"See ya..."
The hug broke and she walked away, almost as if she was walking out of his life forever. At least that's what it felt like.

For the longest time, Melissa had been falling in live with Jake. They met about a year ago, in a sense, by accident. It wasn't expected nor planned, but it sparked a friendship that grew with every encounter.
Jake was in a band called Down on Sunday with a few of his friends, John, Ryan and Ted, and for the last four years, Melissa had been a very supportive fan. That's how they met; at one of his concerts.
It was in July of last year sometime. Melissa had gone to a concert with a few of her friends, but at some point during the night, they all left the room of the local Teen Center, and Melissa found herself all alone, not knowing where anyone was. A bit frustrated, she went outside looking for one of her friends. She made her way around to the other side of the Teen Center but to no avail. On her way back, her life changed forever.
As she was making her way to the front of the building, Jake and John were walking in the opposite direction. Melissa was wearing a Down on Sunday shirt and when Jake saw it, he was not only happy, but very surprised.
"Down on Sunday!" he exclaimed excitedly, as he reached out his arms to hug the stranger.
"Of course; you guys are amazing!" Melissa was very flattered, but also a little bit nervous. This was all so unexpected. After all, she was just looking for her friend.
After a few minutes of talking, they parted ways only to meet up later on that night. During the DoS (Down on Sunday) show, Melissa had stood in front of Jake, where she had always stood, simple and meaningless. Or was it?
It was, at one point, but about an hour before, things had changed. Now he knew who she was, and they had talked to each other. They weren't strangers.
The band was loud, but melodic; abrasive, but meaningful. They were better than most professional bands. Melissa couldn't get enough of them. Their drummer was amazing, too. For the last few months, Melissa had been falling for Ryan without any hope. Unaware of his actions, he had captured her heart and she couldn't do anything about it. It would take something extremely powerful to get her over this one, and she just couldn't see it happening.
In the middle of one of their songs, Jake started talking to Melissa, and suddenly, he was trying to get her to go up and dance! They barely knew each other but everything had changed. He was acknowledging her, and treating her like they'd known each other for years. He didn't even know her name. Yet, he knew more about her than Ryan ever did, and she'd known him for much longer.
Everything had changed. Only, Melissa wouldn't find out until many months later. Jake was just a guy in a band that she talked to at concerts; that was their relationship for the first few months they'd known each other. But somewhere down the line, after failures and heart breaks, Melissa gave in to her silent screams and accepted that everything had changed. But changed for whom? Melissa, yes; but Jake needed to feel the same way before anything really mattered. Everything had indeed changed, but everything isn't always enough, as she would soon find out.

Alone in her room, Melissa sat wondering. She had been thinking about her life a lot, and loneliness and fear always seemed to be prominent in her mind. She was lonely, and even miserable. She felt like she was losing all her friends and every guy she fell for seemed to be a dead end. She feared her future, and what was in store for her. She feared that nothing was in store for her, and that her life was meaningless and destined for nowhere. Inside, she was falling apart and losing hope in whatever meaning her life was supposed to have. She was in dire need of positive in her life; something to look forward to, to count on, to be there; something permanent, but something good.
So she sat in her room, all by herself as she did every night, thinking of what her life was made of.
Friends? - Can't really count on them.
Family? - Doesn't really exist in her life.
Hope? - Gave up on that a long time ago.
Wishing? - Unfortunately, this one seemed to be the winner.

Melissa had all but wished her life away for the last 18 years. Everything she wanted in life, and a lot of what she needed, were all just hopeful, or maybe even hopeless, wishes.
She went to bed crying that night, but amongst the tears, there was a slight smile on her face because she had one thing good to look forward to. Down on Sunday had a show the following night. The thought of Jake's face in her mind made the pain in her heart slowly disappear, and with ease, she fell asleep.