So–” he leans forward “ –I’ll ask you again, what are you running from?

I want all of her, not just pieces of her. I’ve never shared well, and I don’t want to play ping pong with her ex.

He sucks his teeth. “Man, you’re a dumbass. You believed that funky ass text message?”

One thing I know about Harlow is that she’s forgiving to those she loves.”

wherever I go with him, I know that I’ll always be home.

“You’re all I’ve wanted,” he says. “And you’re all I’ve needed,” I reply.

He hands me my phone, and I snap pictures of the breakfast, of him, of us. Of everything. These are moments I would never want to forget.

“You’ve been posting pictures of me since I first met you.

I’ve never experienced this level of pleasure in my life. It isn’t only a physical pleasure, but an emotional pleasure as well.

Speak it into existence or some bullshit like that?”

I’ve been teaching him about manifesting and the law of attraction. “I didn’t think you believed in that stuff…”

I swear he and I must have known each other in a past life because we get each other in a way that only we can.

They know every button to push but you wouldn’t want anyone else pushing those buttons but them.

I’ll say something in passing, but he picks up on the sense of longing in my tone and will do everything he can to help make it happen.

One thing I’ve learned is that you have to do things for yourself, too. Like these dates. We do this for us.”

We decided on a tattoo of a wave with a sun behind it to remind us of where we came from and to always look forward to the better days on the horizon.

I wasn’t expecting him to take care of anything. It feels good to have someone to lean on that can support me when I feel like I can’t support myself.

This is what it feels like to fall in love… to be in love. He’s all I’ve wanted. All I’ve needed.

I hesitate in responding. “We have plans, but we’ll be there this weekend,” Acyn says which surprises me because I wasn’t aware that we had plans.

“Nope, you hesitated. I could see on your face that you need a chill night at home.”

I hug him as we walk to his car. “I love spending time with them,” I admit, “but I also like being with just you.”

We love our families, and they’re very involved with all that we do, but for this moment, he wanted it to be us two.

We’re all deserving of happiness and of a love that’s so deep that you only discover the depths to which it goes with each passing day as your love grows.