Storybook Reality.

He had said it. The one thing she never thought someone like him would ever say. And she had no idea what to do but leap for joy. She never dreamed…no she never even considered...that he would like her, let alone love her. Someone like him would never feel the way he did about her. But yet there he was standing in front of her…holding both her hands firmly in his…looking her straight in the eyes –dark chocolate brown melting its way into auburn-and telling her that he loved her. Of course she’d heard it before…Through gestures of appreciation from family and friends. To invoke a feeling of warmth and security, those words were just the right thing to say. Yes, the people in her life were very expressive, but it didn’t matter. She’d laugh and return the words, sometimes out of obligation and sometimes out of habit. Those feelings were more far-fetched then she expected it to be. But this…to have the man that she’d inescapably come to love…to have him in front of her…face to face, it just made this whole thing completely inconceivable. She couldn’t believe that he had actually said it. The three words that meant everything to a girl….the three words that would either make her world, or break it.

 When they’d first met, she’d associated him with violence, hatred and bitterness. But there seemed to be more to him than what met the eye. So she’d spent time trying to get to know him when he’d asked her to give him a chance. And with every passing day, she found herself slipping more and more until finally she had to admit that she had fallen for him. Not because of his charm or wit or grace- yes, he moved VERY gracefully. It was almost angelic. But because of who he was within. She would never have imagined he could be like this. The anger, the sarcasm, the superiority…It was a pretense that he put on for the world. . So he could avoid being taken advantage of. But he was nothing like that. He was a perfect example of an insensitive, heartless, uncaring human boy with angel blood. If that even made any sense. 

And now, as he told her that he loved her, she knew that he wasn’t lying or putting on an act. Because it had taken him a long time to say it. She had succeeded in breaching those walls that he ever so rarely let down.  Just like he had succeeded in bringing her guard down and helping her to love again. She also knew this, because it was written all over his face. She wanted to capture him like this. Confident and solemn, subtly covering a thin layer of nervousness and worry. HE was WORRIED about what she would think. What she would say. She just couldn’t comprehend it. She wanted to picture this moment. So that it would cement itself in her memory forever.  She never wanted to forget even the slightest detail of his face. His black hair…she liked how it was windswept in the front. His forehead…the way it rutted when he was upset or better still when he had something up his sleeve. His eyes…The intensity of his eyes she’d never be able to endure. Whether they looked at her with hurt or fear or whether they looked at her with anger or love, those utterly brown eyes of his would always have something more to say. Like reading between the lines.  Whenever he was around, she felt safe. Secure. And a warm fuzzy feeling would creep up deep inside her. Her tummy would swirl with butterflies while her heart would do little summersaults in her chest. And that smile. Oh, that crooked smile was the best thing in the world. Like an ice cool lemonade on a hot summer day. Nothing she ever encountered in her life could measure up to how he made her feel.  And to think that he felt the same way.  That SHE made him feel that way. Like shivers down his spine. He looked at her, took in the sight of her, and he was home.

So this was what it was like to be in love. Not just to love, but be IN LOVE. And the best part, this was no fairytale. This was better than that. THIS was REALITY.