Paradise

Chapter 17 - Graceful

I wish I had taken up ballet as a child. The effortless elegance that ballerinas seem to posses intrigues me to the point that I am completely consumed by their every movement. They capture the audience and it keeps them in a trance as they tell a story with their bodies. It's almost as if watching art come alive right before your eyes.

I enjoyed the entire show but above all, my absolute favorite moment of the night was sitting next to Logan while he held my hand in his. I loved looking out the corner of my eye and catching a gleam in his eye as he too was captivated by the show. His suit hugged him in all the right areas, showing emphasis on chest and arms. Even his dress shoes and black tie looked amazing on him. I wasn't used to seeing him all dressed up but it complimented him very well. He even tried a little extra his hair. Instead of having it the way he always has it-the "I just got out of bed but I still look sexy without even trying" look-he lightly slicked it back which ultimately, was the cherry on top to his gorgeous look of the night.

I decided to keep it formal, also. I put on a slim, black dress that reached just above my knees. It was a tight fitting dress that wrapped around my curves and called attention to my waist. It was a sweetheart neckline and it had straps about two inches long that fell perfectly along my collarbone. Since Logan was a lot taller than me, I decided to go with open toed black heels that weren't too high yet still gave me an extra kick of elegance. I kept my make up to a minimal, focusing on my eyes the most. I drew a thin line of eyeliner on actual eyelid while tight lining my inner lid as well. My eyelashes were long and voluminous while my brows were groomed and neat. I focused on contouring my cheeks and adding a pinkish, red blush on the apples of my cheeks. To finish off my face, I put on my favorite dark red lipstick that made my lips to appear plumper.

When Logan saw me, he didn't know what to say. When he tried to speak, he began to get all tongue tied while his cheeks grew red. All he managed to say was, "You look absolutely stunning."

As soon as the ballet was over, we both stood up and clapped. We exited the theatre and as soon as we stepped outside, a cool, winter breeze stabbed my legs like a million, microscopic knives.

"The car isn't parked too far. Come on, Avery, I think it's this way." Logan said as he rubbed my back trying to keep me warm.

I drifted away from his grasp and walked towards the trees standing outside the theatre. All the way down the sidewalk there were trees decorated with gold Christmas lights. Every restaurant and store had Christmas decorations up. This one antique store had a Christmas tree made out of colorful, sparkly ornaments perched at the store's main window. A restaurant next to it had fake snow painted on its windows and a frosty white snowflakes garland hanging across its brick walls. At each corner of the streets, you would find lit up candy canes leaned against street signs and walkway poles. Seeing all of this made me feel like an eight year old kid again.

"Avery, come on. Where are you going?"

"Can we walk around town, please? It's perfect outside."

Logan's shoulders fell as he let out a sigh. I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his back, I looked up at him and pouted, "Please?"

"I can't say no to those eyes." He said as he softly kissed my forehead.

~

~~

~~~

"No, I'm serious. I want this life for my family," Logan said as his silhouette moved with the night air, "I want them to have everything." He said with his arms opened wide as he overlooked a row of beautiful mansions right along the beach.

"It would be nice, wouldn't it?" I said as a breeze from the ocean swept a strand of my hair from my face.

We had walked around what seemed like Main Street in Santa Barbara until we finally wondered off away from the city life. We found ourselves at a local park that overlooked a body of water that somehow spread out as being the beach. Right across from the park we could see dim lights glowing up enormous, beautiful homes that were fit to be modern day castles. They were lined up in a perfect row that overlooked the ocean; the houses looked so carefully constructed as though every detail about them were taken into consideration. Logan and I just stared at them in awe.

"I don't care what it takes. I'm going to be the best husband to my wife and the best father to my children. I'm going to give them whatever they want and I'm going to be there for them throughout their whole lives. I'll never be missing from the picture. I'll always be at their sports games, I'll always be there to see them get awards at school, I'll always be there for parent teacher conferences, I'll always be there when some jerk hurts my daughter, I'll always be there when my son needs some advice, I'll always be there to pick them up when they're down. I'm going to be the best goddamn father ever." Logan said as he sat back down next to me.

I entangled my arm around his as I kissed the side of his cheek, I could feel him breathing, "You're going to be the best. You're already an amazing person right now as it is, imagine when you're a father."

His jaw clenched and his eyes appeared to soften, "You really think so?"

"Of course, you're one of the greatest people I've ever met. I sometimes think I'm dreaming, actually. Like at any moment I'm going to wake up and realize this is all a dream. I feel like at any moment I'll wake up and realize a person as amazing and perfect as you doesn't exist. Sometimes I even think that you'll finally open your eyes and question what you ever saw in me and then you'll leave because there are thousands of other girls out there that aren't nearly as messed up as I am and they won't drive you crazy as much as I do."

Logan kept his eyes locked on me the entire time I was speaking. He stood up and pulled me up too. By that time of night, I had already taken off my heels so I was back to only reaching his chin. He pressed his hands against my waist and lifted me up so he could spin me around and kiss me. When I could finally touch the ground again, Logan held the back of my head and said, "You're not as smart as you put off to be, Lancaster."

I was offended, "What is that supposed to mean?"

He smiled, "Haven't you got it by now? You're all I could possibly ever want. I mean, yeah, I want to live in one of those huge mansions overlooking the ocean but I'm also perfectly fine with cruising through the United States in your BMW with you for the rest of our lives. I honestly do not give a crap where we are, Avery, as long as I'm with you. You're it for me. I don't want a life without you in it."

I cupped my hands around his face and kissed him, "To tell you the truth, there's no place in the world I'd much rather be than here with you. I'm glad you were outside your house the other night playing basketball."

He let out a breath of laughter, "I'm glad you were leaning against your horn."

~

~~

~~~

I woke up to any empty bed the next morning. I reached for my phone and much to my surprise, everyone back home was still trying to get a hold of me. In the midst of all the missed calls, text messages, and voicemail notifications I managed to read '9:00am' on my phone. I turned over to Logan's side of the bed and found a paper folded in half lying on his pillow. It read:

Avery,

You sad excuse for a girl, I'm here to make up for all those jerks you've dealt with. Just for the record, we're not all jerks. It's merely because we don't know what to do with ourselves around beautiful girls like yourself. Forgive us. This whole trip was a huge, stab in the dark chance, right? So take another chance on me? Follow these directions, but most importantly, follow your heart.

1. The first place will lead you to a place that inhabits girly attire fit for a gorgeous girl like yourself.

Hint: We passed by it our first day here and you were in awe. Give up? It's that dress shop a couple of blocks from the beach, the one with flowers surrounding the door. Go there (please) and ask for Lindsey, she'll hook you up. You're next letter will be there.

-Logan

P.S.I hope this isn't too cheesy for your liking.

I let the letter fall to my chest as I could feel my cheeks growing red. A huge smile took control as I giggled and put my hand over my mouth. After squealing for a little while longer, I quickly jumped out of bed and grabbed some clothes out of my suitcase and ran for the bathroom.

In just under a half an hour I was finally presentable. I grabbed my purse, hotel key, and car keys from the sofa. I took one last look in the mirror to make sure I didn't look like a mess. I tried to hide my excitement but I was failing, a smile kept forming on my face every time I thought about Logan. I walked out of our hotel room as I thought, "I like cheesy."