Love like a Fairytale

Sarah

I met him at camp a few years ago. I had just gotten off the bus, excited and ready for a new experience. My friends and I were filled with joy and fun things to do during each day. Young Life Camp had forever been on my bucket list, and I was unbelievably excited to finally be setting foot on one of their camp grounds.

My friends and I were instantly set up in our room when we got to camp, then we ran out around the green hills to explore. There were thousands of things to do, so we decided to throw around a frisbee and goof off. We situated ourselves next to a big tree and just tossed around the frisbee in a giant circle. Kids passed us by, some waved and said hello. Then one stopped and asked my friends if he could join in. I thought nothing of it as we all introduced ourselves. His smile lit up when we brought him into the circle to throw the frisbee. His name echoed in my mind: Grant. For some reason, as he nonchalantly hung out with us, I had a feeling that we would become friends somehow. And boy, was I correct.

Camp continued on and I hardly had any time to remember small details. But I remembered Grant's name, so as we would pass each other by around camp, I would shout out a hello to him. He would usually give a cute smile and wave back. I thought our friendship was going quite well since we would occasionally have small conversations here and there whenever I would yell hello at him. Then one night came, and my life changed forever.

The camp threw an awesome tiki/Hawaiian themed party on the beach that night. There were torches, small fires, music, snacks and drinks, the pools and hot tubs were open, and kids were allowed to roam around as we pleased. My friends and I were talking and watching other campers have fun making up small games. One game my friends and I decided to play was the random hug game. I figured it wouldn't be so bad, we just picked someone to hug and then did just that. So of course, they picked Grant for me to hug. I awkwardly approached him as he calmly and happily talked with his circle of friends. I tapped on his shoulder and quietly mumbled "Hey, Grant, random hug!"

But to my surprise, he opened his arms. He wrapped me in a hug and I felt my feet lift off the ground as he spun me around. I couldn't stop smiling as I awkwardly pulled out of the hug and said "Uh, happy birthday?!" Then ran off to join my friends again. I didn't think of the hug too much until the campers were sent back to our cabins. In the flurry of campers, he passed me by and I didn't even notice. He just stopped and stared at me saying "What? No hug? You're giving me the cold shoulder?" I laughed, shaking my head, trying to explain that I didn't notice him, but he didn't even care. He marched right up to me, said "Don't move" and leaned over and picked me up again. This time though, he threw me over my shoulder and started walking with all the other campers. I wasn't quite sure what to do since we had literally just met a day ago, so I kicked and squirmed, but he just kept walking with me on his shoulder. Once I finally moved around too much for him, he set me down smiling and saying "I've never had that reaction before" He just laughed and we parted ways like nothing happened.

The next few days at camp, he and I became quite close. We talked in all the free time we had, learning everything we could about each other. He always talked about wanting to throw me over his shoulder and carry me around again, but since I was trying to be 'too hard to get' I would laugh and say "no way!" even though I wanted him to... We became close enough to the point that we actually hugged each other when we parted. And I had no idea that I had a swarm of butterflies when he smiled at me or parted ways with me. I couldn't help it, but I was falling head-over-heals for him.

On the last day of camp I had promised him that we would sit together at lunch and at some camp group events. I regret what happened though. When the group event came, my friends were so eager to grab a seat, I didn't even get to find him to sit with him. So instead, I sat a row behind him and two seats over. Apparently, he wasn't too bothered by that since he just found a way to stare at me the whole event, making my butterflies go crazy. Afterwards, he grabbed me and walked with me to lunch, asking if he could pick me up one last time, just in case. But I told him no, because we were going to eat together.

Once we found seats, they were unfortunately nowhere near each other and we sadly gave each other a hug goodbye. I sat down promising myself he would see me afterwards, and then he would pick me up once more and I would get his number. The next thing I knew, I was situated in my seat on the bus and we were pulling out of camp. For 21 hours I had to hold all my tears in and promise myself that the feeling in my heart wasn't real.

Once at home, I ran to my room, breaking down immediately upon my door's closure. I couldn't stop crying for three hours, my heart had broken. I hadn't realized that he filled all the holes in my heart, only to have them emptied when we parted. I cried because I loved him. I still cry because I love him. Every night for two weeks, I cried myself to sleep and prayed I would meet him again. But deep down I knew I was never going to find anyone like him again. Grant completed me, and I was too blind to see that... I searched for him everywhere I could think of, but since we live in different states, I had no idea where to start. I never saw him again... and many nights I wonder if I was just dreaming... I miss you Grant... I wish you knew I loved you as much as you loved me... <3
Thank you for reading, it means a lot :)