Charms for life

Chapter 2: Charmer

"Tanner."

"Huh?"

"My name's Tanner. What's yours?"He said with a smile.

'Man, his smile could blind someone.'

"Misty." I said with a smile, trying to focus on not falling backwards from the thought of talking to the gorgeous boy in front of me.

I looked down and realized he was still holding onto my hand. I blushed and looked away, hoping he would say something to fill the silence.

"Oh! Sorry..." He said as he released his grasp on my hand. He looked up at me and gave me a cute half-smile. I almost passed out just seeing how adorable he was when he did that.

"I'm so sorry about tripping you earlier! I was just sketching something and I didn't realize you were there and I didn't know my legs were out-" I mumbled a pathetic apology.

"Hey, its fine." He said as he put his hand on my shoulder. He smiled again.

I smiled back, if only I had run into him sooner...

He looked at my notebook left on the bench and said, "So are you an artist?"

I looked at my notebook and smiled. I've had the worn out leather wrapped journal since I was 4. My father gave it to me before he died in the huge war. The 'Last War of the Century'. they recruited over 23-thousand men and women. We won but wiht a great win comes great loss... I shook my head a little at the memory.

"No. But I like to sketch. The scenery in this park is my favorite." I said motioning to the park around us. The park was in the very center of town. Filled with lush oak and cherry trees, running children and the occasional woman feeding the birds.

He walked over to the bench where my notebook sat and asked, "May I?"

I just stood there for a moment, looking at him. He was wearing a dark green T-shirt that brought out his olive skin color and made his brown eyes so welcoming. His arms were a little toned and he was skinny. He was wearing dark blue jeans with gray shoes. He seemed pretty laid back. But at that moment the sun was shining just right on him and might I say, he looked amazing....

The sun added a golden glow to his hair and enhanced his features by a million whatever-good-looks-refer-to.

"Oh! Of course!" I said as I finally snapped out of my daze and walked over.

I grabbed my notebook and sat down on the green park bench. I squealed on the inside when he sat down next to me, just a couple inches between his knee and mine. 'Shut up Misty! You. Are. A. Creeper!' I silently scolded myself.

But on the outside I just gave him a little smile, hoping I wasn't scaring him off.

I opened up my notebook and flipped to a sketch I drew last week.

"I went to the harbor last week. I bring my notebook ALMOST wherever I go."

"Wow... that's beautiful...."

I remember drawing the scenery, I sat on the very edge of the pier and there just happened to be a sailboat on the water. The sun was just setting, and it looked perfect, so I opened my notebook and started drawing. By the time I was done I had spent 4 hours just sitting there! Whenever I draw sunsets I always make sure to draw the actual sunset first, that way it doesn't set before I get the chance to draw it.

"Thank you!" I said with a smile. "I tend to get carried away when I find some good scenery..."

"No, its absolutely amazing... I could never draw like that..." Tanner said in awe as he stared at the sketch filled in with the vibrant colors of oil pastels.

"Thank you. That's very kind of you to say." I said as I turned my head to face him and gave him a small smile.

He smiled back at me. Oh, that smile...I would never get tired of that smile. Then his smile slowly faded.

"What?" I asked, worried my smile had scared him, or if there was something stuck between my teeth.

He slowly looked down at my neck.

"What? Do I have something on me?" I asked.

"No... Your charm..."

"My charm?" I gasped and my eyes widened as I tok hold of the situation. "My charm..."

My hands slowly went to my neck and found my charm on my necklace like it always is. My fingers ran across the cold metal locket and brushed over the jewels lining the perimeter, and finally lightly touching the keyhole.

I pulled it up so I could see it, and it...it was glowing... no...not glowing... radiating with light...

I looked up at Tanner and he looked into my eyes. His smile grew wide and then he quickly reached for his pockets.

He pulled out a key.. not just any key... his charm. It was also radiating light!

Wait a minute...

"What if..." Tanner started.

"We're..." I continued.

"Charms!" We both said in unison.