He walked the halls in his comfortable bubble of silence. A light summer breeze ruffled his hair and followed every his step as his way wound through the sun sheltered halls. With each step, his shoulder bag slowly swung with its own particular rhythm. The only sounds the permeated the air were the light clicking footfalls of his shoes and the slight ruffling of his shirt as it rubbed against itself.

It had been over a half dozen years since he had been back to these halls of learning. The halls reminded him of a period of time when he would learn the most about life and the world that existed outside of academia. The successes and failures that he experienced were part of the unspoken rules that governed the real world. Those kinds of realizations just didn’t occur to him at the time, but he remembered their lessons very well.

Impulsive decisions and inexperience were what guided him through those turbulent years. Trial and error were his trademarks during those times of struggle and tribulation. He might not have grown up in the ghetto, but adversity comes in many forms and he was glad to have survived. Some people weren’t so lucky. Many of those decisions were tempered with logic and intelligence, but he was young and mistakes were expected. With the passing of each event or incident, he learned a little bit more and corrected himself. Young were his years, but he never used that excuse for the things he had experienced–both tragic and joyful alike. Now with the passage of time, they had left their palpable mark upon his darkened soul.

He still had a youthful look, but there was much wisdom and maturity set deep into his eyes and stance. Over time, that youthfulness and inexperience transformed into something greater. It had turned him into an insightful and collected adult that crossed the school campus alone that day. Looking around with eyes that weren’t quite old, but nor were they young any longer, he noticed how much things had changed. Lots of changes happened in the years that had come and gone. He could barely recognize the scenery that lay before him.

Now there were new buildings, a new administrative staff and like always, a new student body that occupied the halls in which he once stood. As the years swiftly flew by, there were times that he could almost forget what had happened all those years ago but a part of him that never wanted to forget. He never wanted to forget some of those wonderful days, or the horrible days that followed.

Bending down near a patch of dead, dry grass, he placed a freshly cut purple orchid at the spot where that tragic incident happened so long ago. Standing up, he bowed his head for a long moment of silence, recalling those days with vivid clarity. Taking one last look at the flower laying at his feet, he turned around and walked away. The wind had picked up, whipping through his hair, telling him to look back but he didn’t. What had transpired was something that most people would have tried to forget. He never did.

He still felt responsible for the ill-fated events that lead up to that unfortunate day, although some had said that there was nothing he could do. Those words that tried to absolved him of guilt were a small measure of comfort compared to the hollow hole in his heart that he had been carrying ever since. His past was his past and he would never forget it, or those who had walked with him during those days. But to dwell on it would invite unwanted self-destruction. It was simply not his way.

He didn’t look back as he strode into the future, never forgetting the ones that came before him, or the lessons he learned from them as well. Getting into the car, he took one last look at those cream colored walls that were so much a part of his adolescence and drove away.

We zipped along on a current of heated actions and reactions. The moments came swiftly, turning and tumbling, making sure that we were alive, as intimacy lit our souls on fire. Reckless and unsure of which path to take, we simply rushed along whatever route we were on when the rope snapped. Frustration overtook calm, and panic planted its roots of self-destruction. Strength remained with patience, but was quickly waning.

Lunging for your outstretched hand, I missed, faintly grazing those delicate fingers, as you continued to drift away from me. You plummeted deeper and deeper into that thick vapor, with me trailing right behind, narrowly out of reach. The mists swirled around us, seeming to wash by with increasing speed. My eyes darted around, trying to find a foothold, a handhold, some sort of perch somewhere, anywhere, to slow us down.

I cried out your name, but heard no response. You turned and gazed at me, eyes rapt with attention, your mouth trying to form words that one always understood, but none came. Pursing your lips, you again tried to speak words that died before they were ever given birth. The look in your eyes said it all though–something was amiss. Deep down you knew something was wrong and I knew it too. There was no way to really express what you were thinking, except for the faint tinge of sadness edging your eyes.

Somewhere along this route, we had gone too far, had crossed the line, and there seemed to be no way of going back. In the silence that enveloped us, your muted tones told me that much had changed. Resignation wormed its way into your once serene face, head shaking as if in a soundless scream. Plunging any deeper into that hopeless gloom, the murkiest of murks, and all would be lost; you would be lost to me.

