It felt like another world, walking along the beach with the moonlight illuminating our path. Gabe’s hand dwarfed my own and warmth continued to rush through my body from where our skin met, driving off the chill from the ocean water. The sand was cool between my toes, and I had to fight the urge to dig my feet into it like I had when I was a little girl. The crashing waves provided the only sound, but the quietness between us wasn’t awkward. Instead, it was the nice kind of silence that comes when two people are comfortable enough around each other to not need words; they are just content to be with each other.
Most of our words had been used earlier at dinner. When Gabe had picked me up tonight, I had already gone through my nervous faze and had prepared different topics that I could bring up if the conversation started to weaken. Amazingly enough, I hadn’t had to use a single one of them, our conversation had flowed just as easily tonight as it had on our first two dates. The range of topics that we had hit on still managed to astound me. We managed to talk about everything from childhood memories to dreams for the future to the new Star Trek movie that was coming out.
That last topic had been the one that surprised me the most since I had never been all that into Sci-fi, but the way Gabe described it made me want to give that genre the chance I had never given it before. He got this twinkle in his eyes when he talked about all the TV shows and movies that were involved, and I couldn’t help but hope that, one day, that twinkle would be in his eyes when he talked about me. I don’t want to get ahead of myself though, considering this is only our third date and we hadn’t even had a real kiss yet. I had kissed him on the cheek after he dropped me off at the end of our second date, but I still was holding out for a foot- popping kiss.
People can call me a hopeless romantic all they want, but I want a real foot- popping kiss before I decide I want to spend the rest of my life with someone. Some part of me can’t help but think that Gabe is going to be my foot- popping kiss though. On top of being caring and attentive, Gabe is extremely good looking. I might be a bit biased, but I love his raven black hair and bright green eyes that hide behind his thick- framed glasses. Even the single freckle on his cheek seems so attractive to me, and I have to admit that I aimed for that freckle when I kissed him after our second date.
Suddenly, I was pulled from my musings when Gabe squeezed my hand before asking, “What are you thinking about?”
Blushing slightly, I just shook my head a bit, way too embarrassed to tell him what had just been going through my mind. It was one thing to muse about kissing someone in your own head, but another thing entirely to tell the person of your musings that you had been wondering about what a kiss from them would be like. Letting out a small chuckle, he used his longer legs to his advantage and stepped in front of me, before gently putting his hand underneath my chin and raising my face so I was looking him in the eye. Once he was sure my gaze was on him, he said, “Come on Alex; let me have a little peek inside that beautiful mind of yours.”
I couldn’t help but melt a little inside at his words, a smile unconsciously rising to my face. My embarrassment at what he wanted to know totally faded in the face of him calling any part of me beautiful. Unable to stop the next words that came out of my mouth, I asked, “You think I’m beautiful?”
At my words, Gabe’s hand went from under my chin to the back of his neck, where he rubbed a bit absent mindedly. Even though he didn’t blush, I could still tell from his posture that my question had embarrassed him, and I immediately wanted to take back my words. Before I could try and recover from my mistake, Gabe admitted, “Of course I think you’re beautiful. I mean, look at you. You’re amazing.”
At that my blush came back full force; no one had ever complemented me like that before. But Gabe wasn’t finished talking, and before I could even think of a response to his words, he continued, “And I don’t just mean that your looks are amazing, even though they totally are. I think that you’re beautiful on the inside too. I mean, how many other people do you know who can read Shakespeare like it’s a regular book and manage to see the good in everyone?”
With those words, his gaze, which had been slightly wandering the way everybody’s does when they are saying something completely true, locked on me and I was struck once again with just how green his eyes were behind his glasses. All at once, I was hit with the realization that he was going to kiss me, and I could already tell that if he did this would be a foot- popping kiss for the ages. My toes were curling in anticipation as Gabe started to lean in.
. . .
Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I rushed through the woods to where the aliens were holding the politician’s daughter hostage. They had kidnapped her on her way back home from school four hours ago, and the politician had immediately used all his influence to find someone who could save his daughter from the monsters that had invaded our home. As the leading expert on these creatures, even at sixteen, I was contacted and quickly filled in on the situation. Even though the politician had tried to give me money to find his daughter, I hadn’t accepted it. All I wanted was to return this girl home to her family and help stop the aliens in their quest to take over the human race.
