Emily noticed something was up with an elated Ruth the moment she showed up to class, with a glow shimmering in her brown eyes.

Her dark eyebrows rose, and she made no move to hide the confusion from her eyes. She leaned towards Ruth and trailed her gaze along the pretty dress adorning her body for the relatively decent 73 degrees Oklahoma was experiencing in mid-late January. The honey brown dress clinging to her figure was enough to gather the attention of half the people she walked by, Emily included.

"Hey Em," Ruth greeted, her smile bright. Her friend blinked to herself and then shook her head.

"Ruth, you look . . . wow, you look amazing," Emily complemented, swallowing almost nervously. "What's the occasion?"

Ruth bit her lip. She hadn't told Emily she was back with Raffo just yet, seeing as how it had just happened the previous day, so she wasn't sure how she was going to take it. But she couldn't hide it from someone who had become a close friend to her. Jana and Terry were ecstatic for her, showering her with songs of 'I knew it' and 'I told you so'.

But Emily was different. Ruth had never met another person with their head so fixed on their shoulder before Emily. She was practical and saw things differently than Jana and Terry. Jana and Terry were focused on the love aspect, not necessarily the reality.

Still, she told her anyway.

"Raffo and I . . . we got back together yesterday. And he wanted to show me something after school," Ruth admitted, her chest blossoming with excitement at getting to see him that day and figure out the minor surprise he had for her.

Emily's mouth opened for a second and then closed. Pursed, then flatted. Her eyes would blink a few times as well, like she didn't even think it was something Ruth was going to say. "Okay, hold on—wait. How did that happen? Weren't you guys just broken up like yesterday?"

"Well, I saw him yesterday," she admitted with a shrug. "And we made up at the courts."

A strange look crossed Emily's features that Ruth didn't understand and her body shifted just half an inch back from Ruth. A smile forced its way across Emily's flushed cheeks and she told her how happy she was for her that the two of them made up. Ruth, still not understanding why her reaction was so bewildering, accepted her words with a thank you.

"What are you guys going to do when you move?" Emily questioned after a minute of awkward silence.

"We're gonna try to make it work," Ruth admitted.

"He agreed to that?"

"It was his idea." Ruth took on a more defensive tone as she traced her pen over the cover of her notebook. "I agreed to that because I want to make it work. We love each other and we think we can do it."

"You think, or you know?"

"I know we can. Is that better?"

Emily gave her a look at the snap. "I'm not trying to ruffle your feathers, Ruth. I was just curious if you guys were thinking about this long term. I don't want you to get hurt again if things don't work out with the distance."

As much as it annoyed Ruth, she knew the questioning was coming from a good place. They were questions she would have asked Emily if the situation was reversed. Loving someone that deeply and not knowing if the outcome your friend was hoping for was going to work would stress any good friend out. She wouldn't want to see Emily hurt in the long run, but she also knew if it was what Emily wanted, she would support it. She'd choose her happiness over her fear any day.

"It'll work out. You'll see, Em. Everything will work out just fine," Ruth promised. It was going to. Raffo and Ruth loved each other enough for that.

Emily said nothing more, but nodded stiffly in agreement. They both turned towards the front then and paid attention to the rest of the class.

*****

"Raff, I feel ridiculous."

"You definitely look it, if it helps."

"How was that supposed to help?"

"Confirmation of your feelings."

Ruth's lips bubbled in laughter as she attempted to remove the small cloth from her eyes, but Raffo's hands were right there again. She went to complain again, but his familiar lips on her cheek stopped her from committing the act all the way through. He promised her softly that they were almost to his surprise destination, and something about his soothing voice relaxed her excitement.

They both had barely escaped school grounds when Raffo attacked her in kisses after showering her with a thousand compliments on her dress and then tied a black cloth over her eyes the moment she climbed into his truck. She had hitched a ride to school with Terry after telling her Raffo would bring her back home later, so she didn't have to worry about bringing her car to campus. Much to Ruth's dismay, Raffo still told her nothing about his little surprise. Just that it was small and didn't cost a dime, which helped a little.

The car ride wasn't too long, but it was long enough for Ruth to lose her mind. And now they were walking somewhere that he told her to be patient about. She trusted him enough to let him shield her eyes, but that didn't mean she was dying with curiosity.

"Okay, don't open them until I tell you to," he warned, drawing his hands and the cloth away from her closed eyelids. He carefully helped her sit down on something familiar and by the time Raffo had her open her eyes, she knew exactly where she was envisioning.

Their familiar basketball court, their familiar grassy surroundings, and their familiar little bench to themselves with nobody around.