Diving with fearless recklessness, I grunted and stretched with every last sinew of my being, reaching out for your hand to somehow hang onto the last few tendrils that still bound us to each other. No matter what it took, and no matter how far we fell, I would continue to strive, and we would survive.

Goonies never say die.

Rain. tak tak tak… I used to listen to the raindrops falling from the sky, late at night, while lying in my bed alone. The individual drops would tap against my windows, etching out their short-lived existence in a beautiful brilliance only nature could muster. in between the silent drone of languid dreaming and wakefulness, I would catch a glimpse of their paths as they slid through trails of reason and fantasy.

So comfortable they were, knowing that their lives were meant for something greater. They were assuredly valued beyond measure, with fairly simple choices that lay before them–at least that’s what we’d like to think. But there is always that stubborn one. The one which continues its search for the meaning behind its existence, zigging and zagging across the pane, determined to create its own footprints in an already chaotic land.

Lying in my bed alone, frozen by the thought that with so many possibilities, it might never find what it was looking for, even if it knew where to start. Either that, or it would simply splash out–dying and melding back into the pool, never knowing what its true purpose was.

tak tak tak…I try not to listen anymore.

“So that’s what the little drummer boy wants to do,” she whispered, turning her head slightly and pulling away at the very last possible second.

“Wha? Uh…oh…no,” I gulped.

“Well, it’s not that…I…uh…” I stammered. A burning sensation rose to the surface of my face. Struggling to free myself from the desert that suddenly appeared inside my throat and quickly made a mute out of me. I swallowed, shifted in my seat, and turned my head to gaze up into the night sky.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” I whispered out loud, more to myself than anything else. I needed the space to compose myself. Her closeness made me lose the already tentative grip that I had on my senses, reducing my faculties in a blink of a blurry eye.

Her touch brought me out of the clouds in a languid fashion. Turning and tilting my head in her direction, those two pools of liquid mercury unblinkingly stared right back, stealing my mind from me. Forcing myself to grin, I yanked the remnants of the steely nerve that served me so well to the fore.

“Yeah, quite beautiful,” I murmured, at once answering my own question, and forcing the confidence back into my voice.

“Beautiful?” Her smile was serene, barely hinting at the mischief that lay beneath the surface. “If you were talking about me then that’s really sweet of you…” she breathed, “but if not, then suppose I should be upset.” A look of playfulness creased her lips.

“Well, uh…” I said haltingly, clawing at any vestige of my once unflappable ego. “Yeah, you are…” I said with a half-smile, pausing as thoughts raced through my head. I grimaced inwardly at my faltering steps, unsure of myself, having lost the trust I usually placed in my instincts.

“What did you want to do?” she asked, interrupting my mind in mid-swagger.

“How bout we just take a walk?” I suggested, figuring that a walk might help clear the air.

“I’d like that,” she replied, adjusting my sweatshirt tighter around her, and tucking her hands into the sleeves.

Wandering around in the cool darkness, we traversed the main road and aimlessly explored the smaller well-lit streets in the vicinity. With lamps overhead blazing, I could make out her hips shifting from side to side, as she seemed to lightly dance and sway to some unknown music that was imperceptible to me. A quick look from her caught me watching, while she silently floated along the cobblestone street.

“And what was the little drummer boy looking at?” she teased, smiling more for her benefit than for mine.

“You like to dance,” I stated, more like an observation than a question.

“I do. I’ve been dancing since I was quite young, lessons and all that… Do you dance?”

“Oh, me? Dance? I don’t know what I do would actually be called dancing,” I chuckled.

“So you do dance, but only when no one’s watching, huh?” she giggled. “Want to dance?”

“Oh…no, no…I don’t really dance,” I stammered.

“Come on, please? No one has to see. It’s only me,” she whined.

It was a cute girlish whine that most guys would have melted for, but I braced myself for it. I wasn’t going to cave in so easily. “But there’s no music or anything…what’re we supposed to do, spin around in a circle?” I asked, my grin teased, but my tone was incredulous.

“How about next time?” I stalled. “I promise, next time you ask, I’ll dance, but not right now.” I stated, trying my best to bargain with her.

“Hrmmm…” she mused, “ok, next time like you promised. It’s getting late, and cold out here. Let’s go inside.” She grabbed my arm, and nudged me gently toward the doors.

We didn’t say much while walking up the stairs. When we arrived at the door to her hotel room, she let my arm go and walked out ahead of me. Turning around, she clasped her hands in front of her, tilted her head to one side and asked, “So now what? Are you going to go get some sleep too?”

