Living in a Teenage Fantasy

Thumb War and Telling Secrets

I looked skeptically at Ross before climbing up the stairs to enter the treehouse. I looked down and saw Ross start climbing below me and soon both of us stood on the little deck in front of the entry door into the treehouse.

I felt Ross put his hands over my eyes and he whispered into my ear, "Close your eyes."

I followed his directions as he opened the door into the treehouse, and then released his hands. I opened my eyes and gasped. What I saw was absolutely breathtaking: the cozy treehouse was covered with blankets and pillows. String Christmas lights hung from the ceilings and there was even an old TV with a DVD player in the corner. It was the perfect hideout, a nice little escape from reality. There was a window on the side of the treehouse that revealed the gorgeous sunset. I finally took the whole scene in and turned to meet Ross's eyes. He had a huge smile on his face that was the effect of my reaction.

"This is absolutely amazing!" I said in a soft voice.

There was no need to talk louder than I did because we were standing so close together, and the whole setting felt intimate.

Ross's eyes lit up with my enthusiasm and grabbed my hand, once again sending sparks through my body. "Come on in." He said, his eyes never leaving mine.

He led me into the cozy hideout and we sat down across from each other. We covered ourselves with blankets and stacked the pillows up around our bodies for comfort.

After a few minutes Ross said, "My dad and uncle built this place when Riker was about 5, they thought it would be a perfect place for us to hang out when we were kids."

And it really was. It was actually a pretty large size tree house, but the inside was so intimate and comfortable.

"It's absolutely perfect," I replied, "it's like something I would only ever imagine, I can't believe it actually exists!"

A smile seemed to eternally linger both of our faces when we interacted with each other, and this moment didn't fall short.

"It's the perfect place to watch the sunset, so I thought you'd might like to see an LA sunset from a different point of view." He said as he turned to look out the window.

We sat there in a comfortable silence for about 10 minutes as we watched the day end and night begin. I don't think I'll ever look at a sunset again and not remember this moment. It was so gorgeous.

After the sun completely went down, Ross ended the silence by saying "It's been really cool getting to know you these past few days Rose, and I'd like to continue to get to know you more."

My cheeks turned to the deepest shade of red they have ever been. His eyes met mine as he scooted to sit opposite from me and we sat criss cross applesauce.

We sat silently for a few moments and then I said, "Have you ever seen the Princess Diaries 2 movie?"

He chuckled and nodded, replying "Rydel loves that movie, and between you and me, I don't mind a good romantic comedy every once and a while."

I laughed and then continued, "Well if you recall the scene when Chris Pine sneaks Anne Hathaway out of her house and out near the lake they play a game of thumb war, but they take turns sharing facts about themselves. When someone wins the thumb war, the loser has to share a secret."

He began to get excited and grabbed my right hand, which never failed to send sparks through my body.

"Let's do it!" He said.

I offered to go first as we began to play thumb war and to really get to know each other.

"My middle name is Marie." I said.