Figure it out

Shakespearean references

I fidgeted as I waited for Alyssa to arrive back at my house, as soon as I saw her car I dashed back to the garden. Again I waited for Alyssa, I soon sighted her rounding the corner of my garden. "What have you made?" She inquired.

"Follow." I commanded, and started off towards the edge of the garden.

"Ah come on, I have short legs!" She soon caught up though and tried to get the location of where we were headed out of me. "Where art thou taking thine self?"

"Someone been studying Shakespeare again?" I neatly avoided her question.

"Heh no, but where are we going?"

I decided to mock her, "To a fine and mystical place my young lady."

"Haha very funny, but for real where are we going?"

"Tut, tut, tut, you do know curiosity killed the cat!"

"Yeah, Curiosity was an awesome dog." She replied.

It was my turn to smile, "I like that, keep up the smart thinking and you might even make it to Harvard." I came to a stop before a small gate, motioning like a true gentleman I said, "After you." Al gave me a funny look but went through the gate. I couldn't contain my excitement for her to see the next part.

"Look up." I whispered. She craned her neck back and gasped. A painfully beautiful smile crept across her face as she beheld the sight. It felt amazing to see her so happy, I couldn't understand why it felt amazing but at the time I didn't care. I looked up myself to observe my handy work in the dying light of the sun. The fairy lights strung through the trees took the appearance of a stunning starry sky. They twinkled and blinked like real stars, and the mottled background of the Spring leaves and flowers made it all the more special.

"There's more." I said into her ear, and I dragged her down a path I had made a few weeks earlier. It had little lights strung on either side to outline the trail, and behind me I heard Alyssa laugh. It was a bubbling, rising and falling laugh of pure mirth. I wanted this moment to last forever. I was pure adrenaline, pulling Alyssa through the forest by her delicate wrist.

I arrived at the foot of the ladder and motioned once again for her to go ahead of me. She flashed one of her smiles at me and started up. My stomach did a somersault whenever she smiled at me like that, but why? I still didn't truly understand why I made this for her either, I guess I just wanted to see her happy, full of wonder and joy and- "Jake?" Alyssa said, back down the ladder. "Oh, right, I'm climbing up right now!" I replied. I pulled myself up the ladder, truly excited now.

When I arrived at the top Alyssa was sitting there, her arms hugging her legs to her chest. She was the picture of perfection, the lights behind her framing her profile. She was a truly incredible person. She tore her eyes away from the fairy lights long enough to look at me. And the look she gave me made my heart sing. She was smiling more gently now, I could see she was trying to convey a message to me, but I couldn't understand it.

I never was good at understanding people, let alone girls. I grinned back and stepped up into the platform I had built into the tree. It was framed around the sides with a small wooden barrier to stop people falling off. I had hung lanterns off the branches of the tree. A picnic rug was on the floor, and I had a basket of food stashed there earlier today. The soft cooing of several native wildlife provided a light background noise for us to listen to. And so that is what we did for a while, I sat there next to Alyssa and just listened and watched my stars.

At one point I turned my head to look at her, and she was already looking at me straight in the eyes. This caused her to smile again and she looked back at the lights. I blushed, and tried to look away, but each time something held my eyes in place and I ended up admiring Alyssa, instead of the lights. I noticed things about her I had dismissed earlier as things everyone notices. But how does a stranger appreciate the little pale scar tracing down the side of her neck - reminding you of the incident with the tree, or the way a piece of rogue hair curls around her ear, the beauty of her storm-blue eyes which are rimmed with a darker navy blue...