By using their telepathic abilities the aliens had learned all about our society and were trying to find ways to destroy it to become the supreme rulers of the human race. But, if I had anything to say about it, that was not about to happen. Focusing back on my surroundings, I realized I was getting close to the place that the aliens had been spotted landing earlier. Creeping forward silently the last few feet, I caught sight of the alien that had taken the girl. Standing over seven feet tall with bright orange skin and suckers for fingers, it was amazing that they had been able to hide for as long as they did. It probably did help that most people had refused to believe in the existence of other intelligent life before these creatures had openly invaded.
In front of the alien was the politician’s daughter, tied to a tree with a thick rope. She was my age and her brown hair was held back by a black headband, her blue eyes defiant despite the bit of fear hidden in their depths. Suddenly, she asked, “What do you want me for? I can guarantee that my dad won’t give into any demands you might give him.”
At her words the thing started shaking, and with some revulsion, I realized it was laughing. Even though it didn’t give off any sound, its whole body started to vibrate and it was obvious that it was doing what amounted to a laugh in its culture. Once it had stopped its horrible mockery of a laugh, the alien said, “We do not want you for your connection to the other human. You have the missing piece that we need before we can begin to take over this world. My kind has already drained the minds of scientists, historians, and soldiers in your armed forces. What we need now is a mind full of words to use to inspire and control your petty little species, and you have a brain that will serve that purpose very well.”
Suddenly it all made sense, why the aliens had captured the people they had before. They were going to use the knowledge they had collected to take over the world, and it sounded like this girl was the last piece they needed to enslave the human race. Deciding to stop this from going any farther, I stepped out from behind my hiding spot and called out, “Hey ugly!”
At the sound of my voice, the alien turned around, and its features twisted into a nasty snarl. Not wasting anytime, the alien rushed at me, ready to drain my mind and keep me from interfering. In the same instant, I pulled out the tranquilizer gun that one of the world’s top scientists had made to deal with this alien threat, and I shot straight at it. My aim was true and the dart landed right in the middle of the creature’s chest. Almost as soon as the dart pierced its skin, the alien fell to the ground with a resounding thump.
Once I was sure that it wasn’t going to be getting up anytime soon, I hurried over to where the politician’s daughter was still tied up. With a few quick moves, I untied the knot holding the rope together, and helped her remove the rope from around her. As soon as she was free, she flashed me a small but still bright smile and said, “Thank you for saving my life. I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if you hadn’t found me.”
Not wanting to seem arrogant, I quickly told her, “Don’t mention it; I’m just glad you’re safe.”
She didn’t seem to want to leave it at that though, and before I could think to add anything else she looked up at me through her eyelashes and said, “At least let me repay you for all your help.”
At that she leaned up, and I closed my eyes, anticipating the feel of her lips on mine.
. . .
All of a sudden, two teenagers on opposite sides of a classroom both gave little jumps as their teacher turned the lights back on. It was the last class on the day before winter break and their teacher had given up on trying to teach and had played the movie Elf. Neither teen had been paying attention to the movie though. The girl, Alexandria Carter, quickly closed the notebook that she had been writing in, and the boy, Gabriel Mason, rubbed his eyes, trying to return to the real world after a really good daydream. Then, both teens, thinking about their daydreams, snuck a glance at the other and their eyes connected for a moment. Alex was the first to turn away, heat rising to her cheeks as parts of what she had been writing came back to her. Gabe, on the other hand, smiled at the realization that she had been looking at him too.
Then the bell rang and the rest of their classmates quickly grabbed their things before rushing out the door, ready to get out of school and start relaxing. Quickly making up his mind, Gabe walked over to where Alex was putting her notebook into her book-bag. Standing in front of her, his moment of courage started to fail him and he rubbed the back of his neck before asking, “So … what are your plans over break?”
Alex quickly looked up at him, and unconsciously tucked a lock of her brown hair behind her ear, despite the black headband that she was wearing, before replying, “Um, nothing much. My family didn’t decide to go anywhere, so I have pretty much nothing planned. Why do you ask?”
Rubbing the back of his neck again, Gabe hesitated a moment before taking in a deep breath and saying, “I was just wondering if you might want to hang out over break.”
At his words, a smile wound its way onto Alex’s face and she immediately told him, “I’d really like that.”
Gabe let out a relieved sigh at her positive response and couldn’t help but answer her smile with one of his own. After exchanging numbers, the teenagers walked out of the classroom together. Both of them were lost in their own thoughts, each looking forward to what the future was holding. And even though neither one of them would ever admit it, both were hoping that they’d get a chance to do in real life what they hadn’t had a chance to do in their daydreams.