Once Upon A Time in Love

I looked up to see the sun ready for a curtain call. Set of white, puffy clouds filled the plain sky and was ready to hide the sun from blaring.

Jade decided to break the silence, “So what are your plans after Graduation? Besides college of course,”

I shrugged. Honestly, I want to spend more time with her as soon as possible. The colleges of our choosing are like a hundred miles away from each other. I can’t bear being without at least ten miles of radius of her. I would miss her. Bad.

“I’ll just probably go with the flow. Go wherever the wind takes me, face whatever waves may come, you?”

It took her a while to respond, “Probably be out of the state for a while. My parents are forcing me to come to this recreational program fit for my profession. Yeah. I’ll be gone for a while.”

I painted a frown on my face. “I’ll miss you,”

She stopped dead on her tracks and turned around to face me.

“Aw Josh. I’ll miss you too.” She took a step closer to me and gave me a hug. I didn’t hesitate to hug back.

“Just remember what we agreed upon when we first met,” she said as she pulled away.

“How can I forget?” I smiled down at her.

Let’s promise each other that we will never let anyone or anything get in the way of our friendship. Aight? was what she said after officially announcing our awesome friendship.

Not let anything get in the way. Right now, stupid love is getting in the way. I never intended for this to happen. I would NEVER let anything ruin our beautiful friendship. If I tell her I love her now, then it will all just go tumbling down. Why’d this happen to me anyway?
I don’t want this. It’s sort of a.. well, an accident. And besides, it’s her fault too. She just has to be all perfect and amazing for me to fall for her.
Stupid Jade. I love her too much that I hate her.

“Josh?” a hand was waving in front of my face, I didn’t even now. Guess I trailed off to my thoughts again. I also didn’t realize that I was staring at her the whole time.

“You still ok?” she asked, her face scrunched up.

“Uh, yeah, I’m okay. I just- “ but she cut me off, raising her point finger in my face

“Hold that thought. Do you hear that?” I freeze and listened.

“Nnno,” I said in a slow tone. I listened once more and this time, I looked around from my left to right not exactly sure what I’m looking for.

Then I heard it.

“Come on. Let’s check it out,” Jade grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the sound.

It was a very endearing tone. Quite annoying to some people, but still, it was a sonorous peal.

We kind of jogged through the path, dry leaves ruffling and flying from our run, and went down a few stoned steps. The chime was becoming more visible to hear. It got louder and louder, but still has its soft chime to it, until we turned around a corner and saw what it was.

An old, aged man who was wearing a white apron stood beside an old fashioned ice cream cart. In his hands was a little bronze bell. The sound of the bell was of course, for attracting people to buy his ice cream.

We took a few steps towards it until the old man noticed our presence and ushered us to come closer.

“Would a sweet, young couple such as your selves care to buy some homemade ice cream?” he said in a rusted, yet subdued tone.

Jade and I looked at each other.

“a couple?” I asked, raising an eyebrow

The old man looked down at our hands. Only now have I realized that our hands were still clasped together.

“You know what I’ll give you two young lovers a deal, if you buy one ice cream I’ll give one more for free,” said the man with a cheeky smile, obviously oblivious to the situation.

Jade dissented, “Oh no. We’re not- “ but I nudged her elbow to cut her off. She glanced at me with a face.

“Thank you. We are a cute couple, aren’t we?” a fake smile plastered on my face. The aged man seemed to have bought it and kept smiling, then letting us choose the flavor of our choice.

Jade decided to play along as well and bought an ice cream, giving us another free scoop.

After we thanked the old man, we walked away.

“That wasn’t right you know,” Jade said, licking her chocolate flavored sweet.

“You got to have something free at least once in your life. Besides, if you think it was wrong, why’d you played along?”

She stared for a moment then continued back to licking her ice cream. Got’cha.

I smirked and tasted my Strawberry cream.

“That’s not fair. I wanted the chocolate.” I complained

“Well I love it more. So now you’re stuck with Strawberry,” she stuck out her tongue. I returned it.

God she’s so adorable.

We stopped and sat near a wooden bench, our ice cream nearly finished and was now melting in our mouths.

Slowly, dark grey clouds started to approach from over the horizon. Not a few moments later, a string of lightning scarred through the sky and the cold wind eventually made it through where we were. There was still daylight though. It was just one of those instances wherein the heavens are kinda’ like taking pictures and the flashes reach the earthly realm. It was nice to look at.

“Good to know we’re not alone,” she muttered. On the contrary, we really were alone in that particular area. Not much people come to this part of the park. Too bad, it’s really nice and serene here.

I stared at her for a while. She eventually noticed and I saw her cheeks flush a small tint of red.

“Is there something on my face?” she asked, wiping her face to make sure there wasn’t any ice cream left smudged on her.

I cupped up one hand to her face and wiped away the stain that she missed with my thumb. She seemed to have stiffened with my act. But I didn’t move my hand away. I wanted to hold her longer.

I wonder if she’s feeling the same kind of connection I’m sensing now.

I leaned in closer, eyeing her rosy lips. She didn’t move, so I kind of hesitated. I shifted my gaze and looked at her in the eye and she was staring back, looking deeply into my soulless gray ones.

I saw lust, the same kind that my eyes were also reflecting.

Next thing I knew, she grabbed me by the neck and pulled my face closer to hers. Finally closing the gap between us, her sweet kiss felt like nothing I’ve experienced before. This was the best kiss I’ve ever had, not because she tasted like luscious chocolate, or the fact she was a better kisser than I’ve thought she was, but because I felt the passion and the love. The real and genuine kind of love no movie can ever portray, no book can ever depict, and no false doubts that can ever fill my mind.

I think hell froze because my heart just melted incidentally.