New Beginnings

I never had much confidence. I could never just go up to someone and start talking to them. Especially when it came to girls. I was out shopping at Hollister. I like their clothes,but mainly their hoodies. When I have time I go in and look around. I walk in and try to keep my head down so no one will try to talk to me. As I am heading to the men’s department,that‘s when I see her. The most beautiful girl I have ever seen. She has dark black hair and blue eyes. She is wearing a white shirt and capri pants and Nike shoes. I attempt to not make eye contact or let alone look at her. I just could not help it. I look up, as I do she makes eye contact with me. Our eyes connect. She gives me a friendly smile. I did not know how to react, so I just walked away. I looked around and found 2 shirts that I liked. I walk to the register to pay. There was only one register open and 2 people were ahead of me. I wait in line,when I feel a tap on my shoulder. It was the girl from before. She smiles at me and says “hey”. Nerves start to enter my head,my stomach, really anywhere nerves can be. I stupidly say “good to see you”. I think to myself “good to see you”? Not a hello, hey, hi. She smirks at me and says “good to see you to”. That helps my nerves since she did not react like why would he say that. There was a moment of awkward silence. Then she says to me “I like your hoodie”. I say back to her ”oh thanks,I like your shirt“. She smiles and says “thanks” She proceeds to ask “if I am busy at night”? My nerves come flying back. I say “ Yes, I mine no, I mine, I have nothing going on tonight. She smiles at me and gives me her number. She then asks “if I could pick her up”. I thought it was weird, but I put my hands around her waist. She says “No,with your car“. My face now blood red from embarrassment and humiliation. I say ”yes”. I just left the store without buying the stuff I got home to try and plan the perfect night for... I just realized I made such a fool of myself, I never got her name. I wanted to call and ask her, but I would just look even more like a loser. I called Tuscany,a fine restaurant in Salt Lake City, Utah. I called and made the reservation. I get dressed, I wear khaki pants, a navy blue button down shirt with a grey tie and my dress shoes. I called her not to find out her name,but to see if she was ready. She tells me “Almost” I also ask her for her address. I tell her “ok”. I grab my keys and a hoodie just in case and head to her house. I get to her house,as I am about to go up to the door she comes out. She is beautiful and she is wearing a red dress with black heels. She is also carrying a bad in her hand. She gets in the car and smiles and says ”hi”. I say “hi” back. She holds up the bag and says “I did not know where we were going”. I tell her “she looks perfect”. She says “thank you”. She tells me that I look handsome. I tell her “thank you”. I look at her and she looks at me. Our eyes connect. She smiles at me and I smile back. I look up and ask her“ What her name was”. She tucks the loose hair behind her ear and says “Olivia“.

We head for the restaurant when Olivia asks me “what my name was”. I responded to her “Reed”. She smiles at me and says “I like that name”. I tell her I like her name too. I was also just happy to know it. Luck was on my side tonight. There were no red lights or traffic. I thought luck was on my side. We got to the restaurant where there were cars full in the parking lot like I knew there would be. I’m just glad I called and made the reservation. Olivia and I get out of the car and walk in. It was packed inside for people waiting for a seat. I walked up to the hostess and told her I had reservations. She looks at me and says “Name”. I did not like having this much attention on me. I tell the hostess “Reed Miller”. She types the name on the computer and says “there is no reservation for that name”. Here comes the nerves. My face turns red and my voice begins to quiver. I said to her“I called early and made the reservations with that name”. She looks at me and says I‘m sorry but it is a 3 hour wait right now”. I knew she wasn’t sorry. I was going to try and get our table,but Olivia puts her hand on my shoulder and says “Let’s go do something else”.

We go back to my car and talk about what we should do instead. Olivia suggests that we could have a picnic. I say back to her “at night”. She shrugs her shoulders and says “Why not”,When else are you going to have a picnic at night”. I smile and tell her “It sounds fun”. She asks “where should we have it at”? I say “liberty park and we could order a pizza”? Olivia smiles and says ”sounds great”. She smiles and says “should I call this time”? I laugh and say “It’s probably better for you too”. Olivia calls the pizza in. She orders a large cheese pizza. She hangs up and tells me “it will be ready in 15 minutes''. I say “ok” and put the car into drive. On our way to the pizza place Olivia points to a liquor store. She says “Stop there. I pull in and Olivia gets out and goes in. She had been in there for 10 minutes when my nerves started coming back. I started getting in my head. ”what if she left, what if she went out the back door” I thought to myself. It would not be the first time someone had left me. Sure enough tho Olivia did not leave. She comes out of the store carrying 2 bags. She gets in the car and says “sorry that took so long the register was messed up”. She looks up at me and asks “if I was ok”. I said “yeah, why would I not be''. She says “your face is blood read”. I looked in the mirror and my face was blood red, I guess from the nerves. I look at her and I say “I’m fine. She smiles at me with compassion and says “ok”. I smile at her,looking at her blue eyes. Thinking this could not be real. If this was a dream I never wanted to wake

We get to the park. Big shock no one is there. If it was not for the street lights we would be standing in total darkness I carry the pizza and Olivia as the liquor bags. She says “one second and goes back to the car”. I keep walking and sit the pizza down”. She comes towards me but looks different now but still beautiful. She had changed into the other clothes. She has a black leather jacket, a black shirt with dark jeans and her black heels. I smile at her and say “Wardrobe change”. She says yeah “I hope I look ok”. I say with a smile “your perfect''. She smiles and sets down next to me. We open the pizza. I say “it looks delicious”,Olivia says with pizza in her mouth “that or we're just hungry ”. I grab a piece and Olivia grabs the liquor bag. She pulls out 2 wine glasses out of 1 bag.The other was a bottle of merlot wine. She says “want some''? I say considering it’s the only thing we have to drink. She opens the bottle and pours us both a cup. Olivia holds it up to me and says “cheers''. I look at her and say “cheers” I get a drink.It tastes fruity and clean. She smiles at me and says “so” as she smacks her hands together getting the crust off her hands “what do your parents do”. I look at her with my face frozen trying to come with something to say. She says “you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to”. She says “My dad is a dentist and my mom is a florist.. I then ask her “if she has any siblings''? She looks at me with her smile gone now. She says “I had a twin sister, she died in a car crash last year”. She tells me “she never wanted to get close to anyone again”. I did not know what to do. I don’t know how to react when people show their emotions. I just say “Ok”. She looks at me and says “Ok”? I say “um yeah ok”. I heard it then,it sounded like I did not care. Which I did,I just did not know how to show it. She looks at me and says “is that it,is that all you're going to say”. My nerves are back now and upset because I feel bad. She says well I’m going to go. I get up and say “don’t go”. She says “I will call someone,OK”. She walks away. I go after as she gets near my car I shout to her “my parents left me when I was 13”. She turns around and says “what”. I tell her “when I was 13 I went to school and came home, to our house packed up and my parents were gone, I never saw them again, That’s why I said Ok, because I don’t do well with emotion because I never know how to act, because I never dealt with my emotions of my parents leaving me”. Tears start rolling down my face. After I had said it out loud, I guess I had finally seen that is why I don’t talk to people either. I don’t want to get close to them. She walks over to me and embraces me with a hug. I wipe my tears away and she says in my ear “I’m sorry”. She lets go of me. Our eyes are now more connected than ever. As our lips connect I feel the softness of her lips and the fruitiness of the wine on her breath. I never wanted to lose Olivia. After that night I knew I could let go of my past, and make new beginnings with Olivia