Skye wrapped her lightweight scarf around her neck and pulled her knitted sweater around her body more snugly. It was early November, and she was currently in a food tour of San Francisco and Napa Valley. She went on the trip alone, wanted to experience travelling on her own for five days. She and her fellow foodie tourists were in Chinatown, sampling authentic and traditional Chinese cuisine. They were sampling some Peking duck wrapped in soft pillowy bao buns with a little bit of hoisin sauce and thinly sliced scallions to dress the dish up, and she swore she died and went to heaven. She let out an involuntary moan as she slowly chewed the delicious dish.
"Hmmm is right," a tall, handsome man she didn't realize stood next to her said.
"Oh," she covered her mouth with her free hand and let out a girlish giggle. "I'm sorry, I didn't think anyone was paying attention to me."
"Dylan O'Connell," the man said to her and held out his hand.
"Skye Garcia," she reached for his hand and shook it.
"You alone?" he asked her.
"Yup. You?"
"Yup," he mimicked her.
Dylan was tall, lanky, and impossibly handsome. He had a fair complexion, thick hair, and dimples no woman could resist. His black rimmed glasses framed light brown eyes with impossibly long eyelashes any woman would be envious of. His glasses added to his handsomeness, she was a sucker for a man who wore glasses after all, and Skye couldn't help but just stare at this man before her. If she hadn't just shaken his hand, she was sure he was just a figment of her imagination.
"What brings you to this tour, if I may be so bold to ask," Skye asked him.
"I have a travel blog. I go on all kinds of adventures and trips and then write about it on my blog."
"Oh, that's nice," she smiled.
"What about you?"
"Frankly, I just came here for the food," she shrugged at him.
Dylan laughed. "You're funny, Skye. I like that."
"Thanks," Skye took another bite of her bao.
She was so nervous. Dylan made her nervous. It's not everyday a drop dead gorgeous man made small talk with her. She just wasn't the kind of girl guys began random conversations with. She figured she didn't give off an approachable vibe. She wasn't the kind to turn heads after all, she thought to herself.
"Would you mind if we go on the rest of this tour together...I mean, I think we're the only ones here who went at it alone."
"It looks like. Well, it would be nice to walk around with someone."
"And bounce ideas off of someone," he added.
"So you just need a sounding board for your blog, right?" she smirked playfully at him.
"No, but now that you've mentioned it..." he laughed lightly.
"Okay, it'll be fun. I mean, as much as I loved being lost in my own thoughts the last couple of days, it's high time to get out of my head...that and I feel like I've forgotten how to speak since I haven't had anyone to talk to."
"Well, Skye, fret no more. You can talk my ear off, if you'd like," he winked at her.
Skye felt butterflies fill her stomach and flutter their wings like crazy. She tried to recall the last time she felt this way, and remembered all the way back to when she first met Jeremiah. Had it really been that long since she honest to goodness liked a guy? Sure, she'd been on a handful of dates with some guys in her classes, but those were not serious and they were few and far between. The guys she hung around with were also the silent bookish types very much like herself. Not exactly the bravest of souls, those guys. She tried to be open to dating, but during college, as it was during high school, she was all about academia. As expected, she graduated summa cum laude in Chemistry. While she didn't go to the same university as Jeremiah, they did both end up staying local, both going to universities in Los Angeles. They both dormed their first two years, but before they became juniors, Jeremiah told her that he was going to get himself an apartment and that she should just agree to rent the other room. And they've been room mates ever since.
Here she was again, falling for a man who seemed to be out of her league. Dylan, with his rugged good looks, was personable, affable, witty, adventurous, and fun to be with. She checked out his travel blog when she got back to her hotel, and was instantly drawn to his style of writing. He seemed like he was a friend who not only recounted tales of his adventures but urged you to try it next time, to go with him on his next trip out. He also posted a bunch of beautiful color photographs along with his articles, and she genuinely became interested in travelling the world, in seeing these places first hand. She wanted to experience what it was like to do things she never thought she could do. Dylan made her want to break even freer from her shell, to see the world around her, to be free of her insecurities, to learn how to be fearless. A quote from his very first blog post resonated with her; that courage wasn't the absence of fear, but rather the triumph over it.
She wanted to conquer her fears; she wanted to grow up, to be unafraid of her own shadow. She wanted to prove to herself that she could do things without worrying about what other people thought of her. Befriending Dylan was a bold first step for her. She actually conversed with him and maybe even flirted a bit with him, but she couldn't be too sure. She didn't even think she knew how to flirt. She figured he hadn't gone running and screaming in the opposite direction so she must have done something right.
