Percy

Felix

"Can a vow truly be considered binding, if it was made before you realized it could never be kept?" He said, as we both looked up at the same night sky. Funny how something so uniform- so universally unchanged- could look so completely different in someone else's eyes.

"Well, I don't know, do I? I can't tell the future. For all I know, I've made many vows like that. In which case, since we've both not lived a full life and aquainted ourselves with the experiences of one, is it possible to ever make a vow? When you're older and smarter and you look back and see that you made a promise you couldn't keep, and you keep doing it until the day you die, do the promises ever count? What is a promise, anyway?" I replied, thinking about my response. 

"I think a promise is something you have an intention of doing. Whether or not you actually do it... that's a different story. The most important thing is that you did, in fact, mean to do it. And the thing is, maybe one day you will do it. I don't believe in broken promises. I believe in the feeling you get when you finally want to do something." 

"So you believe in beginnings, then?"

"Not exactly. I see it like... Nothing is forever. Everything is like a stick, see," He picked one up off the ground, and held it up so we could see it as we lay on the grass. "You have the start... and the end. Happens with everything. And sadly, as much as I love a good beginning, they always have an ending...

"All I'm saying is that we should be happy we ever get beginnings, because if there wasn't one... This stick would carry on and on until there was no room left for anything else. Out with the old. In with the new." He finished. He broke the stick in half, a sharp noise against the silent sky, and then threw the pieces. 

Neither of us bothered to go looking for them. 

"So what was your point in this, originally? Why ask me about vows, and promises, and beginnings?" I spoke quietly. He drew a long breath.

"Well, I guess I meant to say... I wanna marry you. Am I a fool?" He said, slowly. My cheeks turned bright red. 

"I daresay you are." Though as serious as I meant to sound I couldn't help a small laugh that came, ghost-like, through my lips. 

"I asked because I was afraid I'd love you and then I'd leave you. Everything's a stick. Who's to say I can't keep a promise to you?" He said.

"Here's a thing..." I returned, taking my sweet time.

"Let's forget sticks, and promises, and all that nonsense. Let's celebrate beginnings. Like you said."

And I leaned over- and I kissed him, just like that.

***