Timeless

I stood at the edge of my pool staring down into it. The water was completely still, I was ready to change that. I dove in feeling completely at ease as I moved through the water towards the shallow end. I came up for a breath and then ducked back under making my way back to the other end of the pool.

“Good morning Alana.” Mrs. Caruthers, the elderly woman three houses down, was sitting at one of the tables with a plate of food.

“Good morning.” I smiled at her. Mrs. Caruthers babysat me when I was younger, and now twice a month I would go over to her house and play pinochle while eating shortbread cookies.

“I see we have a new neighbor.” She looked towards the back door that led directly into the kitchen and I assumed she had met Darien. And that he was here. “He’s quite good looking isn’t he?” I nodded and she smiled. “Though he does seem a bit too old for you my dear.” I didn’t understand what she meant. We weren’t dating, he said he had someone. “Still, he is nice to look at.” She said with a wink.

“Alana!” My mom called from the doorway. “Get out of the pool and eat something please.” I sighed and pulled myself out of the pool. Mrs. C tossed my cover-up to me.

“We all know you’ll forget to eat if we don’t tell you to my dear.” I laughed knowing this was true, and had happened quite a few times. “You did put on sunscreen?” She asked as I slipped on my cover-up.

“I only forgot one time, and that was enough.” I bent over to the small chest that was a few feet away from the table and opened it. My mom stocked it with fresh towels and a few bottles of sunscreen and tanning oil every Saturday for the neighbors to use. I pulled out a can of sun block and held it up for her to see.

“I believe you. Now go get some food and come back out here so we can catch up.” I plucked a grape off of her plate as I made my way into the house.

I grabbed a plate off of the stack at the end of the counter and over to the small line that had formed by the food. The Nelson family was there with their three year old twins who very well may be the best behaved kids on earth.

“Hi Alana.” Keelie and Amy said in unison. They were in both in their swimsuits waiting patiently as their parents made their plates.

“Will you please take us swimming after we eat?” Keelie asked.

“Of course.” They smiled and hugged me. I put a handful of grapes on my plate, a couple of chocolate chip pancakes, and a few strips of bacon on my plate. After grabbing a napkin and a fork I opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water.

“Hey,” I didn’t have to see who it was to know it was Darien who whispered into my ear. I closed the door with my foot and turned to face him. Well, his very distracting and tan, bare torso.

“Good morning.” I said prying my eyes away to look at his face.

“Where are you eating, I’ll join you.” I noticed the plate of food in his hand.

“Outside, with Mrs. Caruthers.” Turning around I walked back outside to the table where she sat by herself, I could feel him close behind me. “Mrs. C,” I placed my food down and sat in the chair across from her, Darien took the seat next to me, “this is Darien our new neighbor. Darien, Mrs. C.”

He held out his hand and she shook it. “It’s nice to meet you.” He said.

“You too. Have you met Jennie yet? She lives at the other end of the street, in the house with the garden gnomes.”

“No, I haven’t.” I took a big bite of my pancakes knowing where this was going.

“She’ll come by at some point today I’m sure. She’s the sweetest thing. Just graduated from college and moved back in with her parents while she looks for work. She’s around your age. And she’s single.” Darien who had been sipping on some orange juice coughed.

“Oh.” He finally said, I continued eating keeping my gaze on the pool. “I’m sure she is, I don’t mean to be rude but I’m already interested in somebody else.” I felt his gaze, and then eventually Mrs. Caruthers on me. I turned back to look at them while I chewed on a grape.

“May I help you?” I asked after swallowing. They were both staring. Mrs. Caruthers made a noise in her throat. “He’s talking about this girl he’s kind of seeing.” I looked at Darien. “Right?”

“Right.” He said with a small smile.

“Well then why don’t you invite her over? I’m sure Celeste and Roland won’t mind.” She said. Had I not already been looking at him I probably wouldn’t have noticed how quickly he became uncomfortable.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” He said quickly digging into his food.

“And why not?” I looked down at my plate, only a few pieces of bacon left and then I could get up. And away from this conversation.

“It’s complicated.” He didn’t look at her. I hadn’t known him that long, but I could tell that this was bothering him.

“It can’t be that complicated. You should be spending time with her rather than spending your day with a girl who’s 19th birthday is only in a few days. You are after all a few years older than her.”

“Martha,” I heard my mom say behind me. I hadn’t notice she came outside. “Can I speak to you?” It didn’t sound so much like a question as it did a command. Mrs. C begrudgingly got up taking her empty plate with her.

Darien and I sat there quietly not sure of what to say. I stared at my plate finishing my bacon and then chugging down half of the bottle of water in front of me.

“So that was interesting.” He finally said. I nodded still unsure of what to say. “You should know though, I was talking about you.” I turned to face him.

“What?”

“When I said there was someone I was interested in.” He clarified.

“You’ve known me for two days.” Saying this however, didn’t stop the feeling in me like I had known him a lot longer than that. Or the butterflies. “And you have that girl.”

“It’s not what you think.” His eyes bore into mine, and before I could stop myself my hand reached out and placed itself on his arm just beneath his shoulder, my thumb sliding up and down slowly. He closed his eyes for a moment and opened them again. “I know that your neighbors, and maybe even you, think the age difference is a bit much. You’re about to be 19, so it’s a 6 year difference. But I don’t care. And if you wouldn’t mind Alana, I would like to spend today getting to know you better, and then tomorrow, take you on a date. A proper one. Preferably one that doesn’t involve a horrible movie and you falling asleep.” He smiled softly waiting for an answer.

I’m going insane. Some guy moves in next door, who my parents seem to be trying to set me up with, who is quite a bit older, and I want to say “Yes.” Wait. I think I just said that out loud. Judging from the smile on his face I did.

He reached over and took my empty plate stacking my plate onto his and stood up. “I’ll be right back.”

The rest of the day went by smoothly. Well almost. The Jensen twins and their mother came over. The girls spent their time flirting with Darien, and I felt something I didn’t expect. Jealousy. But he didn’t seem to notice. In fact anytime he wasn’t talking to one of our other neighbors he was by my side talking to me, whether it be in the pool or out. If the girls came over he would just scoot closer to me and turn his body to face me as if to tell them he wanted nothing to do with them.

And then everyone left. Darien was the last to go, it was well after midnight by the time he did. He and I just sat in the backyard talking.

But then that night I had the strangest dream.

“Alana,” Darien was down on one knee. “I know that our parents arranged it, but I am not going to force you something into something you don’t want to do.” He was wearing a pair of black dress pants and a white dress shirt. “You know that I love you more than anything. Will you marry me because you want to?”

I knelt down so that I was on his level and wrapped my arms around him throwing myself into him for a kiss. “Yes.” I said tears of joy streaming down my face. “There is nothing I want to do more.”

I sat up in my bed. My face was wet with tears. That wasn’t what woke me though. The dream felt real. My lips were tingling, and I could swear that even for the faintest moment, there was a shadow on my finger as if a ring were actually there. It felt like it too. But then it was gone.