Too Keen For Me

Chapter 12: Give The Girl A Prize

The address on my phone led me to Miles' apartment door, which loomed over me. I double checked the address one more time to make sure I had the right place as I thought about the conversation I had with Mom this morning when she woke me up at 5:45 AM on a Saturday. She gave me this address and told me to be here at 6:30 AM, saying Miles had something for me.

This situation worried me slightly since I had never been to Miles' apartment before. I didn't understand why I was here so early and why Mom insisted I bring a change of clothes.

I looked at his white wooden apartment door and felt my hands shake with worry. Once again thoughts of self-doubt filled my mind as I couldn't help but wonder when he would get his fill of small-town me. Maybe that day was today.

Dad's voice rang through my mind, reminding me to breathe. Shutting down all the crushing thoughts, I took a deep breath and knocked on the door of Miles' apartment. I tapped my foot on the ground as I waited for him to answer.

"Come in!" he called out to me. "It's open."

Without waiting a moment more, I opened the door to his home, closing the door behind me. Quietly I looked around his place, never seeing a place that was so open, bright, and modern. It was full of luxury, something that was completely different from my house.

"Make yourself comfortable!" Miles called out to me from somewhere in the house.

With a nod, I walked into his apartment. Instantly my eyes fell onto a massive map of the world behind his white couch. As I got closer to it, I noticed some countries were white, and others had color. Brazil, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Canada were colored in with shades of blues, greens, and yellows. The map was dotted with red stickers marked in the colored countries with handwritten cities; Glasgow, Toronto, Paris, Rio, Milan, London.

Unable to help myself, I reached out to touch the stickers, wondering if he had really been to all these places. My eyes fell onto writing below the map, seeing a note that was almost hidden by the couch. "Travel far enough until you discover yourself. Your mark is only as small as the life you live," I read out loud.

"Do you like my Wander Wall?" Miles' voice rang out behind me.

I turned to him with a small smile. "Have you seen all these places?" I asked in amazement.

He nodded as he slipped on a dark wash jean jacket to protect him from the fall wind outside. "Every time I go somewhere, I mark it. I want to remember that I was present, that I lived, saw, and breathed that air. I don't want to forget the places I've been because I was there, live, learning."

"It's beautiful." For someone that had never left California, all these places seemed so far and so unattainable to get to, another reminder that he was so different then I was. His life was exciting, lively, full of memories, better than mine, that was for sure. "You must have seen so many things."

He nodded with a shrug as if it wasn't that exciting. "Yeah. But Redding is my favorite place that I've ever been to," he said, brushing my cheek with his thumb causing me to blush.

We hadn't talked any more about the party at Zoe's and even though he said that what we had was platonic, I still couldn't help but fall deeper for him. I wanted to believe that he thought the same because of his actions. Like this, and how he held me when he said Redding was his favorite. It had to be because I was here. But he couldn't have meant it, could he? After all, he went to Paris for crying out loud and must have seen so many beautiful things. Redding had me, but that was it. I was just one person in a sea of many in his life.

Miles smiled at me, then clapped his hands together. "Ok, ready to go somewhere?"

I nodded with a smile. "Where to?"