“Yeah, I probably will. There’s no telling what kind of insane itinerary my uncle’s got planned for us tomorrow.”

“Oh I see, well, goodnight then,” she said monotonously.

“Are you doing anything tomorrow?” I ventured. “I mean, after you’ve come back from whatever your family is doing.”

“No, I don’t think we’re doing anything. Maybe some supper, but that’s about it. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I liked spending time with you tonight, so maybe, we can do it again tomorrow?”

“It’s a date.” She smiled, and winked at me, her eyes lingered on me for a split second as wordless thoughts charged through the air, electrifying the space between us. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Sure,” I barely managed, before she turned around and disappeared through the door, with the image of her smile, still lingering in my mind. The door closed behind her, and I was left standing there, in the quiet emptiness of the open hallway, still pondering what that smile and those eyes told me.

Part: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, to be continued…

Sitting on a bench outside, we kicked our feet and watched the sun set, her hand still clasped in mine. The slowly drawn shades of night darkened the sky, and a brief chill whipped through the air causing her to shiver suddenly. Her momentary shaking gave me pause, and I took my sweatshirt off, offering it to her to shield her from the cold.

“Aren’t you going to get cold?” she asked.

“Nah, I’ll be ok. The cold doesn’t really bother me.”

“You know, those stories were so funny!” she squealed. “I didn’t know that you were such a cute kid,” she cooed teasingly, accepting my sweatshirt and tugging it over her head.

“No, no, no…blah…,” I shook my head and sighed, trying to elaborate further. “My aunt and uncle exaggerate, really,” I said. “You can’t believe everything that you hear…”

“They’re just stories…they didn’t all happen exactly like that.”

If my face could be represented by a modern day emoticon, it would have looked something like this >_<. Those stories were not only embarassing, but they also showcased some of my less than perfect moments.

Over the course of dinner, not only did my childhood antics come up, but so did some of my less popular traits. My own famly outing me to a bunch of complete strangers, and they all laughed heartily while exchanging their experiences and observations about their own children. Unfortuantely for me, my stories seemed to come up the most often. There's not much to say. I always knew that I wasn't the most trouble-free child out there.

"It's ok though," she said, trying to reassure me. "Those things you did, and the things you said as a kid. What a laugh!"

Seeing the look on my face, she changed her tone a bit. "Ok, so if you weren't exactly like that, then how were you really like as a toddler?"

"Okay, I was a bit of a trouble-maker, but who isn't?" I asked, wide-eyed full of feigned innocence.

"So you're telling me that you never tied Lynn's door handle closed with a bungee cord, to another door handle right across the hall?" she asked. "Or how about the one where you convinced other kids to eat hot chili peppers, convincing them that they weren't 'that' hot?" she asked, raising both eyebrows.

Hearing the slight disbelief in her tone, I figured that I should just tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but.

"Well, I guess there's always some truth in the stories my family shares. I guess I always did things my way cause I felt like it. It didn't really matter what kind of trouble I'd get into, or how much I might get hurt. I'd just do it, even though I knew what kind of consequences I might face later."

"Ah ha," she snickered.

"I'm kinda hard-headed that way." I said sheepishly, a slight grin perched along the edge of my mouth.

"So when your aunt said that you were always a bit stubborn, that wasn't one of these so-called 'exaggerations' right?" she asked, giggling to herself.

I suppose she was imagining me defying all the rules, just to do what I felt like doing, and she wouldn't have been that far off. "I'm not stubborn! I just march to the beat of my own drummer," I protested, a bit too loudly; my grin spreading like wildfire through a forest of ashe.

"Oh? So what does that drummer say to you? Does he always tell you what to do?" she asked slowly. Her nose twitched and the twinkle in her eye jumped from one brightly lit pool to the other.

Sidling up closer to me, I could see her warm translucent breath floating up into the night sky. My face got hot, my breath caught in my throat, when I realized how close she was at that moment. Catching a whiff of vanilla, I breathed a bit easier, and could also detect jasmine, a soothing scent that was distinctively her smell, but barely noticeable unless you were quite close. Pulling myself together, I tried to swallow slowly, but my throat and lips had gone dry.

"Uh..."

"Oh drummer boy..." she whispered.

"Yah?" I breathed, as we both leaned in.

