"A Likely Story"

The way she smiles makes my heart feel as light as a feather. 

When I see her throughout the day, it makes going through the day actually worth it. When I don't see her, I usually go out of my way in order to see her, just to see her face, and to smile at her--maybe wave in a shy motion. She always seems so happy, so calm, and charismatic. I like seeing her. I love talking to her. I adore knowing her. She brightens up my day--takes the pain away--always makes the worst turn into something better. She's amazing. But I can't shake the feeling...the feeling that what I'm feeling is wrong..

Peyton put her pen down, and stared at the words for a moment upon finishing. She re-read what she wrote over and over again--every time, the emotions would grow stronger, yet more sheepish than before. It was the uncertainty--the pure anxiety--of this nightmarish notion that drove her to her bashful ways. She was always a bit shy--never taking the initiative to talk to strangers, always hiding behind someone while being introduced--but she was never averse about the ways in which she felt. She used to be so confident in her thoughts, but now she feels as if they have betrayed her. Betrayed her in a way that she can't even come close to fathoming.

It was a summer day--mid July. The sky was raining sunshine, as the occasional breeze blew by to keep the heat wave from turning into a tsunami. Peyton had plans to meet up with her friends at the park, but she decided to make a quick sojourn to the nearby creek--a serene place that she would visit everyday just to keep her mind at ease by watching the water sail calmly past the rocks, creating the sound of serenity. Her friends kept texting her and calling her cellphone, wondering where she was and why she was late, but Peyton disregarded every text and every call because she preferred the creek. She preferred the alone time rather than the constant chatter, gossip, and never ending rumors. Her group of friends were exactly like that. Rumor makers. Gossipers. It was as if they never have anything better to do with their time. Which they don't, because they don't make anything better happen. Peyton, however, tries continuously to make something better happen. She never expects anything, though, she just waits for it, and some times she would help it. She's never content with just sitting around and talking about other people as if they didn't have feelings. In fact, she never really understood why she's friends with such people. She had always blamed it on Life, and its plan.

As she ambled down the sidewalk, ear-buds in both of her ears, music at a high enough volume to please her, yet at a low enough volume to stay aware of her surroundings, she caught herself meandering through her thoughts...mostly about her friends and her happiness. She knew she was happy. She knew she had friends. But is it her friends that make her happy? Peyton didn't know. She mused on it for a while, bringing up past occurrences, and feelings, both hard and happy, yet she couldn't draw a conclusion. Maybe she was thinking about it too much--making something big out of something small. She shrugged it off. What are friends anyways? People you can go and talk to? People you can count on? People that will be there for you? She never really put an exact label on the the term 'friends' because she never really knew how it felt to have good ones.

The day was so young, sun still shining bright, sky still as clear as crystal. Cars drove past Peyton, creating gusts of wind that blew into her body with great force, but filled her with refreshing thoughts, even if the gas smelled awful. The creek was just a few blocks away now, considering she had to take alternate routes to make it so she didn't have to walk past the park on the way. The anticipation of being so close, yet so far to the creek always filled her with impatience. She just wanted to get there--to be there--even if she did enjoy the short stroll in order to get there.

The last block turned into the last few steps as she finally arrived at her destination--a dead end road that led to a small patch of grass, taking you to the motive of your trip. Peyton continued down the path, to the small patch of grass, and then down the small incline that led to the creek. Although, always being alone when she makes these trips, she was a little thrown off by what she saw when she grazed the creek's jagged shoreline. A person. A girl. Teenager. This sudden sight made Peyton's nerves tingle with the uncertainty of how to act around this stranger. The thought about leaving came into her mind, but it never really checked itself out into an action. Peyton found herself walking toward the creek, despite the stranger's presence. She felt a weird sensation that made her curious--even if she didn't know what her curiosity was leading to.

She walked to the creek slowly, but surely, making sure she wasn't being too quiet as if she were sneaking up, and not too forceful as if she were confident in what she was doing. The teenage girl was sitting on one of the protruding rocks connected to the rock wall that extended from the shoreline to the middle of the creek. That's where Peyton prefers to sit. The stranger wasn't doing anything, it seemed, she was only sitting and staring at the water. She had nothing in her hands, or by her side. She was just sitting on the rock, silent, until one of Peyton's steps snapped a stick in half. At that moment, the girl's head turned in that direction, meeting and locking with Peyton's eyes. Peyton stood stiff, feeling suddenly embarrassed, and awkward, but the girl, upon seeing Peyton, only smiled. It was a warm and welcoming smile that made some of Peyton's fear melt away.

"Hey there," the girl greeted, calmly, with a wave and a smile. She turned her body toward Peyton and then stood herself up on the rock. Her clothing consisted of a blue v-neck t-shirt, jean shorts, and black converse. She had auburn hair that lit up red in the sun's light, but faded to more of a brown in the shadows. Her complexion was a flawless, soft, white glow.

