Lost

11

Tobias Eaton, July 13th; 2005
It's almost two in the afternoon when we reach the end of the maze. The crops were amazingly grown, but the best part of the maze was Tris held my hand until the end.
So here we are, each of us are getting a free smoothie coupon, heading over to a shack.
And all through it, we're still holding hands.
"What flavor to you want?" The lady asks, very enthusiastic about her job. I glance at her name tag: Cheryl
"Hmmm.." Tris ponders, "Mango Delight"
Cheryl smiles at her, and Tris hands over her coupon, and then looks expectantly at me, "Can I have Strawberry Burst please?"
She smiles, "What a gentleman, of course you can!"
I hand over my coupon and she gets to work on our smoothies, and we sit at a nearby table with s little umbrella over it.
The day isn't hot, but it isn't freezing cold. It's warm.With a small breeze.
The perfect temperature.
There's another family here, but besides that, there's not much else.
There's a little train that you have to pay for, where kids go round and round in (one kid from the family rides that) and then a hot dog shack.
"This was so much fun" she declares.
"Yeah" I say, agreeing, "The maze was really big. How are we supposed to get back?"
She shifts in her seat, and points.
"See the big obvious sign that says 'EXIT' in all caps?"
I follow her finger and I can't even believe I missed it. It's big, colorful, and eye-catching.
There's a little arrow underneath the text pointing to a pathway.
"Oh. Whoops" I say. Then pause, "Does it rain a lot?"
"Hmm?"
"In California?"
"It's normal rain amount" she says, "We're mostly sun in California"
"Ah I see" I say, "What's you're favorite theme park?"
"That's a tough one. I was going to say Six Flags, but now I think I like universal studios best"
"Why?" I ask her.
She shrugs, "I like seeing stuff related to movies"
"You're a movie person?"
"Sorta" I say, "I like Jurassic Park, and they have a whole section there. I heard it's even bigger in Florida and they have the information center at the beginning"
"Yeah, Jurassic Park's a good one" I say, "I only saw it once. Life changing movie"
"Movies and shows like Jurassic Park and the Simpsons are really big there. The second and third movie were terrible though"
"I didn't see the third movie. I saw the ending of the second movie. It wasn't that bad"
"What part did you see?"
"When the t-Rex was attacking San Diego"
"That's the only good part" she says. Then Cheryl, the enthusiastic smoothie lady, motions at us, "You're smoothies are ready!" She says.
I tell Tris to wait, "I'll get them for you"
She looks up at me like I'm a hero that just came to save the day. Her bright smile and her rosy are just so perfect I could grab them and pull our mouths together-
No. No. Stop thinking about that. You've only known each other for five days and you're only going to be stuck together for four or five more.
I take the smoothies and march over to her, placing her smoothie in front of her.
"Thank you very much Tobias"
The way she says my name....
"What?" She asks, using her straw to stir her smoothie.
"Hmm?"
"Why are you staring at me?"
I shrug, "There's a leaf in your hair"
She reaches for the top of her head and feels around.
"Tobias you trickster, there's no leaf"
I shrug.
You're just so pretty.
She looks at me like I'm a little kid and I just said the moon was purple.
"Okaaaay" she drags on.
Did I say that out loud?
Oh God.
She places her lips on the straw, and cringes, "It's a bit citrus-y don't you think?"
I take a sip, "Yeah. May be they use, real fruit and add oranges or something"
She sips again, "We'll find out one day"
I can't turn my eyes away from her.
What attracts me to her?!
By the time we finish our smoothies, the sun begins to fall down, hiding behind the hills, peeking up. We walk back- no, not through the maze. They have a simple pathway which you can go through, and see some flowers, but it's a straight path to the beginning.
"Tobias, I'm thirsty" she says, when we're on the road.
I reach back, and pull a water bottle out, and hand it to her.
She sips it, as we walk past the parking lot.
It's almost sunset when we begin to set up camp.
"Camp" is basically blankets.
We set up our camp on the grass in a public park.
It's nightfall when we munch on apples and pineapples.
But wait.
"Where did we get all this fruit?"
She freezes in the dark.
"I-I don't know"
She's stuttering.
"Yes you do" I say.
"May be I got it from the maze...." She drags on.
"You can't do that" I say, "It's stealing!"
"Isn't that what we've been doing?"
"I don't promote stealing. We need it to survive"
"I was craving something healthy, okay?"
"First time I heard that one" I mumble.
"Excuse me!" She says, "We are surviving here. We're hungry teens!"
"You know what, it's fine. But I wouldn't steal for pleasure. I steal for survival"
"It's fine" she says, and gets into the blanket.
I tighten the jacket.
The jacket she gave me.
I bite my lip.
May be I should give it back.
May be not.
"I'm sorry Tris" I say aloud, "I just want everyone to be happy"
I slide under the covers to face her back.
"You can't make everyone happy" she says.
"I know that" I say.
She turns to me, "Will you ever forget me?"
"Tris" I say, shaking my head, "I will never forget you"
My hand finds hers under the covers.
"This is unforgettable" I say.
And so are you.

But I keep that part to myself.