Wonderstruck

I’ve always imagined traveling to California one day to see what it would be like out here and now that I’m actually in San Clemente, it feels too good to be true.

Standing on the balcony of the hotel room, I close my eyes and take a deep breath. The scent of the ocean fills my nostrils allowing me to practically smell the salt in the water as I listen to the waves crash against the shore. I slowly open my eyes and a smile tugs at the corner of my lips when I look at the view that is in front of me. The sun is at its peak, a cloud is no where to be found, the palm trees are swaying in the light breeze, and the ocean’s waves are washing up the sandy shore.

I’m brought out of my daze when I hear a voice from behind me say, “So, I was thinking that since it’s beautiful out, we could hit the beach for a little while. What do you think?”

Looking over my shoulder, I smile back at my friend and nod my head while answering, “I think that’s a great idea.”

Shannon squeals in delight and claps her hands excitedly before naming all of the things that we would need for our little trip to the beach. Once we’ve gathered everything, we leave the hotel and begin our short walk to the beach.

We arrive at the beach in about ten minutes and once we arrive, we place our belongings down before going to put our feet in the water. After spending a few minutes in the water, we make our way back to our things and lay down on our towels, enjoying the warmth of the sun beating down on our bodies.

As we’re laying there, we talk about what we’d like to do on our visit and what places we’d like to see when a frisbee lands merely inches away from our faces. A small yelp passes through my lips and we both sit up quickly to see where it came from.

“Sorry about that. My friend kind of sucks at aiming sometimes,” I hear a male voice say from behind me causing me to turn around. Almost instantly, my breath gets caught in my throat as I stare at the beautiful man in front of me. “I’m Ryan,” he introduces himself with a smile.

“I-I’m” I begin but pause for a moment when I take notice of his green eyes causing me to lose my train of though.

Shannon tries to stifle a giggle from beside me as she leans towards me and whispers, “Calli. Your name is Calli.”

I glance over at her quickly, sending her a thankful look and introduce myself, “I’m Calli.”

“Calli. That’s a beautiful name,” Ryan says causing a blush to slowly creep its way onto my cheeks. “Again, I’m sorry about the frisbee but maybe I can make it up to you somehow?”

“What do you have in mind?” I inquire, a small smirk spreading across my lips.

Ryan shrugs his shoulders and smiles softly at me. “I don’t know. I was thinking dinner, maybe?”

“I’d love to,” I reply as a small grin tugs at the corner of my lips. However, I begin to shake my head when a thought comes to mine, “But I can’ t leave Sha-”

“Oh, no. You are not turning this date down because of me. I will be perfectly fine with room service and some TV,” Shannon cuts me off while shaking her head and then turns to Ryan, “she’ll be more than happy to go to dinner so consider it a date.”

I playfully roll my eyes at her forwardness while Ryan chuckles. He then turns to look at me, a grin plastered on his face and says, “Alright, it’s a date.”



Later on that night, Ryan ends up taking me to dinner at a nice, casual restaurant where we talk and get to know each other throughout our meal. Once we’re finished with our meal, Ryan takes me to the beach that we had met at earlier on in the day.

A content sigh passes through my lips as I watch the waves crash into the shore and soon, a small smile tugs at the corner of my lips when I feel two arms wrap themselves around my body.

“You know, I had a really good time tonight.” I hear Ryan whisper in my ear as I lean back against his chest. “When are you heading back home?”

I groan softly as I think about how my vacation will be ending in only a week and answer, “Much too soon, unfortunately.”

“Well then, I guess I’ll just have to plan a trip to go visit you.”

My head immediately snaps to my right so I can look at Ryan as my lips part slightly in surprise. “You’d come out to visit me?” I ask softly, barely above a whisper.

“Of course I would,” he grins, “it’s not everyday that you meet a girl as great as you so why would I let a few hundred miles get in the way?”

Unable to say anything, I simply turn around to wrap my arms around Ryan’s waist and hug him tightly, a smile plastered on my face the entire time. I feel his grip around my arms tightly as I rest my head against his chest and we remain like that for what feels like hours.

We stay at the beach for a little longer before Ryan brings me back to the hotel.
“Tonight was incredible, Ry,” I tell him as we reach my hotel room.

“I’m glad you had a good time,” he replies while taking one of my hands in his. “Would you wanna get together again tomorrow?”

I nod my head as a smile tugs at the corner of my lips. “Yeah, I’d really like that.”

A grin immediately appears on Ryan’s face as he brings his free hand to my face, brushing a stray piece of hair behind my ear. He then allows his hand to rest on my cheek, his thumb stroking it softly while lightly bringing his face closer to mine. Soon his lips are pressed against my own in soft kiss.

Although the kiss is short, I can feel my knees immediately become weak as my heart melts into a puddle. When Ryan pulls away, he leans his forehead against my own as a small smile spreads across his lips.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he says, “goodnight, Calli.”

He places one last kiss on my forehead before walking away towards the elevator as I open the door to my room and walk inside. Once I close the door behind me, I lean back against it, my smile never faltering.

“Did you have a good time?” I hear Shannon say causing me to look up and see her laying on the couch.

Nodding my head, my smile remains in tact as I softly reply, “I’m wonderstruck.”