Acacia Nathalia Sparks

'994, 993, 992. . . . . . . .984' I counted backwards in my head. It always helped me, making a countdown from 999 made me calmed down a bit, cause sometimes I feel like it's so much more easier to focus on something else when you're mad.

I sighed, closed my eyes, and lied down on the sand, remembering the conversation that I had with Naomi on breakfast; when I was chewing down a piece of toast and minding my own business when she walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Caleb." She said absentmindedly, opening the fridge and took the water pitcher out.

I nodded and grunted, hoping that was enough.

Fridge slammed. Naomi faced me. We looked at each other in the eye. Silence. Uncomfortable silence. I hated my eyes, it was the exact same eyes as hers -- green with a slight tinge of gold.

"Caleb . . . . ." She started running a hand through her blonde hair, her voice suddenly gentle, and she dropped down that smile off her face, and for a moment, I saw a glimpse of a fragile woman, like a delicate china that will fall at the slightest touch.

I felt guilty for a moment; but only a moment, before I remembered what she'd done and what I'm supposed to feel towards her. That's when I snapped and told her the words that I've been keeping in for a long time.

"I know where you're going with this. I know you're going to try to understand me, and try to talk some sense into me. I know that you think this is complicated and that you think it's all your fault. You know what, woman?" I raised my voice, pointing a finger at her. "You're bloody right. It's all your fault. You made a decision years ago without caring about the ones that will be affected by it. You only thought of nothing and no one but yourself, and now here you are, trying to get me to your side. You know what? You might have fooled Dad, but I'm not him. I'll never ever ever ever be fooled by someone like you."

And with that, I stormed off, leaving the woman that birthed me alone in that empty blue house.

Something touched my cheeks and I opened my eyes. The first thing that I saw were a pair of bright blue eyes framed my thick, dark lashes; and all I could ever think about was 'what a beautiful shade of blue.'

"Hey Caleb." The voice was unfamiliar, but it has a musical tone to it. It was feminine yet deep and strong at the same time, like she used that voice to boss people around. "Don't lie around here in the middle of the beach, someone might step on your head."

I sat up and when my eyes got used to the glare of the sun, I saw her face properly for the first time; then I remembered. "Oh, you must be Acacia."

She smiled, flashing off a set of white teeth. Her smile didn't look fake, like what the other girls have; instead it looked like second nature to her, something she does as easily as breathing.

"Yup, that's me." She held out her hand. I shook it. It was so much smaller than mine and warmer. She let go. "I heard you're zoowee mama's son. Everyone knows that. News travels fast here; and it sounds cliche, but right now, you're the news."

I raised my eyebrows. "And what? You came out to me for some scoop?"

She gasped. "I came to you? Nuh sir, I was just walking here in the beach then I saw you and decided to come over."

I looked at her for a few more minutes. She was so easy to read.

She grinned. "Okay fine, I was kind of searching for you anyway; and I figured that since you weren't in your house, you'd be somewhere around here and bingo!"

She clapped her hands.

"Why were you searching for me?"

She bit her lower lip and looked away from me, then looked straight to my eyes again. Brilliant blue eyes. "I thought you'd be lonely and would want some company and since I've got nothing to do, I've decided to hang out with you."

"No thanks; that's not really nece-" I started but she interrupted me.

"You!" She tilted her head to the side. "Should be grateful that me, Acacia Nathalia Sparks, would give her precious time just to accompany you and make you feel welcome here."

My jaw dropped. This girl is unbelievable. "But I didn't ask y--"

Her fingers touched my lips, silencing me. "You're welcome, let's go?"

"I really don--" I tried again.

She glared at me and crossed her arms infront of her chest; challenging me. I sighed. It seemed like there was no way around her. Oh well, what can go wrong?

* * * ** ** * * * * * * * ** * **

"You're unbelievable!" I growled, stomping angrily away from Acacia.

"I'm not!" She replied, catching up to me. "You were just a slow eater."

"Excuse me?!" I yelled at her. "I ate a WHOLE watermelon in a minute, how can that be slow?"

"It wasn't slow but the watermelon was so tiny!" Acacia puffed her cheeks. "Besides, even the judges thought so. They thought you were hilarious."

My cheeks reddened, remembering what happened.

The surprise turned out to be a watermelon eating contest in the nearby town. I was totally unprepared and Acacia wanted to join, so I had no choice but to accompany her.

I thought that I was just going to stand in the corner while watching her and other competitors shove humongous watermelons down their throats; but I was wrong. When she was signing up she said "Acacia and Caleb."

I choked on my water; I wanted to refuse but my name was already written.

"Why did you do that?!" I asked at her, a bit mad that she didn't ask me first. Instead of replying, she winked at me, grabbed my hand and led me to the table.

I guess it was easy to guess what happened next. Acacia won. I couldn't believe it at first, seeing her petite body, but when a judge announced us to start, she immediately started to eat the watermelons like there's no tomorrow.

I snapped back to the present. "I just let you win."

Acacia rolled her eyes. "Right, and I have seven legs. Why don't you just admit that I'm great at it?"

I shook my head. "Cause your not."

"Pfft." She giggled then grabbed my hand, interlacing her fingers with mine. I walked beside her, my feet adjusting to her steps.

I looked down at our hands. Her hand was smaller than mine, yet somehow it feels cold; and it feels rough, I never thought girls' hands were rough. "Why are you holding my hand?"

She didn't turn to be but I saw her smile from my peripheral vision. "Because I can and because I want to."

I raised my eyebrows, she looked at me. We were walking side by side on the beach, the sunset completing the whole romantic atmosphere. I rolled my eyes.

