Love was in the air that night, and I let it all into the capacity to which I could contain. Let out of the house with but a car for transportation and my sister for company; we drove out of town that Wednesday summer night.

The night was cooled by the slight movement of the air. This I remember because I was wearing a sweater and booty shorts with tennis shoes; I looked adorable! Windows cracked down and music blasting, I drove my sister and I across the city boarder line. In transition from Milwaukee Wauwatosa to West Allis, I felt like I was home again. The starry night sparkled bright in the clear, dark abyss of a sky. We knew not what this gorgeous summer night had in store for us; we just drove the road as if the road were a river carrying us in a boat, flowing into a new, much more magical place.

When approaching the park, Jasmine searched it with her eyes, peering across every object propped up in sight. Jasmine spoke out over the music so I could hear her say, “There he is! Wait, I don’t know…I think that’s him.”
“Yep, that’s him for sure.” I laughed as I began to say, “He is the only person in the whole park, how could that not be him!”

I parked the car in a hurry to meet up with him. Coming closer to where my eyes adjusted to see each figure as they are in the dark, I noticed the boy I knew back four years ago does not look like the same guy I was meeting up at that moment.

“Nate? Holy crap, look at you! What has it been, like four years?!” I let my words carry through the darkness as a double check he’s the guy. He then spoke back through,

“Ha ha, yeah that sounds about right.”

I recognized the voice and I knew it was him alright. The conversation from there carried on as a little game of “catch up.” We talked long about; you could pretty much imagine…everything. Jasmine and I could see just how much our friend had changed over the years and it had us wide eyed and jaw hanging down. Something in particular caught my eye about his ‘new look’ and it was his hair. The color was darker and the length was shorter.

“Nate. What did you do to your hair?” I waited anxiously to hear the answer in which my question was asking. I couldn’t keep still standing so I leaned against a pole.

He smiled with a chuckle and said, “I dyed it and cut it myself.”

Silence took over from conversation for the moment. All was quiet, except for my thoughts. Me; my personality being blunt honesty, I told the old good friend of mine every thought that went through my head.

