Swan 2

4. Potential

4. Potential

Disney World was always a drag. When you lived about a 4 hour drive away from Disney World, it usually became an annual thing to take a trip there. The kids in my Floridian town had been there at least a thousand times considering their parents were rich and didn't mind taking a road trip for 4 hours. To be honest, the road trip there had become my favorite part. I liked to sit in the passenger seat and kick my feet up on the dashboard of the car, gazing lovingly at the seemingly endless road in front of me. I liked to blast classic rock and roll down the windows and just feel like the world was mine to travel, to explore. I'd inhale the citrus air from the trees that grew oranges along the highway and stare off into the distance at the vast land that sometimes held cows and horses. I was more of a city girl than a country girl, but the country gave you a sense of freedom and kept you in touch with reality. The city was anything but reality.

Disney World became sort of a hell for me. Over time I realized Disney had just become a desperate attempt for my family to "connect". Although we had never been connected. My father had never been home when I'd been a kid and even now he was quite distant. He was constantly traveling to his home country, El Salvador, for months at a time to bring home money to his family. While my mother had been attached to my little sister and I until I had turned about 8 and she decided to start working. And my sister, Annie, seemed to have begun to grow this hostility toward me since she sensed I was different from her. Annie was about 5 years younger than I and she liked to believe she was intellectually above me. She's latched herself to the idea of popularity and her middle school life seemed to be about making as many friends as possible, fake or not. Not that it was my business. I didn't have much of an opinion on her lifestyle, I had my own, bigger, problems to worry about.

To lessen the burden of being forced to socialize with people I couldn't connect to, I'd invited Kate to come along. And so she did, and my father decided to stay behind.

The day before we had left for the 3 day trip, I had been texting Zane. It turned out he and his family were also going to Disney World for the long weekend. And to my surprise, he was begging to see me. Although, I may have matured a great deal in the last 2 and a half years I've had feelings for this guy, I had yet to learn how to turn down his pleads. Especially when he actually wanted to see ME out of all people. I'd become immune to his mixed signals and it'd gotten to the point that no matter how he spoke to me or what he did, I would never believe or even suspect that he had feelings for me. He was just a dude who wished to see his little fangirl to boost his ego. I knew that.

And so, a 4 hour road trip and a much too long boat ride to the little island in Disney, we were there, in the not so magical Magic Kingdom. By this age, I knew Magic Kingdom's map by heart. So in my head it hadn't seemed so big. But it'd become physically impossible to find Zane in this bratty child invested, sweltering hell. And it came to a point, after 4 hours of not coming in contact with him, I'd given up on finding the fucker. But man, was this dude persistent. He texted me every couple of minutes trying to pinpoint my location.

After another hour or so of unsuccessful attempts for Zane and I to find each other, Kate and I decided to separate from my mom and Annie. We found ourselves venturing into Tom Sawyer Island. It was an island within the Magic Kingdom island of Disney World. Zane and I planned to meet there. So Kate and I waited patiently on the island...for about an hour or so. After awhile, Kate became antsy and pointed out that the island was infested with spiders. I pointed out that the world was infested with spiders.

To occupy ourselves we wandered around the maze-like island until we came up with an idea. On the island were two caves. Both were so incredibly dark that you had to feel your way to navigate through. I thought it'd be a good idea to hide in a cave, wait for Zane to venture through, then jump out and grab him. He claimed never to be afraid of anything and how hilarious would it be to see him jump and maybe yelp a little?

After about another hour and a half (making that 3 hours waiting for Zane in total) the moment of truth came. Across the lake that separated Tom Sawyer Island from the rest of Magic Kingdom, Kate and I could see Zane and his family boarding onto the little boat to enter. So Kate and I ran into the cave to go through with the plan I'd devised. And again, we were waiting, until finally, I saw him from my perfect hiding spot in the shadows.

I'd forgotten I hadn't seen him in about a month and I didn't think seeing him now would effect me so badly. I stood frozen as I admired his silhouette. I'd nearly forgotten his muscular body type, his strong arms and his firm posture. Suddenly a wave of all my emotions hit me once more, I remembered how badly I wanted him. It almost felt like his radiance had slapped me in the face and protected him. Even in the dark his aura was so strong.

He stood turned away from me and had yet to see me. After a couple of seconds, standing awe struck in his presence, Kate angrily whispered: "what are you doing?! Go!" and pushed me forward. I jumped on him, wrapping my arms around his broad shoulders and absorbing his golden warmth. He didn't jump. Didn't even flinch. Instead he just laughed, turned around and hugged me. I hugged him back, my body begging for his oh-so innocent touch.

"I told you nothing scares me." He shook his head.

"I could scare you!" I challenged. "I just had bad timing!"

"Sure." He laughed.

As we exited the cave, I greeted his family. His separated mother and father and his disabled little brother whom he loved with all his heart. I was sweet and kind, as I always was with parents. Especially Zane's.

Zane, Kate, and I roamed the island for a good 30 minutes. I couldn't really remember what Zane was talking about during that time. All I could remember was that he'd been speaking with so much passion and excitement that everyone noticed. I looked at the strangers that coincidently surrounded us and how they seemed fixated on him.

Although they were not physically gravitating toward him, I could see it in their eyes. Did they feel what I felt? Could they feel this strong aura captivating them the way it had trapped me and caused me to fall in love with him?

And was it so strange I felt like this man could change the world with his aura? I'd been told so many times in my life that I'd inspired so many and had so much to give to the world, when really I was nothing compared to Zane's potential.