I peeked through the holes of the wood fence, my eyes watching intently as my new neighbours walked around their new backyard. Lying next to me on the grass my friend Emma sighed. She rolled onto her back and put her hands behind her head. I glanced over at my fellow nine year old.
    “This is boring Delilah! Why are we doing this anyway?” Emma grumbled, turning her head to look at me.
    “Because,” I murmured, trying to get a better look at the family walking around the yard. “There might be a kid our age.”
    “Yeah, but there might not be.” Emma retaliated, rolling back onto her stomach and staring through one of the holes.
    I gasped as a figure a little smaller than the adults joined the group of people. I poked Emma’s shoulder and pointed the best I could at the smaller person that had appeared in the yard. She gasped with excitement and we both watched, waiting for them to come into clearer sight. I groaned as I got a good look at the figure.
    “Ew. A boy.” Emma made a disgusted noise in agreement. “And he definitely doesn’t look nine.” I removed my eyes from the peep hole and pursed my lips as Emma made a whining sound.
    “Why couldn’t it be a girl?” Emma complained. I nodded in complete agreement. Why couldn’t it be a girl? One that we could play with? One that could steal my mom’s lipstick with us and rub it all over our lips? I looked through the hole again and was immediately met with a grey-brown eye and a thick, dark eyebrow. I squealed and tumbled backwards, Emma crawling backwards along with me. Odd scratchy sounds could be heard from the other side of the fence and the wood started to shake in a weird way. Emma and I both watched wearily as a head popped over the top of the fence. It was the boy with the thick eyebrows. He had messy brown hair and a dorky smile that made his eyes crinkle a little at the edges. He grinned at Emma and me.
    “Hi!” He exclaimed, his voice sort of deep and happy. He folded his arms over the top of the fence and rested his chin on them.
    Emma and I stared at him, neither of us sure what to say.
    “Are you a prince?” I finally blurted. My face flushed as the boy laughed, his voice resonating through the air.
    “No. I’m not a prince. Although that would be pretty cool. I’m Lee Pace.”
    I glanced at Emma and back at Lee. “I’m Delilah. And this is Emma.”
    Emma gave a small, shy wave and muttered “Hi.” Lee waved back, the goofy, lopsided grin remaining on his face the whole time. He quickly looked behind his shoulder, and with one quick heave pushed himself over the fence and climbed down our side. He walked over and sat down in front of us.
    “Do you two live here?” He asked, crossing his legs and cupping his head in his hands.
    I shook my head. “No. I do, but Emma doesn’t. She lives down the road though.”
    “I live over there.” Lee said, motioning to the house next door, stating the obvious.
    “We know.” Emma finally said, a giggle escaping her lips. Within seconds we were all laughing for no apparent reason. After the laughter died down I nudged Emma’s arm and motioned towards the forest behind my house. Emma’s eyes lit up and she nodded quickly, her lips quivering into a smile.
    “Can we show you something?” We asked Lee in unison, jumping excitedly to our feet.
    “Okay!” Lee untwisted his crossed legs and stood up, his lanky figure towering quite a bit over our small nine year old bodies.
    I smiled and wrapped my small hand around Lee’s wrist, dragging him towards the dense forest. Emma and I weaved through the trees, Lee following awkwardly behind. I kept my grip tight on his arm, his bare skin warm on my cold hands. Stopping, Emma and I looked up, our eyes landing on a small tree house. A small ladder led up to the small entrance. The walls had been painted a vibrant pink with Emma’s and my name scrawled messily in purple marker across the front. Behind me I heard Lee draw in a breath.
    “Cool!” He exclaimed. “Is it yours?” I nodded, smiling. I pulled Lee towards the ladder and started to climb up. Once inside the small house I scooted to the very back, making room for Lee, who entered just a few seconds later. He crawled inside, his tall figure looking awkwardly big in the small tree house. He sat down next to me and pulled Emma inside. He glanced around, staring out the window in the front, and then his eyes slowly landing on a tiny, red ukulele. He picked it up and strummed randomly. Before he could set it back down I snatched it from his hands and rested it in my lap. Placing my fingers I played a C chord, A chord, F chord. “Do you play?” Lee asked, watching as my fingers strummed up and down the plastic strings. I nodded.
    “Play Somewhere Over the Rainbow!” Emma insisted, her hands waving excitedly in the air.
    I grinned and started strumming. “Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high.” I sang softly, feeling slightly embarrassed. I could feel Lee’s eyes watching me, his lips forming a smile. Quietly he hummed along, his head swaying from side to side. “There’s a land that I heard of, once in a lullaby.”
                                                                    ***
    Six years later…
   
    I stared at my feet, the swing I was occupying rocking back and forth lightly. I had to tell him. I had to. If I didn’t tell him, it would be years before I’d be able to. I glanced nervously at Lee through my long, curly blonde hair. He was sitting on the swing next to me, staring of to the side, his dark hair as messy as ever. He turned to look at me and smiled. My face flushed and I went back to staring at me feet.
    “Um… Lee… can I talk to you?” I asked, my arms trembling. I clutched the metal chain attached to the swing, my knuckles turning white.
    “Yeah! You don’t have to ask that! So what did you want to talk about?”
    I hid my face behind my hair, my cheeks on fire. My stomach twisted into a knot as I opened my mouth to speak. “Lee… I like you.” I felt my grip on the chain tighten as I waited for his response.
    “I like you too Delilah!” He said happily, completely oblivious to what kind of ‘like’ I meant. At him
    I shook my head, my hair swinging around my face. “That’s n-not what I mean Lee. I mean ‘like’ as in ‘like-like’ you.” He was silent, the wind whistling unnaturally loud around us. I heard his feet shift noisily against the rocks under the swings. “I understand if you don’t like me like that. I am only fifteen and you’re eighteen and going to college today and it would probably never work and-" Lee reached over and squished my lips together with his thumb and forefinger. With his other hand he brushed my hair out of my face and smiled.
    His cheeks turned an adorable shade of pink and he let go of my lips. “I think I might like you in that way too. And we’ll find a way for it to work.”
    I stared wide eye at him, not entirely believing what I was hearing. “B-but isn’t it illegal?”
    Lee’s furry eyebrows furrowed and his lips became a hard line. “I guess you’re right… How about this! We won’t see each other until I’m out of college!”
    This time it was my turn to furrow my eyebrows. “Why?”
    “Because by the time I’m out of college, you would be old enough, and we wouldn’t have to worry about doing anything illegal!”
     “So… I wouldn’t be able to see you for, like, five years?” He nodded, his original smile fading from his face. “That seems like a long wait.”
    “It’ll be worth it.”
    “Does that mean that when you’re a famous actor I won’t be able to watch any of the movies you’re in? Or google pictures of you?”
    “I doubt that I’ll be in any movies, but yeah. I guess. Even if I do end becoming famous, I’ll still wait.”
    I sighed and stuck out my pinky I used to do when I was a kid. “Promise?”
    Lee wrapped his large pinky around mine. “I promise.”