Part: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, to be continued…

“So he’s rounding the corner, drifts into a long slide across the wooden floor, yelling at the top of his lungs ‘I’m outta control!’. And he crashes right into the Christmas tree, knocking things everywhere.”

Laughter burst out around the table while I covered my face with my hands. My uncle had effectively put me into a hole six feet deep, then left me there, desperately trying to bury myself with my own hands. My family typically used me an entertaining scapegoat, due to my constant antics and natural tendency to get into troublesome situations. I had always been the odd one in the family, always marching to the beat of my own drummer.

“rMmmmmm,” I groaned, peeking through my fingers at the bemused expressions splashed across their faces, like haphazardly thrown paint across canvas.

“There are times when having you around is a good thing,” Lynn sneered quietly.

Shooting her glare, I mouthed, “Shut it or else…”

“Come on…why don’t you tell some stories about Lynn? It’s not exactly fair you know. She’s awkward and not that bright…she has some funny stories too.” I knew that I was whining a bit, but I was going to shift the focus off me however I could.

I could feel the scowl and her evil eyes boring into my skull, but I fended them off with a snicker and a grin that only caused my cousin’s scowl to deepen.

“You know, I hear that you get wrinkles if you scowl too much,” I said teasingly, looking in Lynn’s direction. “Isn’t that true?” I asked, my wide-eyed gaze sweeping from my cousin to my aunt, sitting just to her right.

“Oh well…I don’t have problems with wrinkles. But I’m going to go wash my hands before dessert. I’ll be right back.” Hopping up and excusing myself from the table, I started away before anyone could respond.

“Alright. Well, when Lynn was about 5…” I heard my aunt’s voice say, as it slowly mixed into the ambient noise and faded into the background. Finally, I was free.

Strolling out of the restroom, I checked my hands to see if they were totally dry, and ran into Steph as she was coming out of the women’s restroom.

“Oh hey! Didn’t see you there.”

“Hellos. I had to go to the restroom too.” she replied.

“Are my aunt and uncle still telling stories?” I queried.

“Actually, my parents started sharing stories about my brother, so I thought I should go before they started with me,” she said, while laughing to herself.

Her laughter was like the tinkling of silver bells, pure notes of innocent clarity. They floated and danced through the slightly humid air, finding a perch among the rafters. I couldn’t help but smile seeing her laughter light up her face.

“Let’s go somewhere else.”

“But isn’t everyone waiting for us at the table?”

“No, I told our families that we were going to go outside after I found you.”

“Oh…?”

“Come on,” she coaxed, and grabbed my hand with both of hers.

“But where are we…” I questioned her haltingly.

Without saying a word, she smiled, tugged at my hand, and off we ran through the lobby doors and into the darkening night sky.

Part: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, to be continued…

“I’m gonna shower,” I announced, kicking my shoes off and running for the bathroom door.

“Wait a sec! I called it first!” Lynn screamed in protest.

With a 3-4 stride lead on my cousin, there was no way she’d catch me as I dashed for the bathroom. Sure, she mentioned that she wanted to take a shower when we got back to the hotel, but she never actually called it. At least that’s what I remember.

“Too late,” I sang, as I slid across the tile floor, past the open door, and slamming it shut behind me.

I could hear her muttering underneath her breath about annoying cousins, something or another, and I smiled to myself.

My face was covered in grime from the day’s activities. Leave it to my uncle to take us on a whirlwind tour of some of the more obscure historical spots in Paris, coupled with architectural sightseeing. I typically would have appreciated the architecture, but I was way beyond the brink of information overload. At this point, I simply wanted to space-out, while staring at the pale blue sky.

We had been in Paris for almost a week, and I had barely seen Stephanie because of my family’s crazy itinerary. I’d seen her twice at breakfast, once around dinnertime, but it was always somewhat awkward, seeing how both of our families were always around when we saw each other.

I quickly showered and hopped around to get dressed. Hearing a knock on the room door, I opened the bathroom door and peered out, hoping to see Steph’s face. Wishful thinking I guess, because all I saw was my uncle talking to Lynn about something. Not bothering to listen, I closed the door and finished getting dressed.

“Hey, come on, get outta there!” Lynn cried. “You’ve been in there for half an hour! Boys aren’t supposed to take that long!”

“Half an hour isn’t long! Or would you rather I sit here and not come out for another half hour?” I teased.

