Steamymessages05

 There’s something impossibly tender about growing up alongside someone. You don’t realize it at first — that the boy who shared his fruit snacks with you in kindergarten, or the girl who let you copy her math homework in fifth grade, might one day become the person you wake up smiling next to. For us, it started with scraped knees and backyard adventures. We were neighbors — the kind where your mom sends you over with a plate of cookies, and you end up staying for dinner. We played tag until the streetlights came on, made blanket forts that stayed up for weeks, and had arguments over whose turn it was on the trampoline. He was my partner-in-crime for every made-up game and every silly secret. Somewhere in between losing baby teeth and growing taller, he became my person. Of course, we didn’t know it was love back then. It was just easy. Natural. Like breathing. High school brought changes — new friends, different interests, crushes that came and went. But somehow, we n...