Half an hour later we lay sprawled out on the deck of his boat drifting in the water as we watched the clouds in the sky.
“Do you see the rabbit?” he asked quietly.
“Where?”
“Right there,” he said, pointing up into the clouds at our left.
“Looks more like an elephant to me,” I teased.
“You gotta be kidding me,” he answered, shaking his head with a soft laugh. “Do you do this often?”
“What?” I ask, propping myself up on my elbow to look down at him.
He was an incredibly gorgeous man with those blue eyes and that blonde hair. He was Barbie’s brother in sense, almost perfect in looks. Especially when he smiled. It was like looking into this combination of all the beautiful things in the world.
“Watch the clouds go by,” he said, answering my question.
“Sometimes. Don’t you ever stop to just exist for a little while, Nick?”
“I don’t get the chance too often with the group and my family and everything,” he answered, turning his eyes back to the clouds as if ashamed.
“For all the wonders you discover in life they will never mean as much to you if you don’t stop sometimes and tell yourself you’re here.”
I reached out and ran a hand through his golden hair, letting the silk of it slip through my fingers. I was a toucher, I admit it. I needed personal contact like I needed air sometimes. It was my way of conveying how I felt.
“How did you get so wise?” he asked, staring up at me.
“Time,” I answered. “Too much and yet never enough. It holds the answers. You just have to be willing to look for them.”
I was more than willing. I wanted it all, love, life, laughter, answers, questions. I wanted to know it all and I was trying my damnedest to get it all before my time was up.
“So tell me about you and your family? You live in that huge place all by yourself?” I asked him, falling back to lie down again.
“For now. My family is out in Cali.”
“And who is the family?”
“Mom and Dad, sisters B.J. Leslie, and Angel, and my little brother Aaron. You?”
“Mom and Dad and my younger sister Rose. Are you from California?”
“Nope. I was born in New York, but I’ve lived in Florida all my life. You?”
“Get the feeling we are playing twenty questions?” I teased. “I was born in Maryland, been around the world a couple of times, and now I call this home.”
“You’ve seen the world twice in nineteen years?” he asked, this time propping himself up to look down at me. “What about school?”
“There is more knowledge in the world better left outside of rooms and books.”
“You sound like you aren’t much for getting an education,” he pointed out.
“Oh, I’m all for it. I’ve just found that the real lessons in life are found outside the classrooms. Come on, most of what you really use you’ve learned outside of school, haven’t you?” I asked.
“I suppose since I never really went to school. I grew up a Backstreet Boy so my lessons were in random hotel rooms around the world,” he explained.
“And you’ve missed out on the supposedly ‘normal’ childhood. Would you trade for it?” I asked.
“Not for the world.”
“Smart man.”
“So how have you managed to see the world so much so young,” he asked, this time running his fingers through my hair.
“I got my GED and then a plane ticket to Ireland. I’ve been nonstop for the last year.”
“Why Ireland?”
“Aye, you mean you canna tell an Irish lass when you see one?” I asked in my best Irish accent.
“Of course. Riley O’Brian is as Irish as they come.”
“That she is,” I agreed, smiling.
“Do the Irish believe in love at first sight?” he asked, softly.
“I believe in everything. Why?”
“Because I think I’m falling in love with your magic,” he whispered, leaning closer.
“I spin no spells of magic, Nick. I simply see the magic of life,” I whispered, my eyes locked with his.
“And I see the magic in you,” he breathed just before his lips brushed mine.
Once, twice, three times before his lips settled into a kiss of sweet surrendered. I surrendered to Nick and he surrendered to me.
It sounds ridiculous, right? Completely foolish. No one falls in love at first sight. It was like some fantasy. It just didn’t happen. It did not happen, did it?
Don’t we all fall in love at first sight though? If we are born to love someone don’t our hearts recognize him or her the first time we see each other. Doesn’t it always happen in an instant? The first smile, the first word, the first touch. Our hearts see it, but our minds tend to take longer to realize it. It’s how we were raised, to believe love at first sight was foolish. It’s how our minds perceive it. Our hearts though, our hearts will always know from first sight.
“Do you believe in forever?” he asked, pulling away gently.
“I believe in everything,” I repeated.
“Whatever this is, Riley. Love, magic, whatever it is it’s forever.”
“I believe that,” I said, smiling. “Now I’m not so sure I believe in your cooking ability,” I teased.
“Well, I am just going to have to show you that I am an excellent cook,” he answered, standing and pulling me up with him.
“Oh those are big words to live up to, sunshine.”
“I keep my promises, goldie locks.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
“As long as I can hold you to me,” he added, wrapping his arms around me.
“Better hold on to something since I’m going to be driving this thing home.”
“Says who?”
“Says me. I promise not to wreck your precious boat,” I said, smiling.
“I’ll hold you to it.”
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