“Hurry up! My dad told us to meet downstairs for dinner. We’re gonna be eating with your girlfriend’s family!”

“Wait, what?” I opened up the door and quickly jumped out, stumbling over my own feet in the process. “What did you say? Eating with who?”

“I told you, your girlfriend’s family. I guess we’re having dinner with Steph and her family,” she said, sounding smug, guessing that it might make me squirm.

“Oh…,” I replied, not quite sure how to take the news.

“Crap, crap, crap…,” I muttered to myself.

I liked Steph, I really did, but I had never been too fond of any large familial type of gathering. A family dinner, especially with another family, was akin to setting up a situation where I could potentially end up center stage. Having my exploits and antics exposed to the world was not exactly what I had in mind when I wanted to spend some time with Stephanie.

Wonderful. That’s all I needed. A family rodeo.

Part: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, to be continued…

Noticing the concern rimming my aunt and uncle’s features, I slowly pushed myself up off the ground, as a waiter helped me to my feet. A extremely loud, cackling sound bounded toward me, slicing through my self-conscious veil of embarrassment. That laughter could only be my cousin, desperately trying to muffle her laughter in the crook of her elbow. Scowling at her bowed head, I silently vowed that she would get hers later on. Feeling the eyes of scores of people drilling into my back, I quickly thanked the waiter and hurried to the table, keeping my focus on where I was going, to prevent another mishap.

It was embarrassing enough that I fell on my face, and inwardly, even more embarrassing since I was supposed to be a competitive athlete. What kind of athlete somehow misses an entire flight of stairs without any assistance from friends?

Approaching the table at a brisk walk, I saw my uncle give me a knowing, almost imperceptible nod, as if he knew and understood what I was going through, but approved of the way I handled myself. I tried to force a smile, as my aunt fretted over the multitude of possibilities, the “what ifs” that may never come to pass, and that my mom would have an aneurysm if I did get seriously hurt.

“Eh, I’m ok, I’m ok.” I sighed. “Don’t worry so much about it. I’ve done a lot worse and been ok.”

“Well if you get hurt, your mom will kill you for being so careless, if you didn’t die from your injuries first,” my aunt replied.

“Yeah, I know. No worries! I’m sure I’ll break a bone or something before we end up going home,” I sang, trying to force the embarrassing chill from my bones with my usual quips.

Sitting down and shaking her head, she muttered a few more misgivings before it all subsided. Lynn, my cousin, sat up then and eyed me quizzically.

“So what happened? You don’t normally fall like that. Has my lil cousin become a klutz? Or did you just go blind?”

“Eh, shaddup,” I muttered. “It was nothing. Just wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, that’s all.”

“Hrmmm…” she wondered out loud. “Or…was it because you just saw Stephanie on the stairs?” she mused, her eyes boring into me, trying to ferret out the truth. She and I both knew that there was no way she could find out the truth from my demeanor, as I was well-versed in showing little emotion, especially when it came to familial interrogations. Raising her eyebrows, she changed her tone of voice, and proceeded to take shots at me to see when I would shoot back.

“So, how was Stephanieeeee…?” Lynn crowed. Her tone was friendly, but teasing. Her invisible laughter could be heard quivering in the air, perching on the edge of a bubble of amusement, straining at its bonds. She was trying to strike a nerve, playing to the innate traits of my personality and my confrontational nature.

“She’s doing ok I take it? I saw her when I was coming down the stairs, and I think you were right behind me…so you MUST have seen her.” She poked and prodded some more, gauging my reactions.

“Yeah, I saw her. We chatted for a second,” I replied, keeping my voice as natural as possible, exhaling slowly as I spoke. “She said that she saw you, too.”

Reminding myself to breathe slowly, with long, shallow breaths, I could maintain a relatively calm and peaceful facade. It was an exercise that I often used before sparring matches, to calm my excited nerves.

“She asked if we could hang out later, after we both got back from our touristy trips.” A smug smile crossing my face, watching Lynn react to that bit of info. Two could play this game, and I was confident that I was better at it than she was, although she was easily 4 years my senior.

Frustrated but not daunted, Lynn narrowed her eyes, her brain working furiously, trying to figure out an angle to best me at this mind game. “You and her? Hanging out? Together? Later?”

“She’s way too cute for you anyway…” she taunted.

She knew me well, as well as cousins should know each other. And she knew that my foolhardy confidence and ego were some of my greatest strengths, as well as a couple of my greatest weaknesses. But vanity wasn’t one of them.