She was the one who broke the silence. "Your hands are warm and soft. I like them."

I was taken by surprise so I couldn't find anything to say.

Finally, I asked her something I was curious about. "Do you always do this? Like, go out with the new guys in town?"

She glared at me, I can see a pang of hurt in her eyes for a nanosecond, then it changed and her eyes softened. "Nah, just you. I already knew about you before I talked to you... so.."

I nodded, understanding. Back in London, I have never gone out with anyone. Not that I can't. But because I just don't want to. You can say that I'm picky, but I just wanted to be sure of the person that I'm going out with.

"Hey, have you ever been in love?" She asked.

"Nope. You?"

"Yeah, I have." She smiled to herself. "I'm in love with the beach, the color of sunset, the sound of the birds, I'm in love with the way the waves refuses to stop kissing the shore no matter how many times it's swept away ; I'm in love with the smell of Zoowee mama's dishes, and I'm in love with the idea of being in love."

I snorted when she finished, earning a death glare from her. "What?" she demanded.

"I think it's stupidly amazing."

"There's something wrong with your grammar, I guess." She informed me. She started swinging our hands back and forth. "Hey, how do you fall in love with someone?"

Like her other questions, this one took me by surprise; this wasn't a question you normally ask to someone you just met. So I told her what I honestly thought "I don't know, but I guess that it just happens, you know? Like, if you talk to someone daily, spend time with them, etc. With a lot of effort and a little bit of chemistry and magic, you'll fall in love."

Something sparked in her eyes, she beamed at me. She grinned from ear to ear. "Then spend time with me, talk with me, I want to fall in love with you."

It took me a while to process that. "You're crazy."

Her smile got wider. She tilted her head to the side. "I never said I was sane."

On instinct my hand flew up and touched her forehead. "Normal Temperature."
I murmured to myself. So she didn't have a fever.

"I'm physically fine." She remarked, swatting my hand away.

"Do you have a life threatening disease like cancer? So you'll have to fall in love within six months before you die?" I asked her seriously. It was about six thirty and the sun just completely set, we were still the corner of a street; to be honest, I really had no idea where we were heading.

She rolled her eyes and looked at me like skeptically like an alien. "This isn't a Nicholas Sparks novel; well yeah we have the same last name and all but that's not it. You're watching too much chick flicks."

I raised my eyebrows in question. Thinking about this is hard. Why can't I talk to her like a normal person, no; Why can't she talk like a normal person?

"All I want to ask is, why do you want to fall in love so badly? I mean, does it have to be right now? You've got a long life ahead of you, you'll fall in love with the right person, get married, have cute annoying kids, live happily ever after and all that shindig." I told her bluntly. I think I'm starting to get the hang of talking to her. She won't understand what you mean unless you tell her straightforwardly. No roundabouts. No mixed signals.

To my surprise she sighed and sat down on the pavement. On the pavement. I didn't want to sit down so I just stood closer to her.

It took her a while before she replied and when she did, she took a deep breath then exhaled.

"It's not like I can wait to fall in love, but its just something that I want to experience before I leave this place. I'm seventeen. After this summer I'm going to New York because I just received an amazing job offer. I basically just got my life neatly planned out. But before all that, I guess I just wanted to be able to say that I fell in love here in this place where my parents did."

I looked up. I didn't knew how long we've been together, but I'm guessing, half the day cause the sky was completely dark now and I could see a few stars overhead; and the full moon, lighting the otherwise dark earth. I wish it would fall on me and crush me to death.

Acacia's words still didn't make sense and I doubt that any more explaining would do me any good.

"Why me?" I asked after a while. I looked at her, her arms were wrapped around her knees and I couldn't see her face, it was covered by long strands of her strawberry blonde hair. "Why not someone else, someone you knew for a longer time? Someone from this place?"

She finally looked up at me; her thick eyelashes were a bit moist. It was a sight though; the way the moonlight illuminated her eyes; and for a moment, I was lost in them. I just stood there, and stared.

". . . . . . . .so, the first time I saw you," I didn't realize that she was talking to me. I finally snapped out of it when she looked away, then looked back. "I thought 'that kind of guy is absolutely the kind I wouldn't fall for.'"

Finally, she stood up and stepped closer to me until our faces were just a few inches apart. "That's when I decided that you'd be perfect for me. You're literally the opposite of me. Neat. Respectful. Sometimes dorky, has it all together. normal; and unbelievably boring."

She smiled.

I glared at her. "That's not the kind of thing you say if you want me to fall in love with you."

She crinkled her nose. "The truth is, I think you're gorgeous, kind, sweet, funny, amazing and everything good in the world."

I know I shouldn't have but my lips turned upward into a smile. "I didn't knew you could tell the truth."

She rolled her eyes. "Please."

"So do you agree? Are you up for the challenge?" I felt the weigh of her stare on my face. I remained neutral. Poker face.

Of course I have the choice to say no. She isn't exactly forcing me to do this, but what the Hades.

I'm a normal seventeen year old, I'm way too shy to even start a normal conversation, too intimidated to ask questions that I want, too insecure to let others see my weaknesses and faults, too dorky, too everything that's negative, and here's a not-so-sane girl in front of me who might hold the key to my heart.

A girl who might help me change.

I'll never tell a single soul this, but right now; I'm happy. I'm happy because for the first time, someone actually tried to reach out to me and make an effort to be in my life.

Willingly, I said "You're on."

She smiled like a child.

And just like that, underneath the dark skyline, surrounded by the streetlights and a handful of clueless strangers on the street passing by, Acacia came to my life and started interrupting my peaceful days.

Man, I sound so cheesy. I should stop watching those chick flicks.