A Spontaneous Decision (Nostalgia)

My first encounter with him was purely accidental. I was a frequent visitor of the park a few lanes away from my house. He appeared out of nowhere, and I noticed him purely because of his features. Vivid sea-green eyes, and choppy raven hair that fell sloppily over his forehead. He was good-looking, no doubt. The only thing that unnerved me was the conversations he had with the other young ladies that frequented the park. Each day, he would talk to a new one, the girl in question blushing and stuttering.

Don’t ask me why. It was a spontaneous decision. But that’s just it. Mary Park doesn’t DO spontaneous.

I have a fixed schedule, down to the last minute for the whole day, every day. It was the weekend, and I was jogging. I had gained a pretty good pace, completely focused on running. So focused that I almost missed him, standing in a nearby alleyway with another girl. The girl looked especially rich, if not drab. She had a weird sense of taste, dressed in a flashy purple top and yellow shorts. The diamond earrings and gold watch that winked in the light confirmed my thoughts.

I stopped running. Just this once. I would listen, and then get on with my life. Nothing personal here, after all. Curiosity overwhelming my rationality, I crept closer.

“… love it if you would tell me a little bit about yourself. After all, such a pretty girl like you shouldn’t hide away her talent.”

I snorted softly. Flattery was the first sign of manipulation. He wanted something from her.

The girl blushed, shaking her head and backing away hesitantly. “I… you’re a stranger. I shouldn’t.”

The boy walked forward, putting both arms by her side and cutting her off. She was backed up against the wall.

“Darling, I’m not one for clichés, but wouldn’t you say that meeting the man of your dreams in a stranger would be a perfect one?” He drawled, smirking in that infuriating way of his.

I shut my eyes briefly in exasperation and opened them again, creeping closer to see better.

All attempts of modesty and hesitancy were gone from the girl’s behavior. She was nodding her head furiously, desperately, and practically threw her hands around his neck, pulling him even closer.

For a moment, something changed in his demeanor. He was uncertain, almost to the point where he pulled away. It was gone as quick as lightning, and he smashed his lips to hers. It was only seconds before he broke the kiss and moved to her neck, dropping little surprises all the way up to her ear.

Gently biting at her earlobe, he moved away, showing his back for a second before turning back to her. The movement was so quick, I barely noticed it. Only when he moved to the other ear and pinned her hands above her did I realize… he had stolen her earrings! He was now in the process of unlatching the gold watch from her wrist, and the poor, poor girl was too caught up in the momentum to notice.

They separated, and the girl took a step away from him, embarrassed. “We… we shouldn’t have done that. Just forget it, okay? Bye.” And she practically fled.

He chuckled, long and slow. Taking the two earrings and watch from his pocket, he looked at them, eyes glittering with sadness and regret. My heart went out to him, then retreated back into my chest.

He had stolen. From so many girls now. Getting to know them, then stealing from them without them realizing it. They must have been so into his spell that even afterward, they were too smitten to realize.

And so it began.

Day after day after day. I stopped to watch him. Every single girl he swept off her feet, every single item he swiped from them. No one caught him. No one questioned him.

I watched and waited. Waited for what, I don’t know. Observed… several things. The flicker of hesitancy each second before he made his move. The long stares after each girl, bordering so much pain, so much regret, almost as if he was sorry for stealing from them. And the girls. Their hesitancy, their modesty, their intelligence, for god’s sake. All flung aside with some well-placed words from an attractive guy.

I don’t know why I did it. I don’t do spontaneous. Everybody knows I don’t. But I couldn’t help it. A weekend off with absolutely nothing to do. My mind wandered. I decided to play a little game with him. See his reaction. I went for a walk instead of a run. Dressed up instead.

Deep blue jean shorts (and I mean short) coupled with a white t-shirt with a low neckline. With my glass diamond bracelet. Worthless, but still flashy enough to be passed off as expensive. Doubtless, it would catch his attention.

I strolled by him a couple of times. He was lazily wandering about, hands in his pockets, eyes sharp for a likely victim. He was watching a couple of girls over babysitting some kids, and then… then he latched on to me. I kept walking.

He was good. He kept stopping here and there, taking occasional turns, always keeping me in his sight. I almost forgot he was tailing me.

I stopped in an alley. Pretended to tie my shoelaces. The rays of the evening sun fell just along the walls, lighting up the narrow area dimly. When I looked up, he was there. A silhouette against the dusky evening. His eyes twinkled out from behind his lashes.

I straightened up. I refused to be intimidated.

“Who are you?”

“Nobody of concern.”

“Why have you been following me?”

“A lovely girl like yourself should have some amiable company.”

“Is this your pickup line for all of the other girls you seduce?”

That stopped him in his tracks. His eyes briefly widened in shock, and he strode forwards. Right up in my face. He was inches away.

I faced him, determined to find out the truth. I wouldn’t tell him I knew about his stealing sprees; I could use that as leverage later. He didn’t break eye contact, instead, leaned back and slowly circled me, inspecting me from head to toe.

I followed his movement, turning to look at him every time he moved around me.

“I know your type.” He drawled. “Desperate for attention, a fashionista, swooning for every man that looks your way.”

I snorted. “You couldn’t be farther from the truth.”

“Oh yeah? Tell me a bit about yourself then, why don’t you?” He was whispering now, baritone voice reaching husky levels. His eyes dropped to my hands. Looking at the bracelet, no doubt.

“Why should I? You haven’t told me anything about yourself either.”

He chuckled. “Clever girl. Fine.”

“Let’s start with names, shall we?”

“We shall.”

“Alex.” I decided to dangle a line in the deep.

“Oliver.” He followed.

“I love basketball and reading.”

“I love swimming and ocean life.” Cornered me against a wall.

“Algebra.” I pushed him.

