He gulped in another breath nervously. His mind was racing with images that appeared in the form of single frames. And he played them back in his head. He watched her eyes well up. Watched her blink. Watched the tear that fell. A hundred still frames whipping through his head so fluently that they looked like a single scene from a movie, the oh-so-typical one where the guy breaks her heart, and he was the star.

He walked out the back door and sat on the dock that lingered over the lake. They’d spent long summer nights swimming here. But it wasn’t summer anymore, not in his heart. And his love for her faded into winter.

As he began to doze off to the lull of memories, his brain snapped to one more.

Her eyes were a brilliant green and her body language screamed vulnerability. She leaned against him, her feet splashing in the water below the dock. He couldn’t believe the words that left his lips when he looked down at her face. And he swore he’d never seen something more beautiful than her when she finally mustered the courage to say she loved him too. And he longed for that day to come back.

But it wasn’t summer anymore.