***
As they have previously talked about, Skye and Dylan decided to buddy up the following day. She wore a cream colored cowl neck cable knit sweater dress over black leggings. On her feet were sensible knee high leather boots and she wore a red and blue tartan plaid moto jacket over her sweater dress. While she didn't necessarily dress to impress, she did try to look more put together for her handsome new friend. She lightly curled her long hair and applied a shimmery pink lip gloss on her lips and black mascara on her lashes more liberally than usual. Dylan looked devastatingly chic in dark blue jeans, gray cashmere sweater, and black blazer with gray patches on the elbows.
They were going to Hayes Valley for the third day of their culinary walking tour. They had just sampled gourmet cheeses, artisanal salami and fresh baked pita bread, gourmet olive oils and vinegars from Spain, and French macarons from several of the restaurants and specialty shops in the neighborhood. Now they were in line for the freshest, purest, creamiest ice cream made to order right in front of their eyes with a little help from liquid nitrogen to quickly freeze the cream.
They stood side by side before a sign that listed the flavors available for the day, trying to decide what flavor they should get. Skye stood there with one arm around her midsection and the other arm up with a palm resting on her chin, her index finger and thumb pursing her puckered out lips as she was lost deep in thought.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Dylan asked her after studying her for a few minutes.
"I know, it's just ice cream, and there are only five flavor choices, but they all sound so good!" she laughed at herself.
"Well, you could add a pairing to it, too, so that ups the difficulty level a bit," he bumped her hip with his.
"Yeah, yeah," she pouted at him. "I think I got it, salted caramel with the homemade almond, pistachio, and peanut brittle," she said with finality. "Oh, but the brown sugar with cinnamon shortbread sounds so good, too!" she stared again at the menu.
"I got it. Why don't I get the brown sugar with cinnamon and that way we can share both?"
"Are you sure? I mean, what if you didn't want to get that flavor and are only getting it because you feel sorry for the poor girl who can't decide which ice cream to get?" she said all in one breath.
Dylan guffawed. "I'm sure. Don't worry about it, I'm not that picky when it comes to ice cream."
"If you're sure..." she was still uncertain of his offer.
"I promise, I'm not just doing this because I feel sorry for you, okay?" he winked at her.
Skye looked up at him just as he winked at her and her stomach felt like it was doing flips inside her body. Those twinkling eyes and those dimpled cheeks that resulted from his impish grin were quickly becoming her weakness. She cleared her throat and looked away, hoping he didn't catch her clearly wearing her emotions visibly on her face.
After they bought their ice creams, they sat on one of the benches at the park located directly across the street from the ice cream shop. They took turns taking scoops using their small spoons from each other's cups of different flavored ice creams.
"What do you think?" he asked her.
"So good! Yours too! Seriously, the best ice cream I've ever had."
"Their tagline does not lie, I'll agree to that," he said before taking another spoonful of his brown sugar ice cream.
"So, tell me about yourself..." she shyly, yet bravely, asked him before taking another bite of her ice cream.
"So we're moving on to twenty questions now, huh?" he grinned at her again. "Well, I get my devilishly good looks from my Caucasian father and my Korean mother. I grew up here in the Bay Area, but I've since moved to Los Angeles for work."
"You're from LA?" she asked him with wide eyes.
"Yup. I live in Los Feliz at the moment. You from LA?"
"Yup! I live in Redondo Beach."
"Nice!"
"Yeah, I can't complain. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Go on, you were saying..."
"I'm an only child so my mother misses me a lot now that I live on the other side of the state. I'm actually staying at my parents' house during this trip because she insisted I stay with her while I'm in the city. So mostly blogging about the food this time around. As you already know, I'm a travel writer. I like hiking in the summer, snowboarding in the winter. And I love food," he finished. "Your turn."
"I've lived in LA all my life. Too smoggy, too congested, but I really can't complain about the 360 days we have sunshine out of the year. We're really a bunch of spoiled brats when it comes to the weather down there. I graduated with a degree in chemistry so I work as a chemist for a pharmaceutical company. Total nerd, I know, but it's what I'm good at," she giggled at herself because she felt so nervous. "Eventually, I'd like to go back to graduate school so I can move on to research and development instead of being a gofer for someone with a Ph. D., but that may not happen for a few years. I'd like to travel more and experience the world outside of the lab. I'm also an only child, and I'm too shy for my own good, but I've been trying to break free from that the last few years. I'm a lot better at being social now than I was in high school."
"You're doing a great job," he said to her before taking a bit of her ice cream from her cup.
"Thanks," she smiled at him. "And lastly, I love food."
"Ah, and hence the reason why we're here."
"Hence."
Dylan raised his now empty cup up in the air. "Here's to the start of a beautiful friendship."
Skye became crestfallen at what he said, but quickly masked it with a smile. She followed his lead and also raised her now empty cup. "To friendship."