Midnight Rendezvous

“Watch out!” a deep voice said, as a football sailed through the air and landed in the sand near a young woman reading. Sand flew into the air in all directions, causing the young woman to jump up hurriedly so she wouldn’t get sand in her eyes, her book strewn on the ground.

“What in the world?” she voiced, brushing off the sand from her legs and cover-up tunic.

The young man who was meant to catch the football stopped near her and apologized. “I’m sorry. I thought I’d be able to catch it, but Kristen threw it so hard.”

She looked up at the sound of the voice and recognized the man standing in front of her, and composed herself as she replied, “It’s fine. You didn’t know it would fly in the air and land this far.”

He picked up the football and said again, “I’m sorry,” before running back to the other end of the beach.

“Remember the day we met, Taylor?” Stephanie asked him as she recalled it perfectly. They were walking down the sidewalk in the park, their hands entwined together.

There was no one around since it was late, and the only person who knew where Taylor was is his publicist, who wouldn’t tell anyone where he was so he could have some privacy.

“Yeah, I do. I didn’t catch the football and it landed in the sand near you and sand flew everywhere,” he recalled, chuckling.

Stephanie laughed quietly as well. Their footfalls barely made a sound in the quiet park as they walked through it, the lampposts highlighting their figures whenever they walked by one. The cold wind would pick up at various times, causing Taylor to hold Stephanie closer.

As they walked through the park, more lights began to come on, especially around the playground. Stephanie’s mouth curved into a smile as she saw the playground.

“C’mon, Taylor!” she said, dragging him towards the playground equipment.

“What are we going here for?” he asked as Stephanie dragged him to the unoccupied swing set.

She sat down in a swing and started rocking back and forth before replying, “I haven’t been on a swing in a few years, or played at a playground in awhile. Why not now?”

Taylor shrugged. “Alright.” He sat down in the swing next to her, and started pumping his legs, making the swing go higher and higher.

She did the same, both going higher and higher. “I bet I can jump farther than you from this swing set,” she bet him, still swinging.

“Oh really?” he asked, accepting the challenge. “I’m sure I’d be able to jump farther that you would be able to.”

She rolled her eyes. “Dream on, Taylor.” She paused. “On the count of three?”

Taylor nodded. “One…” he said, pumping his legs harder.

“Two…” she chimed in, going higher on the swing set.

“Three!” they said at the same time, both jumping off of the swings. They both landed in a heap on the bits of tire below, laughing at the predicament they got themselves in.

“Are you okay?” Stephanie asked, laughing as they untangled themselves and got closer together on the ground.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Are you okay?” he asked, calming down as he looked into her eyes.

“I’m fine,” she mumbled, noticing how close they were on the ground. She leaned closer to him and gave him a peck on the lips, before getting up off of the ground. “Do you want to go on the monkey bars next?”

Taylor looked towards the vertical metal bars before smiling. “Sure.” He walked towards the bars and climbed up them, sitting on the bars with his feet hanging.

“These monkey bars are for older kids, aren’t they?” Stephanie noticed as she watched him, seeing that the bars were around six feet high off the ground.

“I think it is,” Taylor agreed as he swung his body around. He hung his legs over a bar, and started tucking his shirt in at the sides.

“What are you doing?” Stephanie asked, a curious tone to her question as she walked toward where he was on he monkey bars.

Taylor just smiled and sunk down between the bars, and hung there with his legs for support on the bar. “Oh, I’m just hanging around.”

She laughed, watching him stretch his arms out to his sides before putting them on the ground two feet below him. She crouched down where his head was, smiling as she did so.

“What are you up to?” Taylor asked, watching her sit down in front of him, her legs tucked underneath her, his vision of her upside down since he was hanging on a bar.

“Oh, nothing really,” she said nonchalantly, moving closer to him.

“You’re up to something,” he said suspiciously, the very end of the sentence he mumbled because she was kissing him, her mouth covering his. It was reminiscent of the kiss done on Spiderman, where Spiderman and Mary Jane kiss, him hanging upside down. He closed his eyes and kissed her back, she doing the same.

Suddenly they heard a click of a camera, both opening their eyes just in time to see a photographer back away in the bushes. Stephanie stood up, and Taylor put his hands on the bar to steady himself as he flipped off of the monkey bar, standing up to his full height once he was back on the ground.

“I thought there’d be no paparazzi for once,” he muttered darkly, as he took Stephanie’s hand as they both sprinted out of the park. The photographer followed them nimbly, trying not to break his camera as he ran.

The couple took a turn onto the main street, running in between pedestrians to get back to the hotel quickly without the photographer catching him or any fan girls seeing him. They ran under the awning of the hotel, just getting through the revolving door before the photographer saw which hotel they went into.

Both were running out of breath as they slowed their sprint into a walk, walking towards the elevators. “That was a close one,” Stephanie said, trying to slow her breathing after having to run a block and a half. She pushed the button next to the elevator.

“Yeah, it was,” Taylor agreed as the elevator dinged, signaling that it was on their floor. “I can’t believe that there was a photographer out there and I didn’t notice it,” he said remorsefully as they walked into the elevator, pushing the button that their floor was, and the doors closing. “We could have gone somewhere else.”

Stephanie shook her head. “Don’t worry about it! It’s fine. I loved going to the park,” she said reassuringly, getting a doubtful look from Taylor. “It was fun,” she insisted, putting her head on his shoulder.

The elevator dinged as it reached their floor, the doors opening for them to leave it to go to their room. “Alright. I believe you,” Taylor said, taking her hand in his as they walked to their room.