When I arrive at Tennessee Valley my heart skips a beat. I see the beautiful mountains that seem to stretch on forever, the grass that looks like waves from the wind, the blue sky filled with the puffiest pure white clouds. I begin to walk the familiar paved trail kicking rocks as I go, I turn off onto the dirt road and continue to walk about a mile and a half until I see the familiar alcove that the mountains have made. I thank God that there is nobody here as I walk down the beach a little and lay down my towel on the rocky sand. I take off my shoes and continue on to the coastline. I walk ankle deep in the water letting the cold Pacific water numb my feet. A breeze blows from across the water and I pull my sweatshirt tighter around me. After about a half an hour I walk back to my towel and lay down. I look at my watch its six o’clock, only about an hour until sunset. I close my eyes and begin to think about every possible thing I can. How I want to meet the right guy who can understand me instead of the stupid jocks on the football team. I want someone I can be myself around and that I don’t have to put on the persona of extremely happy, rich, beautiful, perfect family cheerleader. I begin to drift off into sleep and dream about life and how I would like it. Not the way everyone has planned for me.
It is so quiet in my dreams that I jump when I hear a voice “Hi” it says “Is this seat taken?” I rub the sleep from my eyes realizing that it was much darker than I remember and turn around. Behind me is the most handsomely beautiful boy I have ever seen in my life. He was tall and thin with dark hair and the most beautiful pair of blue eyes I have ever seen. He had on a pair of dark jeans and a sweatshirt that said Eagles on it. “Oh…um…no I.. I uh no I guess not. Go ahead.” I say startled. Good job Tiffany I say to myself, way to be smooth. “Thanks” said the beautiful boy. He lays out his towel and sits down next to me. “So” I say, “There is a very big beach here, why sit next to the only spot that’s taken?” “Well that is a good question. The truth, although it may sound strange is that I saw you sleeping and have you ever had one of those moments where you see someone and you want to know their life story? Well when I saw you I had to know.” He replied. “Oh…no that has never happened to me before.” I say back. “ Yes well maybe someday it will. Hi I’m Lucas by the way, sorry for not introducing myself before. What’s your name?” “Oh no its ok” I say, “My name is Tiff… actually no its Tiffany” “Well Tiff actually Tiffany nice to meet you!” “You too” I reply. “So” he asks “What brings you to the most beautiful place in the world?” I smile thinking that we already have something in common. “Well” I begin, “My parents are away and I don’t want to get drunk with my friends or practice cheerleading with Brittany so I come here to the place where I can be myself and I don’t have to worry about pleasing anyone, not my drunken friends and especially not my parents.” “Well that is quite understandable.” He says “Yea I guess so, so what about you, why are you here?” I ask “Well to be honest I have no idea I guess that something just told me I needed to be here” “Oh, that’s interesting” I reply. We are quiet for sometime watching the waves and listening to the melody of nature. But somehow its not awkward like it would be for someone else. It feels right like this is what I had been meant to do for my whole life. “So” he says breaking the quiet “I haven’t heard your story yet” “What, oh, I thought you were kidding” “No, no” he says “I am quite serious. Go ahead I want to know everything. From the day you were born and to the reason why you are here now with me.” This made me sad but smile at the same time. No one bothered to want to know me before. No one had ever wanted to know what was behind my amazing act of Tiff the Cheerleader. So I begin I tell him everything. I am not shy either because I feel like he would understand. I tell him my hopes, my dreams, my life, my act, my everything. And the weird thing is, is that he doesn’t interrupt me once he just listens quietly to my every word and nods in some places, smiles in others, and even sometimes looks forlorn. When I finally finish telling him, he just watches me for a little while and then laughs. I look down embarrassed and regretful that I told him all of my secrets. I have never even met this boy before what was I thinking? I feel his finger under my chin as he pulls my head to look into his eyes. We stay there like that for a moment before he says, “Tiffany, you are the most amazing person I have ever met. Thank you so much for telling your story to me. Now I know my purpose of being here at the most beautiful place in the world.” “No problem” I reply. Then I hear a very loud noise that sounds somewhat like a ship horn. It blares again and I look into the ocean. I turn back to Lucas but he isn’t there. I hear the noise again and again until finally I open my eyes and look around. I am alone. There is no one. It is dark. I look towards the ocean and I see the ship that was blaring its horn so loudly. I realize then that I was dreaming this whole time. I begin to weep bitterly and can’t stop. I think about Lucas, how he was the only person that has ever in my life accepted me for who I am, how handsome he was and how we had connected on such a high level. Of course this was fake, who was I to think that I ever deserved someone like him, what made me think that I could ever be Tiffany around someone. I was destined to be Tiff the Cheerleader forever. I cried but my sobs were interrupted when I heard I familiar voice say “Hey is this seat taken?” I wipe my tears with the back of my hand realization creeping into my mind. I turn around and smile.