Definition :
of special beauty or charm, or rare and appealing excellence, as a face, a flower, coloring, music, or poetry.
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Sara parks her car in front of the bank and walks towards the playground situated right next to it. She sheepishly sits on the swing and kicks her feet off the ground and let her body sway against the wind. It's 9pm now, so no one will judge her for playing in the swings in her 30s. Up and down her body goes. In and out her mind wanders. The cold October wind hits her face as she propels forward. She remembers, it was a night like this when they had their first kiss.
A night like this 10 years ago. That's how long they've been together. She had just come out of a night class in the Peterson building. Her heart skipped a beat when she noticed a familiar shaggy, brown-haired figure waiting right outside the door. Michael's face was barely visible under his thick scarf covering his neck and he was decked in layers of sweaters to defend against the chilly autumn breeze. He would sometimes wait for her after class and maybe he'd then walk her home. But this time, when she saw his flushing face and his hands tightly folded on his chest, she knew then that he meant more to her than a simple friend. This was a guy who withstood the chilly weather to walk her safely home tonight. As they walked towards the South dorm area, he lit a cigarette, but it was not his usual Dunhill Red.
"Is that a new brand you're smoking?"
Michael chuckled.
"Haha, have we been hanging out too much? You can tell the difference?"
He reached into his pocket and showed her a box. It was green in color, with a picture of a Native American Chief on it.
"American Spirits huh? Michael, it smells better than your usual."
"It tastes better too," and then with his usual cheeky grin, "you wanna taste it?"
Sara chuckles as she remembers that moment again. How weird youth is, so innocent yet impulsive at the same time. She remembers grabbing Michael's scarf towards her and basically knocking her lips against his. Then immediately embarrassed, she pushed him away and walked hurriedly forward. She straight out sprinted when she heard Michael giggling from behind, going "That's not how you taste things, Sara!". Of course the next morning, he was already waiting in front of her dorm room with a huge grin on his stupid face. He held her hands as they walked to class that morning.
It was not in that class, but in freshman class Physics 101 that they first met. The professor was a gruff old Russian man whose accent was completely indecipherable, except when he mentioned the 3 words 'exam', 'fail' or 'acceleration'. It was one of his usual dull morning classes and the professor was drolling on and on about inertia, when his voice cracked and it went comically high in an instant. It was so sudden that it was funny, and Sara let out an unintentional chuckle. Apparently no one else thought it was funny except the guy sitting in front of her, who also let out a loud "HAH". As the professor shrugged and continued with his lecture, the guy turned his head back, his brown eyes twinkled as he looked at her, and he gave her a shy smile. That was how she met Michael and they started sitting together in class.
As friends they were inseparable. First it was their shared love for standup comedies. They would watch George Carlin, Mitch Fatel, Louis CK together, sometimes even share an earphone listening to comedy shows in the bus and giggling together. They also shared an obsessive love for tacos, and nearly every weekend was spent at their favorite Mexican joint, tacos on one hand and a can of Pabst Blue on the other. Any time else was spent studying, going for football games, cycling, watching movies, going for concerts etc. For Sara, every thing seems more fun with Michael around. It wasn't long before they fell in love. Michael would always be around her, waiting for her after class, lunches and dinners together, he'll accompany her shopping. Sometimes maybe he enjoyed it too much, especially when she dragged him to makeup stores and caught him just being amazed by the vast variety of eyeshadow colors. Many times he'd grudgingly watch a romance movie with her and secretly wipe a tear when the sad scenes come up (Notting Hill, the ultimate tearjerker for Michael). And he was so patient with her, when she's upset or having a tantrum Michael is always the one to make her laugh, and when they finally dated he waited a year before she was ready to sleep with him.
