He was silent and when he smiled, his little ears that stuck out from the sides of his head stood up. I started talking to him and telling him my life story. When I spoke he listened and smiled, he seemed so interested in everything that came out of my mouth. I'll never forget making a drunken comment about how cute I thought his ears were. It's usually comments like this when people tend to assume I'm a weirdo and walk away, but not Darian. He started to laugh but it was like he was trying to laugh with his mouth closed. I was drawn to him like a bug to a zapper and he thought I was funny. We were together every day from that night on. We would go on long car rides, I would talk and he would listen. We knew everything there was to know about each other, from our favorite color to the most traumatic experience we'd ever had. I was the happiest I had ever been, I felt like I had met my person… my best friend. Although I was happy, my family was anything but happy. Growing up, interracial dating was a big no no. My father, an old-fashioned Southern man, not only hated the idea, he seemed to hate me..