Dandelion

The Best Day of My Life, So Far.

XX.XX.XXXX

Dear Journal,

I'm sorry I've left you on the shelf for two years. I've been so busy with college and work lately that I've hardly had time for anything else. On the bright side, there hasn't been much to report. Nothing at all, actually. Until, that is, today.

I can't stop smiling, Journal. I think, as cliché as this sounds, that I'm the happiest girl alive right now.

"Hey, Dandelion, how much more homework do you still have to do tonight?"

I paused the gaming video I was watching, leaning over the back of the couch to look up at Alex. "None, now. I finished a while ago. Something you had in mind?"

"Do you want to maybe go to the park?" Alex looked at me, and I could tell he was nervous about something. "We can grab ice cream and watch the sun go down?"

I smiled, letting his nervousness slide, because he clearly didn't want to talk about it. And that was okay, because in the last two years there had been plenty of things that I hadn't wanted to talk about, and Alex didn't press the matter. "That sounds great," I said, sincerely.

He shut his laptop and pushed it away from the edge of the bar top, picking up his keys and spinning the ring around his finger.

"Now?" I asked, pushing my glasses back up my nose. Eowyn rubbed her face against my cheek, bumping her nose into my hand like she was asking me why I'd stopped petting her. Sorry, cat, I've been petting you for the last three hours.

"If you want," he shrugged, catching his keys and stuffing his hands into the front pockets of his jacket.

I lifted Eowyn off my legs and transplanted her to the couch, standing up and going over to Alex. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, nestling my head in the crook of his neck. He reached up to run his fingers through my hair, turning his head to press a kiss to my cheek.

"It'll be sundown in a few hours," I said. "If you want to get ice cream, go for a walk, and see the sunset, we'd better go."

Alex and I went down to the truck, and he moved his guitar from the front seat to the back seat and helped me into the truck. He shut the door and went around the front, patting the hood lovingly as he crossed to the driver's side.

It struck me as we drove down the road how similar to our first trip to the park in the next town over.

I stared out the window, watching the world pass lazily by as Alex drove slowly down our back roads. It amazed me how little the world had changed in all the time we'd been here together, while I was happier than I could remember being in a long time, and Alex was almost a completely different person from the boy I'd met in the library five. . . No, six years ago.

He parked under the big oak tree like he always did whenever we came to this park. We got out of the truck, Alex shutting the door after me once he'd grabbed his guitar by the neck. We walked hand in hand down the path, stopping to get ice cream at the little stand run by people who knew our names by now.

We walked around the park for a little while, though I'm not entirely sure how long, before settling down under the tree where we shared our first 'I love you's. I leaned back against the gnarled old trunk, looking out over the lake with a smile. I glanced over at Alex, only to find him staring at me.

"Is there something on my face?"

"Nah, just your hair, weed," he said, reaching up to brush the untamable bangs from my eyes.