“It looks like crap, but I can fix it. Will you let me fix it for you, please…I know what I’m doing, and I promise…I’ll make it look better.” As I was saying this, I felt like I had been annoying him; badgering him about his hair. His face went scrunched up; eyebrows down to the eyes; eyes down to the nose that met the lips. I felt kind of bad for saying what I did but I wasn’t about to let him walk around with his hair cut the way he had it. The guilt would just bubble inside me like the carbonation of soda does in a can. He fought me for some time about it, than later gave in. We got in my car to go to Nate’s Grandma’s house where there had been a comb and scissors for the fixing of his hair. The aura among the three of us in the car felt tense but my excitement in what I was about to accomplish overcame that awkward feeling and helped it surpass my sister and Nate, too.
Searching back through my memory, I was able to recall where his Grandmother’s house was. When we arrived, I parked my car in front of the house. We strolled into the house in a straight line with Nate leading Jasmine and me to follow. On the couch, my old friend Mike was sprawled out, mouth open and eyes closed in a dream. Without disturbing anyone or anything, we entered the bathroom. The space in which I had to work with was small and kind of awkward, but the job had to be done nonetheless. As I cut his hair we talked. In easing his anxiety, I kept him laughing and unfocused on his hair to make the time go faster. Smooth conversations kept for a feeling of relaxation.
When I had finished, Mike had woken up from his nap and left. Nate loved his new look and could not wait to do something else with the night. Our idea was to walk through the park just a block away from the house and in walking through the living room to the front door I saw a guy sitting watching television. Having been out in the gorgeous summer night, I thought to myself, ‘why is this guy watching television instead of being outside?’ With almost completely no hesitation I asked if he would like to join us in a walk to the park. Granted, I thought he was kind of cute and in addition, I didn’t want to be a third-wheel in the walk. Once on the walk our conversation began. I started off by asking, “So, what is your name?”
“Matt. I’m a friend of Gingers’ and I live there at Grannys’ with my younger brother. And yours is..?”
“Chantel. Who’s Ginger?” My eyebrows pointed down and my eyes stared at him for the answer.
“Mike.” He replied.
“Oh. Well, that is quite interesting. I’ve always known him as Mike.”
In explaining to help my jumbled thoughts he said, “It’s a nickname we came up with that works with his closest group of friends.”
“That makes sense.” I smiled and giggled while saying.
Conversation continued throughout the walk; words, giggles, and smiles exchanged along the way. Nate and Jasmine walked off in their own direction, leaving Matt and I to privacy. Not long in being alone, Ginger appears and starts to generate conversation with Matt. I felt left out for the moment because I didn’t have anything meaningful to say to put into the already going conversation, so I swayed in one spot and looked to the sky. Pulling my mind down from space, Matt asked if I would like to join them and some friends back at the house. I thought there’s nothing more exciting than meeting new people so I said yes to going.
In entering Ginger’s room, I saw four people sitting around a table and music playing as a background melody. All eyes went up and looked at me as Matt began to speak;
“This here in front of you is Mikey, Brandon to the right, Aaron on the left, and sitting the farthest is my brother, Lucas. Everyone, this is Chantel.”
“Hey Guys!” I couldn’t help but to sound like a dork, but the whole time, I told myself to just be me and things will all go just fine. And that they did.
Conversation flowed from person to person. The guys I thought were fun and hilarious; they kept me laughing pretty much the whole time I was sitting there in Ginger’s room. For a moment, a song came on where all in the room went silent except for the beat spitting out of Lucas’s mouth. Through his body the rhythm of the music flowed; out his mouth his self created beat in sync with the rhythm as if it were a part of the music, but it wasn’t; it was all him! Watching him I could feel that this was a talent in which he enjoyed and felt power in pursuing. I liked it and growing inside a thought of interest in him.
Once the song had ended and he was done, he looked at me and I could feel my face had an expression of awe upon it. Amazed fore I have never heard anything like it before in my life, I smiled right at him. He smiled right back at me and then quickly turned his face down in a shy manner. His smile is, but one never to forget, the way his face wrinkles by the corners of his eyes and mouth. ‘What a cutie,’ I thought to myself as my eyes wouldn’t turn away from his gentle, rugged face. He turned his face back up to look at me and our eyes met for the first time. His eyes are glass pools of the blue, sun lit sky that drowned me in the light.
“Hey! You guys want to get out of here, and go to the park or something..?” I spoke in a nervous tone though, felt more anxious to go out and enjoy the night than anything.
Matt spoke out first in reply to my gesture, “Yeah, sure I’ll go.”
“Good idea!” Ginger said. And Lucas nodded his head in agreement as he arose from his chair. A smile exchanged from him and I across the room.
We made it outside where the night sky blanketed the world above us. His whole focus was me and mine was him. We walked side by side and brushed hands. I stared down at my feet as I walked to keep myself in balance. His fingers soon intertwined with mine and we were holding hands. His touch made me feel safe as his strong grip would not let me slip away. The park was merely a play ground for our words to be tossed and shared among all. We talked like there was no such thing as time. We all walked back to Ginger’s Granny’s house. As everyone else walked into the house, Lucas held me back with him. I looked up at him as he took a deep breath in. He began,
“Chantel, I know I don’t know you and all, but I would like to get to know you. Would you like to be my girlfriend?” He looked so cute and I could tell he was nervous. Everything he said I knew in his mind made so much sense to say and honestly, I felt the same. So with no hesitation I answered him,
“Of course.” I jumped into his arms as he had his head cocked down. He squeezed me with a strong grip and buried his face within my shoulder and neck. I pulled up from the hug and whispered in his ear, “I would love, to be your girlfriend.”
The words rolled off my tongue through my lips slapping a kiss to his blush red checks. At that moment I couldn’t help but to think about how happy I felt; my whole world uplifted to the clear dark sky and the only worry in my mind was the sun rise. The night had us trapped in its magical vortex of love and the creeping hour of dawn feared us in it uncovered meaning of departure. Until the light brightens up this day, we’ll meet again.
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