Sick of the Sunsets

"Where are you taking me Paul?" Hannah laughed as she was being dragged down the streets of Boston and through a park which she would never have walked through on her own in the dark, under any circumstance.

As Paul only shook his head and carried on steaming ahead, Hannah smiled to herself and also had to admit that this was what she had been looking forward to from the moment that Paul had asked her.

Before Hannah took the step and flew to Boston, her life held little spontaneity. She always knew exactly what was going to happen and how, even her dates with her boyfriend Josh were the same thing over and over.

Suddenly a wave of shock ran through Hannah.

Josh.

He would most likely come to Boston to look for her.

She had finished things cleanly with him, she written him a letter, left it on his family's house door step and she also left him a voicemail message. But he was stubborn, he loved the life that he was living and Hannah had to be in it.

Hannah swallowed a great lump that had been rising up in her throat and for a second shivers passed down her spine.

However as she looked down she saw Paul's and her hands interlaced, as Paul carried on steaming ahead leading the way to god knows where, and this caused the smile to creep back onto her face.

She was living in the now. There was no need to think about what happened.

Paul suddenly stopped in his tracks, causing Hannah to bump into him, with a smile and childish laughter Paul stretched out his arms to the scene in front of them.

In the middle of Boston's largest park there was a lake, dark blue in the early evening, with the moon only just beginning to show behind the dark forms of cloud, and reflecting on the smooth water. The glittering skyline and skyscraper lights of Boston made artificial stars, but these could not shine as bright as the real stars that were in place high in the dark blue sky, and shining from hundreds of light years away.

"Oh wow," Hannah breathed as she drank her surroundings in. "This is just beautiful…" she was going to continue but Paul started dancing ahead and heading towards the lake's boardwalk so Hannah had no choice but to follow.

Paul had reached the lakeside first and skipped merrily to the boathouse that was located at the side of the boardwalk that stretched out into the lake, on which small rowing boats with lanterns were gliding across the smooth and untroubled waters.

"I've rented a boat," Paul proudly proclaimed and pointed to the prior arranged boat that he had rented. "Hop in."

Hannah smiled at Paul doubtfully.

"You can row?"

"Attemptedly."

"Are we going to get stuck in the middle of the lake?" Hannah asked slightly more worried than she let on.

"Possibly," Paul said with a sheepish grin. "Come on just get in, nothing bad will happen."

And of course nothing bad happened, but that is not to say that nothing happened.

Paul had almost dropped one of the oars five minutes into the row, then almost collided with another blissful couple in another boat and more than once were Hannah and Paul close to capsizing.

Hannah spent most of the evening with tears of laughter in her eyes as she watched Paul attempt to navigate and steer. Neither with any lucky. However through some utter miracle they made it to the centre of the lake, where Paul pulled the oars into the boat and settled in the middle, with Hannah scooting close to him so she could rest her head on his shoulders, and they both looked up into the sky, watching the real stars shine brighter than any of the glittering skyscrapers around them.

"I came to Boston because I couldn't stand California any more."

It was Hannah who first broke the silence, and she was glad that she did. Over the past weeks she had grown so close to the people who had welcomed her into their lives so lovingly and without any questions, that she felt the way of repaying them was to tell the person who meant the most to her the whole truth.

"I wanted to get away from the place where there are no real seasons and where everything thrives on image. I wanted to get away from my boyfriend who just wanted to live that American Dream of marriage, house with a white porch and one boy, one girl. I wanted to see things. I wanted to find out things for myself rather than just read about them. I wanted to start all over."

Paul did not once interrupt and Hannah cherished him for this more than ever, he did not need to say that he understood, because Hannah could feel that he did. Words were unnecessary for this moment and so Paul did what he had wanted to do from the first day he had met Hannah.

He closed the gap between their faces and brought their lips together gently in something that was sweet and completely heartfelt. It was the now, here and there. It was the moment that mattered and nothing else. Nobody else mattered but the two of them.

Paul gently pulled away, with a great smile on his face and he sat up slightly to push some of Hannah's fringe out of her eyes, however the sudden movement on Paul's behalf caused the boat to wobble dangerously to the right and before they knew it the boat and tipped over throwing the happy and blissful couple into the freezing lake water.

The hysterical and laughter filled shrieks were heard through the entire park and caused many people walking through it to shake their heads in wonder. But to the two in the water, what anybody else thought was of little consequence, and this could be seen when Hannah pressed her cold lips against Paul's whilst attempting to tread water to keep herself afloat.

"Well I'm so happy you came to Boston," Paul mumbled into Hannah's lips and she could feel his smile.

"Me too," she said with a grin and grabbed hold of the boat that was floating upside down next to them.

After fifteen minutes of struggle the boat was finally floating the way it should be, and Hannah and Paul were lying close together in a wet and shivering heap in the centre of the boat, cold but totally content with them and the world.