"Man... There's so much out there." I said to my aunt Quinn as we sat, legs crossed, overlooking the city before us. Well, more like below us. Our apartments on the 14th floor. Quinn sat in short pj pants and an unbuttoned flannel with a white tank top underneath. Her messy brown hair was in a thrown together braid on her thin shoulder. I sat across from her, clutching my navy blue coffee mug between my hands. I was wearing a thin t-shirt and my underwear with my hair up in a messy bun. I had no one to impress. It was 8am and we sat and talked for about an hour as we normally do when we sip our morning coffee.
"I know babe. Your life is out there. Right now you're looking at everything. Your love life. Your experiences. Your mistakes. Your embarrassing moments. Your family. Your future. Your everything. And you get to sit here with me and smile, overlooking it this lovely morning."
Oh dear God.
"I believe that is too deep of a thought for 8am, Quinn." I replied, sitting up a bit straighter.
She just threw me a big smile and continued to sip her coffee. You see, Quinn isn't any normal aunt. She is the most amazing aunt I could ask for. When my parents passed when I was 1 my grandparents took me in. That was the time of bonding for my aunt and I. We grew up as practical sisters. As as soon as she was old enough, she took custody of me. We currently live in a two bed one bath apartment that overlooks the city. I've loved this apartment since I met it. It may be small but its adorably decorated with Quinn's amazing sense of décor.
All in all I love her. She's been there for me as long as I can remember. She remembers what its like to be a teen because she was one not to long ago. Being 21, her young spirit still flows through her. Except this time its actually legal for her to drink. Not that she cares. On nights that she can tell that I'm feelin down she'll hand me a bottle of beer or a glass of wine if we're feeling classy.
"Well its been a hour babe. Time for me to take off to the real world!" she said, slipping on some cloths for work. "And Carter," she paused "try to get out of the flat today. Explore the city or something! Have some fun!"
"I'll try!" I said, waving as she left out the apartment door.
Technically I could lay in my bed, rolled in a blanket burrito, for my last two year before being a legal adult if I wanted to. This is due to me deciding to graduate early from that hell hole they call "school." But today I had a random feeling of motivation to go down into the city and maybe make some use of my life.
Quickly throwing on some ripped skinny jeans and a loose Nirvana t-shirt, I got prepared for the real world below. I grabbed my bag containing my wallet, house key, and a clutter of other random shit. Walking down 14 flights of stairs due to my mortal fear of elevators, I opened the building's door to the outside world. There were people everywhere, as usual. I blended into those walking people to bring myself to Starbucks. I treated myself to my second coffee that morning and a cheese pastry then walked myself down the park. There was a more open scatter of people there doing things such as yoga, tag, photography, picnicking, and listening to music. The temperature was amazing and the sky was cloudless. I liked today.
I scanned over the fellow humans at the park. Big butts in yoga pants, most likely used more as a mating call to random men instead of yoga. Lip gloss smiles from your stereotypical giggling teenager girl group. Cute boys on skate boards. 45 year old potential pedophile with eyes directed at yoga pants butts. The usual. Except for someone I've never seen here before sitting in the grass. I couldn't quite put him into an imaginary clique yet. He sat in the grass with his legs crossed and camera in hand. He almost seemed to be doing the same I was doing. Scanning the crowds. Once his head turned to me he made a little smile to himself. It was a grin with wonder. Almost as to say "Hey, look at that one...That's new..." His head tilted slightly to one side. Then, propping his camera on his knee, he snapped a picture of me. My face dropped. He had just taken a picture of me. This is not okay. I brought myself off the bench and strode over to this odd, yet adorable in a way, stalker boy.
"Excuse me." I said sitting down in front of him. "Did you take a photograph of me?"
"Yes, I did happen to just take a photo of you." he replied in cute, playful voice. He kept that grin on his face.
"And why is that?" I questioned in a not so cute tone of voice.
"It was a quick plan I had put together in my head. You see, I thought that maybe if I made it really obvious that I was taking a photo of this girl, she may wonder why and come over to talk to me about it. I think it worked." He said with a confident, yet slightly shy emotion.
"Nice work. But what was your plan for after the topic of you taking a picture of me faded out of the conversation? Were you prepared for a planned awkward silence or something?"
"Actually I was planning to ask her name and request to take her out for lunch."
"Oh I see. Well, it's Carter. And I guess. Do you think it's okay for two people that just met a mere 2 minutes ago to go to lunch together?"
"Well of course I think it's appropriate! I'm the one who planned it."
I have to admit, I quite adored his wit. And I figured that there's plenty of witnesses in this city in case he tries to kill or rape me.
"Well then the answer is yes. Let's get lunch." I said with a pleasured smile.
He took me through the town to a small cafe. We talked the whole way there and while eating, I learned quite a lot about this new boy. He tells me that his name is Mason and that he's 18 years young. He lives on his own in a studio apartment which happens to be just a few buildings down from Quinn and mine's building. He says that he does photography for a living and a hobby.
"But I only take pictures of things that I find absolutely extraordinary and/or beautiful." He said to me with that same grin. His eyes looked up right at mine. I saw thousands of oceans in those eyes. Those blue eyes that didn't know me yet. I kinda wanted them to, though.
