My Escape.

                I hopped in the car, tossing my bag in the backseat as I looked to the driver with a huge, bright, genuine smile plastered onto my young, pale face. My eyes traced the contours of his jaw, his lips, his nose, his eyes, and I just breathed it all in, smiling; happy. I pulled the car door shut and took a deep breath, still smiling. "Where are we going," I asked him, excited. He smiled, shrugged, looked at me, and then leaned in to kiss me.

                If you were to ask me a year ago if I would have ever expected to be where I am now, I would laugh in your face and tell you that that would be impossible. But here I am, sitting in the car with the love of my life, getting ready to leave this shit town. And go where? That's the best part. Who knows? My smile widened.

                "Road trip," he grinned sheepishly. He put the car in gear and backed up, as I rolled down the window and watched my house slowly fade away, feeling the warm summer breeze on my face and in my hair.

                Again, he looked at me with a smile on his face. I looked back at him and laughed. "What?" His smile remained. "Nothing, now where are we going?" I looked back to my house, and my smile faded. "I don't care. Just get me out of this fucking town."

                He chuckled. "Alright, darling," and reached over to hold my hand as we drove away from my own personal Hell. My face was starting to hurt from all the smiling, but if you want me to be honest, I've never been happier.

                He had always been my escape, there's no doubt about that. But until now, it had always been emotionally. If I was having a bad day, he would comfort me and make everything right in the world. If someone was making me feel like shit, he'd bathe me in compliments until I couldn't help but love myself almost as much as he loved me. It had always been him that would get me away from my thoughts and reality, but never once had he been able to physically get me away from my problems.

                "Music," I asked, looking at him hopefully. He smiled and lifted his hand to connect his phone to the car and put the music on shuffle. The first to play was our song, and I couldn't help but sing along. Crazy to think that only a year ago I thought perfection and happiness were merely vague concepts and palpable cravings.

                When the song was over, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and looked at me. "Do you mind, love?" I stared at him for a moment, then shrugged. "Sure, go for it." He hesitated, but grabbed the lighter in the cup-holder nonetheless and lit it. I couldn't help but let a tiny smile form on my lips as I saw him pull the cigarette from his lips and let the smoke escape his mouth. I leaned over and kissed him gently, the faint taste of smoke lingering on his lips. I inhaled deeply, taking in that all-too-comforting smell that brought about a deep nostalgia.