“Bleh.”

Green eyes glittered behind choppy ebony hair. A hint of a smile was etching itself on his visage.

“Parents?”

“Father. Scientist.”

“Mother. Baker.” His face sobered. Clearly, that wasn’t a topic that he wanted to talk about.

I backed down. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to approach sensitive areas.”

“It’s fine.” His face was guarded.

“Age?” I decided to change the topic.

“61.”

“105, if you want to play it like that.”

He chuckled. “You are SO not a hundred and five years old.”

“And you’re not sixty-one.” I countered.

“Brothers?”

“One.”

“Me too,” he admitted.

“Tattoos?” I asked.

“One.”

“Really? Where?”

“A tad overeager, don’t you think?” He moves closer.

Definitely intruding on my personal space. I sighed.

“Can we quit the act? I’m tired of it now.”

“Only if you do.” It was almost night, the last sliver of the evening sun slipping over the horizon.

“Fine. My real name isn’t Alex.”

He grinned. “Touché. My real name isn’t Oliver.” His breath was ghosting over my lips… and he moved away.

“Why do you do what you do?”

“What do you mean?” He stepped further back, almost out of the alleyway. He was a step away from slipping away in the shadows.

I glanced at my wrist and frowned. The bracelet was gone. I hadn’t even noticed him take it.

“Seduce girls then steal from them. You don’t want to, yet you still do it.” My eyes roved over his pockets, spotting a sparkle from his jacket pocket.

I approached him and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. I was going to get that bracelet back.

He sniffed, suddenly. A hiccup tore its way through his throat. “My mother. She’s sick. Nobody knows what’s wrong with her. The doctors keep trying to treat her though. And I have to keep paying the bills.”

“Mhm.”

“I don’t know why I’m telling you, a stranger, my whole life story.”

I nodded sagely. “Mmm… might be just like all those other girls, allowing you, a stranger, to kiss them.”

He half-laughed, then. “I suppose so.”

I hugged him, all of a sudden. He tensed, and then, oh so slowly, I felt him relax, slipping his arms around my waist. I wondered how long it had been since he had had a comforting presence just hug him, not do anything else.

I slipped my hand into his jacket pocket, ready to pull the bracelet out.

“Ah ah ah.” He caught my wrist, not breaking from the hug. “Shouldn’t you know better than to steal from a defenseless individual?”

“When said individual has stolen from countless others, AND when the object in question belongs to the one ‘stealing’ it, I hardly think so.” I retorted back, trying to pull away from the hug.

“No, just stay there, won’t you? I know it’s pointless asking a practical stranger, but… please?”

I stopped moving. That was the first time I had heard him say ‘please’. Even with all the other girls. ‘Please” wasn’t in that cocky, arrogant persona’s dictionary. But maybe… maybe he wasn’t that playboy I had watched. Maybe that playboy was just a mask he hid behind.

I loosened my arms around him and leaned back to see his face clearer. His eyes were closed, a simple smile adorning his face. Not a smirk, an actual smile of pure happiness.

“Thanks.” He breathed, his warm breath wafting over my lips. I didn’t move.

“No problem,” I murmured, exhaling slowly. His breath hitched, and he opened his eyes.

Those pools of blue-green seemed to just… draw me in. It was like I was immersing myself in the ocean, lost within the tide, unable to swim back to shore. His face inched closer.

My breathing sped up. This couldn’t be happening. This was a guy who had kissed countless girls, only to steal from them and leave them behind. My brain exploded. Screw it. The concept of not being spontaneous was lost to me long ago.

Sparks of jagged electricity whizzed through my veins as his lips pressed softly against mine. It was.. like it was everything and nothing at once. A second later, it was over. I stood dazedly, drunk on the heat that seemed to accompany his kiss. He retreated, a smirk on his face.

“I’m the Son of Danae, Princess. You can’t fool me.” The twinkle of glass on his fingertips sparkled like his parting words as he slipped into the shadows. I stood there… like a complete idiot.

Epilogue

Noah

I still remember her. Brown ringlets pooling around her shoulders, her sparkling amber eyes fierce and determined. I still remember the kiss we had shared, like we were exchanging a shard of our souls, to keep forever. So small, so fleeting, yet so full of emotion. Her aura had practically demanded attention, and I was drawn to it, like a moth to a flame. And she had it. The flame. Burning so bright, I could never look away. I kept her bracelet. Worthless, I knew, from the first moment I saw it. She was so pretty. I don’t think I ever saw her again. I had one girlfriend. Only one. brown hair, amber eyes… identical to my mystery girl. But Mary was… different. She was.. changed. A welcome change. But... I never forgot my first love. I never showed her that piece of my life, never revealed that one moment.

Mary

Looking back, I realized that the mysterious stranger that had stolen my first kiss was… a mystery. I never did meet him again, nor did anyone like him. My heart would light up every time I would spot a mop of messy raven hair, but I never found him. Names are a power in itself... Every syllable, every letter that forms a name is a connection to an identity, an individuality. If only I had known his name…

I started an architecture program, had my ups and downs, and found my friends. But that one boy… he stayed in my mind forever.

I dated, once upon a time. Found a boyfriend. Messy raven hair, green eyes, a crooked smile, and a roguish personality to match. A reserved exterior, shy of people. Noah was everything I had dreamed of… but he wasn’t him. I missed the light that had been, the sparkle of mischievousness that made his whole face light up. The.. raw way with which he lived life. Full of emotion. The boldness which made him… alive.

I hope with all of my heart, all of my soul, every shattered piece in the universe, that he gets through. I wish I meet him. I hope I’ll see him in the streets one day, teasing up some girl just for the thrill and her jewelry. I pray life doesn’t snatch his spark away, that it develops into a raging flame so bright that it will block out anything else. I hope… he lives.