The Distance Between Us

A Simple Question

  After the walk we sat on this somewhat secluded stretch of beach and talked. We learned we had quite a few things in common.

  His name was Derek Collins, his favorite color was blue, he loved animals as much as I did, he played football at his school, we were both 16, and another important detail...he was from Maine. He lived in Maine and was he here on vacation with his friends and family.

  I knew as soon as he said it that this was probably just a fling, some temporary set of feelings that wouldn't mean anything later but I didn't care. We exchanged numbers as he walked me back to my family's little spot and kissed me on my cheek before making his way back to the hotels.

Two days later...

  We texted eachother all day and all night since that walk, we talked on the phone a few times, things were going good. The bad thing was that he was leaving in three days. Three days...he'd be back on what seems to be like the opposite side of the world.

  Today we were going to hang out at the mall and I was so excited. I wore a cute pink dress and wore little makeup, just to highlight my eyes. He said he'd borrow his Mom's rental car and be here in 20 minutes. It took some convincing for me to get my mom to let me go and here I am. I grab my phone that starts ringing as soon as I pick it up.

"Hello ?"

"Heeey, I'm by your house...I think.." He chuckles and sounds a little nervous which makes me feel way better.

  I say bye to my mom and head outside. I see a red mustang all the way on the other end of my apartment building and rush over. I reach the car and he gets out to open the door.

  The drive is not a short one, it takes about half an hour. "You look really beautiful Ari." He looks over at me for a second then focuses back on the road.

"Thanks, you look fine yourself." I nudge him a little. He offers his hand subtlety and I almost don't catch the gesture, I put my hand in his. We stay like that the rest of the drive, singing along to songs on the radio.

  "Hey Ari ! Let's play this game !" Derek shouts from across the arcade. I walk over and look at Dance Revolution.

"I can't dance..." I fake pout. He ignores my comment and pulls me on the platform.

"I can't either, that's what makes this so much fun." He picks a random song in a different language and we both try to follow the steps on the screen. We're constantly tripping and bumping into eachother, by the end of the game we're panting like we just ran a marathon.

We sit on a table outside the arcade and try catch our breath.

"That was fun." I smile to myself. "You kept bumping into me !"

He rolls his eyes and smiles.

"Haha..whatever ! You have two left feet just like I do !"

I shrug and we both laugh harder. After 10 minutes or so he suggests we look through the stores and we both end up in Hot Topic. I'm looking through band T-shirts and he's looking through beanies. He puts a purple beanie on me, while already sporting a blue one.

"You look so cute." He pinches my cheeks lightly causing me to blush like crazy. We end up buying them, he gives me the blue one and I look at him confused.

"I'll keep this purple one to remind me of you and you keep that blue one to remember me."

Damn. He's so adorable. We leave the store and walk around again. I put the blue beanie on him. "At least wear it for now." He fixes it and takes my hand as we continue walking.

Since he doesn't know his way around like I do, I end up driving us to our next destination. I pull up to a park (its called Rice Park, up toward the country part of the island) and we sit on a table, its pretty cold being we're up in the mountains so we sit close. We look down at the view of the lower city lights, admiring its beauty.

"Why'd you take us here ?" He looks over at me, confused yet content at the same time.

"When I used to live on this side of sweet ol' Maui, my parents used to bring me up here, and I always thought it was refreshing and peaceful...its one of my favorite places in the world." I keep my eyes on the view then turn to look at him, and when I do my breath catches in my chest. I've never seen do much tenderness and...love ? I can't take my eyes away.

"Ari I gotta ask you something..." He doesn't break eye contact and I feel the heat rising to my cheeks.

"Yes ?" My voice barely audible, I'm amazed he even heard it.

He sits us so we're completely facing eachother.

"Ariella Rose, will you be my girlfriend ?" Before I can answer our lips clash and I feel utterly astonished by the way one simple question made me so incredibly happy.