perfect symmetry | zach louis

six.

we slowly wandered out into the parking lot. we'd been chatting in the starbucks for a few hours., but once the employees looked like they were trying to clean up around us, we decided to get up.

he led us out to his rental car, a silver sedan with florida license plates. he leaned up against it.

"what now, bachelorette? do you need to go back to the homeland?" he patted the roof of the car. he was a total dweeb under the rockstar image, but it was cute.

"I don't have to be anywhere if you don't," I leaned up on the car, our shoulders touching. I looked up at him, as he towered over me, despite being 5'9". "you sure you don't need to get this car back to your family?"

"nah, they're fine. they've been walking everywhere the whole trip so far anyway. or occasionally bird scooter-ing, and I am not the best at those."

"want to take a walk? surely there's a park around here somewhere," I pulled out my phone to look at a map to find one. "how about here?"

he nodded, and went to grab the door handle. "you cool with just driving together?"

"promise not to kill me?"

"I swear I won't." he chuckled as he opened the passenger door for me. I slid into the seat. he walked around to the drivers' side, and put the park into his phone for directions.

we arrived there shortly after, and began our walk on a paved trail. it was relatively quiet, aside from a few joggers and dog walkers. the conversation lulled a bit, as it had been going for close to three hours or so now, but it didn't feel uncomfortable. we both listened to a creek nearby, and strolled along, watching out for joggers headed towards us.

one jogger with a doublewide stroller headed for us at record speed, prompting me to step quickly and awkwardly to the side, right into zach. our hands met briefly, and my breath stopped. I hoped he hadn't noticed, but without missing a beat, he linked his pinky to mine before interlocking our hands.

warmth rose within me and my face grew red. I felt so comfortable in that moment, so safe talking to him.

we continued our walk to find a pond at the end of the trail. there were a few benches, but it seemed that the double wide stroller was the last one to leave. we had our first moment truly alone, but I couldn't just leave it be. words just started pouring out of me.

"I hate to ask, but like, what's going to happen here?" he turned to me, puzzled. "like, obviously we don't live anywhere near each other, and this was just a one-off thing, and- I don't know. I just like you and don't want to get too invested if it won't work, and- ugh." I let go of his hand and nervously fixed my hair.

"I mean, I don't know what this is going to be either. I just knew that if I had the chance to meet you and see what happened, I had to. as you know, i've had eyes on you since I first saw you," I looked down, fighting a smile. "but i'm thrilled to hear you like me back." he nudged me. "let's just enjoy the moment while we're in it, huh?"

I sighed and nodded.

"yeah, I agree. this is just kind of a weird way to meet someone."

he grabbed my hand again, his black nail polish contrasting my own plain nails. I glanced over at him to see him watching me, intently. he didn't stray from eye contact, unlike me.

"maybe it's like this for a reason, bachelorette."

"you may have to stop calling me that if we keep going where we're going." I whispered, leaning in closer to him.

shortly after, he let go of my hand to sneak one arm around my shoulder. my whole body leaned closer to his, and his right hand immediately reached up to graze my chin.

I turned to my head back to him, our noses nearly touching. we both paused, and I caught his glance move from my eyes to my lips before leaning in.

our lips slowly collided, with his right hand holding my face softly. he was warm and soft against my cold cheeks, and smelt faintly of iced coffee. I was melting into a puddle, and quickly.

we slowly split apart, but within a second, he pulled me back for another. as we split, our eyes opened in unison and I looked sheepishly into his.

thank god marcus didn't like brunettes.