The only difference was that she wasn't counting on a large, familiar guitar being strewn across his lap as he sat above her in a position she'd only seen him in one other time. His hair glistened beneath the cool, but sunny day around his muscled body, his strong fingers caressing the neck of it tentativley. Her eyes marveled in the depth of warmth his skin brought as a dark red spilled into his handsome cheeks when he smiled.

Her voice . . . her breath . . . her damn words were lodged somewhere in the back of her throat. A strange sound rippled through her mouth as she whispered out a quiet, "Raffo."

And then . . .

He began to sing in a voice so raw and rich, that all Ruth could do was get swept up in the deepness of his song. She pictured red wine and the sweet scent of fired-tobacco cigars. Of the woods and cedar to combat the strength of sage. It was warm and familiar. Everything natural. And the little changes in the words made it all the more personal.

"I've been down this road before.

I remember every tree.

Every single blade of grass,

Holds a special place for me.

And I remember every town,

And every little room.

And every song I ever sang,

On a guitar out of tune."

His fingers strummed along the guitar languidly, as if making sensual love to the chords beneath his rough fingertips. His long, unfair lashes were low and captured with the trance of his song. A fascinated Ruth watched his other hand caress the neck of the instrument and she found herself absolutely and unapologetically hypnotized by him.

"I remember everything. Things I can't forget," he hummed, voice raw, soothing, and angelic all at once. "The way you turned and smiled on me, on the day that we first met."

His singing continued, the ballad carrying beautifully into the crisp, cool air of a winter's afternoon. Their noses were tinged pink from the soft breeze and Ruth had to nudge her jacket closer over her shoulders, but they didn't care about the weather. They were too busy drowning in the moment. A moment they wished could last forever.

"And I remember every night. Your eyes of honey hues," he crooned softly, his words drawing an ache to the center of her chest.

His eyes trailed up to her face, settling briefly on her parted lips, before drawing back up to her eyes. His favorite color swirled in her vision, and he softened at the sight of such beauty. Ruth's bottom lip wobbled at his changing of the words. "I will miss you in the morning light, like roses miss the dew."

There'd never be a day he wouldn't miss her, no matter how far she'd go and who she'll go that distance with if they didn't survive it. He already missed her even then, with his throat swelling and his tongue growing heavier and heavier with each lyric until he swallowed it back. But he had to finish the song for her and he couldn't very well do it by being emotional. This was for her. His person.

"I've been down this road before.

Alone as I can be.

Careful not to let my past.

Go sneaking up on me.

Got no future in my happiness. 

Though regrets are very few.

Sometimes a little tenderness,

Is the best that I could do."

Raffo circled back to the chorus, that one more beautiful than that last as a haunting ache trembled through Ruth's body.

"I remember everything.

Things I can't forget.

Swimming pools of butterflies,

That slipped right through the net.

And I remember every night,

Those eyes of honey hues.

How I miss you in the morning light,

Like roses miss the dew."

"I will miss you in the morning light, like roses miss the dew," he finished, his fingers strumming out one last lovely note.

A note that lingered softly between the two, the surrounding air warm in a hazy glow. Her chest continued to squeeze where her heart hammered, and tears snuck up behind her eyes until they bled down her cheeks in hot waterfalls. Suddenly his hands were there, catching every tear that tried to escape down her cheekbones. The roughness of his knuckle soothed her despite her continuous cries and the following of his soft lips on her skin nearly destroyed her.

"Why do you cry?" he murmured, his lips brushing against the corner of her mouth as he spoke.

"I—That was—I mean, I have—" she stuttered, unable to formulate a proper sentence. He kissed the tip of her nose lovingly.

"I have no words," she finally breathed, then blinked. He sang for her once before, but never to the medium that he did. How could she leave him after something as beautiful as that? Something so gut-wrenching that she literally couldn't fathom anything else in the world? He was perfect. He made the gift perfect.

And Ruth didn't know if she could ever love someone else to the same medium.

Before she could stop herself, she wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and drew his lips down to hers, salty tears and all. Raffo didn't seem to care, as he moved his guitar off of his lap so he could draw her closer to him with the circle of his arms around her waist.

"I loved it," she whispered against his lips, pulling back just a little to gaze into his eyes. The blur of tears hadn't slowed down yet, but neither of them cared. "Fuck, I love you."

She never looked more beautiful to him.

Raffo's smile was bright and pretty. He pulled a curl off of her wet cheek and rubbed some of the liquid away. "I love you too, baby."

"Thank you. For everything," she whispered, her tone chalky and harsh from the crying.

"Anytime, aiukli." He drew her chin up and recaptured her lips, sealing his promise.

*****

Prine, John (2019). I Remember Everything. On I Remember Everything - Single. Nashville, Tennessee.