Eight Letters. Three Words.

Eight Letters. Three Words - Ch. 20

Chapter Twenty

We Imagine

“Why does it always have to be a surprise?”

Dylan was lying on my bed, drawing fishes on my walls as I rummaged through the closet for something to wear.

My mother and Tom had left early this morning, saying something about spending the day with some friends. I had been looking forward to staying in bed until late, wearing my pajamas and only having to move my ass from the sofa in order to get a new Oreo packet. However this was ruined as soon as Dylan had presented himself on my door step convinced we had to spend the day together. My first reaction had been slamming the door on his face. Yet between ringing my doorbell for ten minutes and threatening to wait outside the entire day, I had let him in.

“Well?” I crossed my arms, looking at him expectantly. He closed the pen, smiling at the fishes as if they were some magnificent art piece.

“If I don’t tell you where I’m taking you, the chances of you coming with me are higher,” he said simply. 

I rolled my eyes, and resumed looking inside my closet for something to wear.

“Hey, is that my green hoodie?”

He was pretty much holding what looked like his green hoodie, which must have been left behind during the many times he had invited himself to my house during the past weeks. I grabbed it from him, and pulled it on. My first reaction had been to smell it, like always his scent was intoxicating.

“It’s mine now,” I grabbed my cell phone, and kicked the rest of the clothes back into the closet. “Are we ready to go?”

“It looks nice,” he said as we made our way to his car. “The sweater, it brings out your green eyes,”

“You just gave me an excuse to keep it,”

It didn’t surprise me when the car drive lengthened to an hour. We left the road at one point, and lost ourselves in the outskirts of the city. We were in what seemed to be a meadow, grass and vegetation had grown everywhere, yet you could tell that sometime there had been benches, and streets. I saw a wooden path. It was old, the color and texture of it serving as clues. Grass had sprouted in between the cracks, and more than once I asked myself if it would sustain our weight.

“Where are we?” I asked Dylan.

“I don’t know,” he answered. And by the casual shrug and excitement showing in his eyes, I knew that he was serious. Somehow it didn’t bother me.

“Why bring me to these places?” I asked after a moment, “Why not take me to dinner? Or to a movie?”

“Want to go back?” I stared at him realizing I didn’t want to. It had been like the time he had taken me to that old drive in cinema, unexpected, different, and in its way perfect.

I took his hand and squeezed, “No, I’m good here,”

We walked hand in hand until we reached a vast expanse. Dylan pulled away from me to rummage inside the bag he’d brought. He took out a blanket and laid it carefully on the ground motioning me to sit. The wind played with my hair and sent small chills through my body as I rested facing the sky.

Somehow during the time we were staring up at the clouds, my hand made its way to his. His arm snaked under my waist, and in the matter of minutes I was laying with my head on his chest, deep in his embrace.

“That over there looks like a dragon,” excited his hand shot up in the air, as he pointed to one of the many groups of clouds. “See?”

“Yes,” I smiled. “It does look like a dragon,” I realized that I could have told him the truth. That I didn’t see one. But then, I thought it simpler to make this small lie, and earn a smile from him.