Love Finds Itself

Chapter 3

The next day I woke up with a weird feeling. It was a mix of anxious, nervous, excited, and completely petrified. The idea of getting to know someone, their habits, hobbies, and passions scared me. I've never been the type to open up to people freely. Only few people know my true self, my mother, my father, my brother, and Lauren. All my life, when i met new people, I showed them only parts of me. Little basic details that would bring no harm if they betrayed me. I don't have many friends. I have acquaintances. People I talk to every so often. I always have this invisible shield that you have to penetrate in order to get to know me. The real me. Lauren says I'm scared of rejection, of not fitting in, but I don't care about fitting in. I just wanna be surrounded by people who actually care about me, and this new guy, well I don't know what to think of him. With these thoughts running through my head, I made my way to the living room were I ran into my mom. "Hi Sophie baby" 'Hi mom" "Are you going somewhere?" "Yea I'm going to hang out with Lauren, is that okay" "Yea just be careful honey, tell Lauren I said hi" "Will do mom" I said as I made my way out the door.

It was a short walk to Freddy's. Ever since the "National Health Organization Of The People Of America" said that many health issues , like some sorts of cancer, arthritis, and other issues, could be avoided by walking, people walk to a lot of places, especially if its close. My nerves only got worse as I made my way inside. I spotted the blue eyed boy sitting at a table. I made my way to him when he spotted me, our eyes making contact.

"Hey, so umm are you ready to go?" I asked. "Yea" He said sounding enthusiastic. "Am I allowed to know where we're going?" he asked as we exited the building. "Yea, we're going to the park" "umm the park" he said sounding confused. "Yea the park" I repeated. "oh" he stated "why". "You'll see when we get there" I said.

The rest of the walk was spent in awkward silence. There were a couple glances here and there and I started to question my judgment. When we finally arrived I spotted the ratted, old, beat up park bench and sat, him following my actions. "Ok so we're here, what now, its just a park" he stated sounding not amused. "well its not just a park" I said "its were i come to think or draw or write. This is were I let go. Unleash myself." "Really?" he asked "yup, this very spot on this park bench" "Its really old" he said making a face. " I know, that's what I like about it" "you like old" he said. "No, I like that its unchanged, untouched, preserved. Its reliable. I know its always here and will always look that way" "ok so so far I've gotten that you like old, you don't like change, and you don't know the meaning of the word preserved" he said "oh and lets not forget that your crazy" He said and I rolled my eyes. "I'm joking" he said while shooting me a smirk. "So I looked up what you're supposed to do on dates, since you know, no one goes on them no more" he said matter of factly. "And I found out that people used to bring their dates flowers and chocolate. But since nature is protected by the government, so its illegal to cut flowers, and the cocoa bean was extinct, I could only bring you this artificial chocolate, but it taste like real chocolate, I think, I wouldn't know" he said nervously as he handed me the chocolate. "thanks" I said. "that's actually really sweet" "Do I get to know your name now?" he asked. "Oh right sorry, my name is Sophie" I said smiling. "Sophie" he said. "So-Phie' he stretched out my name. 'Pretty" he said "really pretty name" "thank you, so whats your name?" "well I don't know, you made me work for your name" "true" I said "but you're nicer than me". "true" he said with a smile "my name is Alex". "Alex" I said "aaa-llleeexxx" I held out his name in exaggeration."Funny, very funny" he said sarcastically. I laughed and he smiled at me again."so" he stated "Tell me about your family" "well, my parents are kinda weird. I have a brother named Noah" I said. "Are you guys close?" he asked. "yea. He is like my best friend, except he is family and Lauren's my best friend." "Lauren?" "yea shes the girl that was with me at Freddy's when we met, I don't think you saw her." "yea I did, I remember you dragging her out of there" "yea, sorry, it was just a lot to take in" I responded. "Can I ask you a question?" he asked. "yes" "why don't you believe in the bracelets?". "its not that I don't believe in the bracelets. its more like I don't want the love the bracelets provide". "why not, Its easy" "Exactly, Love isn't supposed to be easy. Its supposed to be mind blowing, complicated, make you question your own existence, and drive you crazy" I answered. "I get that, Kinda" he said "but the bracelets have put a stop to divorce, heartbreak, misery. We are lucky that we found true love this early. he said calmly. "some people grow old, die, without ever finding their true love. Then everyone looks at them weird. Once you reach a certain age, if you haven't found your true love, people treat you like your wounded, hurt. that's what happened to my uncle. That's how everyone treats him. Even his own family. And when i was little and saw that, I decided I wasn't gonna be like that. The day I got the bracelet was the happiest day of my life. Everyday, I wished to find my true love and not end up like my uncle" I listened silently, unsure how to respond to that. "I see how people treat him. Every time we have a family gathering, they stray away from certain topics. All they talk about with him is things like hows the weather, sometimes, they don't even invite him to the gatherings. Its really sad." He said sounding as if he was about to cry. "were lucky, do you realize that, were lucky" He said now looking at me. "I know we are" I said unsure how to phrase my next words. "But I'm not saying the bracelets don't work, or that your not my true love, all I'm saying is lets take it slow. Forget about the bracelets, forget about marriage, just think about getting to know each other. OK?" "ok" he responded.

We sat in silence for a long time, but not that awkward silence like before. It was a comfortable silence. The kind of silence I would only have with my brother or Lauren. It was nice. We watched as the old couples sat on the different benches. We saw the birds flying. We saw the flowers. As I sat there, admiring nature, I wondered what the future had in store for us. I wondered this until a voice interrupted my thoughts. "Can I ask you something?" " yes. Stop asking if you can, just ask." "ok, Why this park?" "I'm sorry, I don't understand". "I mean, why did you wanna come to this old ,beat up park, when we can go to one of the new ones with the clear roofs that protect against sunlight, and have the new electric swings that push themselves." He asked. "because" I said "look around". "look at the birds flying. Look at the old couples. Look at everything. Its like a little piece of the past. its beautiful. In the new parks, the birds can't fly freely. The other parks have been messed with. This one is the only one that's untouched. that's why I love it." I responded.

We sat in more comfortable silence. We both just admired the view. I took this time to really look at him. His eyes are blue. His hair is a dark brown. He had this side smile/smirk on his face. His hair wasn't long, but it wasn't short. "You're starring at me" he stated. "no i wasn't". "I need to look up more information on this whole dating thing".