The Park

I didn't want to put this as a story so I just put it up as a journal. It's a little short that I had written a while ago and I thought that I'd share it with all of you. It's probably the shortest thing I've ever written. It's not about anyone it particular so you can picture whoever you like.

He walks slowly though the park along the snow dusted pathways. Around him flakes fall softly. The trees are bare from the cold winter and now their branches are heavy with snow. Everything looks peaceful and feels right to him.
The wind blows softly blowing a flurry of snowflakes into his face. He pulls his coat tighter to himself and adjusts his scarf. It’s cold out; he likes it when the weather is like this, but he doesn’t see why they couldn’t have just met in a coffee shop and enjoyed the scenery rather than be punished by it.
He shrugs at the thought and picks up his pace to raise his body temperature. As he passes and older couple holding hands on a bench, he smiles and touches the edge of his knit hat when he makes eye contact with the older woman. Her smile breaks and her teeth show through her lips. He’s always so courteous to older people.
Most of the reason for that is because of his grandparents. He can remember staying at their house for days when he was seven and watching his grandparents from his window.
Their routine every night was to go into the backyard before bed and walk around the perimeter a few times. Sometimes they discussed things about their lives and sometimes they were silent, enjoying the presence of each other. After they grew tired of walking they would sit on the porch and watch the stars before turning in.
He wants to be just like them when he is that age. The only thing is he knows in his heart that his girlfriend isn’t the one for him. It isn’t that he doesn’t love her; he loves her more than anyone he’s ever dated. It is just that she isn’t the one.
He thought she knew that too, but they keep going on like this. Perhaps they were just not ready to move on from each other yet. The thing that is bothering him the most was when. When will he find the girl he is supposed to spend forever with?
He is twenty-seven now and starting to fear that the girl for him may not be out there, or she is in the same situation as him and hasn’t figured it out yet.
The sight of his girlfriend after two weeks takes his breath away. When he is able to exhale it comes out as a foggy cloud that swirls in the wind. He begins walking towards her. He knows he is still in love with her because she still takes his breath away from him like the first time. He speeds up in her direction with a smile tugging at his lips.
She is standing in place staring at him. Her breath is also gone at the sight of him. There had been doubt in her mind the whole plane ride home that he wouldn’t be here in the park when she arrived. The doubt was there because she knew the same thing he knew; this wasn’t going to last.
They meet in the place she has stopped. He picks her up in his arms and spins her around as he kisses her. She plays with some of the hair that is sticking out from under his knit hat. He sets her gently on her feet and takes a half step back to look at her.
“I missed you.” He says.
“I missed you too.” She responds.
It is an understatement for the both of them.
Without another word they link arms and begin on their way out of the park. The snow has stopped falling for the most part, making the walk out less picturesque than on the way in. He pulls his girlfriend closer and smiles down at her. The answering smile he received is something comparable to guilt.
“We need to talk about a few things.” She says moments later.
He glances to the right over his shoulder in an effort to hide the reaction of his features. Something amazing happened then. He saw her; the one he was supposed to spend forever with.
She looks up and smiled when their eyes catch. They both know it’s love at first sight. He knows he’ll see her again soon but he can’t look away. A little boy runs to her and she picks him up in an embrace. He is her child; he can see it in the way they reacted to each other. It doesn’t bother him that she is a single mother. She glances one more time in his direction with the sweetest smile. Even her little boys seems to know something.
He looks down at his girlfriend, not quite feeling as much love for her as he did moments ago. She is biting her lip and looks anxious. Then he remembers her statement about needing to talk.
“Oh, yea. I was thinking the same thing.”
They exchange a knowing glance and head towards the coffee shop he’d wanted to meet at in the first place. The air seems lighter now that they know their burden of loving one another but not being the ones for each other is almost gone.