I simply smiled. “Yeah, Stephanie’s super cute…but it doesn’t matter. We’re just going to hang out for a little, that’s all.”

“Wait, who’s Stephanie?” my aunt asked me, prompting my cousin to divert her attention away from me, at least for a short while.

“Oh she’s this girl that Lynn and I met the other day when we were checking in.” I explained. “I think you might have seen her parents in the lobby. They came in right after we did.”

“Oh, I remember now. And Stephanie is their daughter? That really pretty girl that was looking after her brother?” my aunt inquired.

“Yep! And now he’s got a huge crush on her,” Lynn interrupted happily.

Rolling my eyes, I sighed and just let it go. There was no use in stopping her now. She had a motormouth, almost on par with my younger sister. So when she got going, it was nearly impossible to stop her. The only way I knew how, was to physically interrupt her, usually by throwing something at her, or pushing her, and I wasn’t willing to do that right then. I always saved those “get into trouble on purpose” cards for more important matters. Getting yelled at was the last thing I needed at that moment.

Lynn proceeded to tell my aunt and uncle all about what had happened in the last few days, bringing them up to speed on what had happened outside of their watch. From time to time my aunt would say something, but I hardly heard anything at all.

Munching on my breakfast of bread, cheese and fruit, their voices faded into the background as I stared out of the large windows, the vast cityscape loomed before me. I sighed.

It was going to be a long vacation.

Part: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, to be continued…

“You alright?” I asked again, reaching out to get her attention with a gentle touch. Gazing at her with helpless concern, I furiously ran through all the possible excuses that wouldn’t seem so forced, and couldn’t come up with a single one.

“Uh…yes, I think so. I was just surprised. You came down the stairs so quickly,” she replied. “I guess I froze, and hoped that you wouldn’t run me over.” She giggled slightly, the nervousness still apparent in her voice.

Breathing a slow sigh, the rapid clip of my heart settled a bit with relief, and calm washed over me. I was glad that I didn’t have to fumble my way through an explanation that would have made no sense, like a blind penguin dangling from a hang-glider, searching for breakfast burritos. I could see it now, spitting out some nonsensical yarn to cover up my idiocy.

“Yeah, sorry ’bout that. I tend to shuffle down the stairs that way…” I trailed off, not knowing what to say. Thinking about what to do next, I suddenly noticed how close we were to each other. She smelled like flowers. The smell wasn’t strong, but light, something like orange and jasmine, but I wasn’t sure. Sensing our closeness, she pulled away from me slightly, shifting her weight from right to left, then looked up.

“That girl you were with the other day, she’s your cousin right?” she said, breaking the globe of awkward silence that had smothered us, allowing the sounds of the world to flood back into our ears.

“Oh yeah, Lynn, she came down before I did. We’re getting some breakfast then going to do the tourist family thing again.”

“I see,” she murmured. “I’d better let you get some breakfast then. I need to wake my brother up too.”

“Ahhh…I see, I see…well, I’ll see you around.”

“Ok, buh-bye,” she said, and started up the steps.

It suddenly dawned on me that it could be my last chance, since I had no idea how long she’d still be here. Taking a deep breath, I called out to her.

“Hey, Stephanie?”

Turning, she put her hand on the rail and looked at me quizzically.

“Yes?”

“Think you’ll be around later? Like here, at the hotel, like later on today, like you know…after we all do the family thing…” I babbled, my stomach crawling its way into my throat with each passing word.

“I’ll be here,” she slowly said, “we’re not leaving Paris for another few days.”

“Oh well, I was thinking that maybe you’d like to hang out?” I choked out, my voice betraying me with the hopeful tones of a wishful dreamer. “Maybe sometime later tonight?”

Tilting her head slightly, “I think I’d like that,” her soft voice barely masking her smile.

“Oh ok, great! I’ll see you later, ok?” I was practically yelping with joy. She was going to be here for a while and I was going to see her again. I hadn’t felt this kind of elation in a long while.

Spinning around, I bound through the small lobby, my grin plastered across my face. My mind mired in some obvious daydream, I didn’t pay attention to the few steps leading down into the dining room, which I promptly missed in my haste, and stepped off into thin air. Toppling forward, I grabbed for a railing that wasn’t there.

And landed right on my face.

Part: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, to be continued…