"Hi," Peyton tripped over her greeting with an awkward smile and a slight wave. The girl walked off of the rocks and came onto the shoreline, toward Peyton. Peyton met her half way.

"You like coming here too, huh?" The girl was still smiling. Up close, Peyton looked into her eyes, noticing the baby blue that glimmered through the eyeliner, as well as the small stud in the right corner of her lower lip. Peyton's silent response shifted the conversation elsewhere--"My name's Evalin," she gave a 'nice to meet you' wave and smiled, "I come here everyday. It's so nice."

Peyton didn't say anything at first, she only stared. Her bashfulness got the best of her in this situation; she felt incoherent...in layman's term, she felt dumb. "My name's Peyton...yeah, it's really nice out here." She mumbled fast in an unsure manner.

"How often do you come down here?" She asked all confident like--Peyton came to the conclusion that this girl didn't mind strangers.

"Everyday...I walk here just to sit and think..." Peyton gave the first and only answer that materialized in her brain, but it came out in a sloppy, 'I'm an awkward kid' sort of way.

"I do the same thing too," she smiled upon finding out that they had something in common, "Only, some times it gets real lonely...I mean, I like being alone, mostly, but there are times when I'm lonely."

Every sentence--every word--that came out of this girl's mouth, it was as if Peyton was listening to a recording of herself. In her head, Peyton said, oh yeah, I get that way too, some times. But out loud, she just agreed and shrugged, still trying to seem friendly because she did, in fact, want to talk to this stranger, she just didn't know how to act around new people.

"You know," she trailed off as she began to walk back toward the creek--Peyton slowly followed--"You're the first person I've seen while visiting here, which is really odd given the fact that it's so nice."

The way she spoke seemed almost hypnotizing to Peyton. Her tone of voice, so soft, and kind, made Peyton want her to keep talking, but she knew she had to at least be responsive in some way.

"Oh yeah"-- Peyton dodged out of her hypnotized like state--"that is really weird. I don't really see anyone here either...It's usually just me when I come around...And I don't usually see anyone walking this way."

"Right?" She immediately answered back, "It's kind of strange. But it's whatever, I mean, more alone time, right?" She walked back to the creek and onto to the rocks, then looked over at Peyton, "Wanna come sit down?"

Peyton showed her agreement by just walking over and sitting on the rock next to the stranger. "Your name's Evalin, right?" She asked the girl upon sitting, "Do you live around here?"

"Yeah," she curled her knees up to touch her chin as she stared at the running water, "I live right down the street. Just moved in last month."

"Really?" Peyton's eyes wondered from Evalin's face to the water, then to her face again, "Where'd you move from, and why move here?"

She took a moment to respond, then proceeded, "From California. My family wanted to move here for the summer. I don't know why. I was actually really bummed out about it because I have no friends here, and it's the summer." She moved her eyes to Peyton, "But then I was walking around, real bored, and I stumbled onto this place, and this is what's been keeping me sane."

At that moment, Peyton didn't feel as alone as she normally felt. She doesn't have any friends here, Peyton thought to herself, she's all alone and she comes here to be alone...

"Yeah...I know what you mean...I mean--well, I've been living here, but I don't have many friends...errr..." Peyton choked on her words, "...I don't have, like, any friends that I would actually consider to be friends." She shrugged as if it didn't matter, "I just don't click with any of them." Her eyes went to the sky.

"Yeah, I had only one good friend back in California, and I miss her like crazy. She was the only person who really understood me. Now I'm here, in New York, without any kind of clue." There was a sigh in her voice.

Peyton tried lightening the mood up a little bit, "Well, we might not be all sunshine, but New York is still cool--I mean, we have New York City..." Her voice trailed off, and she didn't say anything for a moment..."I'm sorry you had to leave California to come here."

She smiled, and chuckled, "Ahh, I don't really care. Crap happens, ya know? Gotta learn to live with it!" She turned to Peyton and grinned. Peyton's heart jumped instantly, and she couldn't help but smile back. "I mean, at least I have this place to come to whenever I want," Evalin shrugged happily.

Peyton stared at her, up and down, from her hair to her converse. She watched as her red hair shimmered in the sunlight, she admired how her eyes shined, and how there was this aura of contentedness that seemed to radiate off of her. Peyton couldn't help but stare for curious reasons unknown. She felt a strange attraction to this stranger--her charisma drew Peyton in like a bee to honey, and Peyton was hooked. Hook, line, and sinker. This stranger had got into Peyton's mind--her voice, her smile, her words ate at Peyton. She longed for her to keep talking. She yearned for her to smile again...why?