Love at Second Sight

Sitting in the living room of my family's countryside ranch, and gazing out into the vast farmland of rural Iowa is something I will always remember from my childhood. I would watch cattle munch slowly on grass, crop dusters making their rounds above the fields, and the occasional passing of tour buses. Now, life was different. After my father passed away about one and a half years ago, my mom had moved to a small apartment in Philadelphia. My sister May then started her third year of college, and I started my first. 

I could remember the many Christmases before in our Iowa home very vividly; the ornaments on the tree, lights wound around the stair railing, and tons of family members. We would all sing Christmas carols, bake ginger snap cookies, and even have snowball fights when it occasionally snowed. Sitting in the Philly apartment, I had this feeling that something was missing. It wasn’t the fact that there were no Christmas lights on, or family members all huddled together like penguins. It was something inside me; in my heart. It started bugging me, so naturally I went to my mom.

My mom was my everything. She is smart as a whip, always helpful and caring, and above all, Funny. Her sense of humor is what strikes me as amazing. She can turn any gloomy conversation into a song of laughter. That's why this isn’t the first time I have gone to her in need of advice or support, and I almost always come out comforted.

“Hi mom,” I said, finding her busy in the kitchen.

“Hey sweetie, is something bothering you?” This is the other thing, she almost instantly knew when something was wrong. It was like a superpower of hers. You could say one word and BAM, she knew something was up. 

“I just have this weird feeling that something is missing, but I don’t know what it is,” I explained to her.

“Well while you're at it, can you think where those darn tomatoes are?” she said with a slight smile. I tried my best to stay bothered, but I couldn’t help cracking a grin. 

“Mom,” I said, holding out the O to show her I wanted a real answer. 

“I don’t know honey, maybe just try to take your mind off it, and some time it will come to you,” she said in a satisfying tone. 

“Ok, thanks mom,” I said, thinking this idea would definitely help. “Oh and where is May?” I asked.

“I think she went out for a walk with Luca,” she replied. 

“Okay, thanks,” I said while grabbing my coat off the rack. Luca was Mays' boyfriend. He was sweet, charming, and quite handsome. He was basically part of the family now; he ate dinner with us, helped out mom in the house, and even went shopping with me and May. That was what I liked most about him, the fact that he loved me and mom too. He and May were always inviting me everywhere, but I knew sometimes they wanted it to be just the two of them, so I held back.

I put on my jacket and my boots, and darted out the door. When I got outside I felt something cold touch my nose, almost like how my mom put me to sleep when I was a baby. I looked up, and noticed large snowflakes drifting down slowly from the light grey sky. I shifted my gaze downwards, expecting to see lightly covering white fields and tiny specks of cows, but instead saw Philly. Cars rushed by, sloshing dirty brown snow onto the sidewalk. Instead of the blank white canvas of Iowa, there was a torn canvas left in the middle of a gravel road. 

I started walking towards Fairmount park near downtown. If I wasn’t in the apartment, I was in Fairmount park. It had everything; lawns to picnic on, streams, and even ice cream trucks. As I walked down the street, I looked through shop windows gazing at everything from expensive wedding dresses to toy cars. I hurried on with the large crowd of people trying to escape the cold.

I found myself at the edge of the park and stepped onto a little bridge leading into it. It was like a whole new world! The grass was coated with a thick layer of snow, trees were topped with white frosting, and a little stream that ran under the bridge was frozen over. It was almost like in the movies my  sister and I would watch together under a sea of blankets. 

I passed a bend and found myself walking down a path with an allee of trees. I had been here many times before, but the snow made it ten thousand times more beautiful. I saw a biker coming towards me, and I wondered how someone could possibly bike in this weather. As he passed me, he stared at me weirdly, like I was wearing a clown costume. I looked at him for only a second, then shifted my gaze forwards to the allee path seeming to go on forever. 

“Sabrina?!” The biker said from behind in a very surprised tone. I looked back as he took off his winter cap and- Oh My God, it was Justin Maloney. I slightly gasped, and saw my hot breath rise above my face. Justin had gone to my high school, but mysteriously stopped coming after a few weeks of junior year. Even though we weren’t friends, I still used to wonder what happened to him; sometimes I would make silly guesses like he went to train monkeys at the circus, and sometimes I would make more serious guesses like he had some traumatic accident. 

“Um, hi Justin,” I said shyly.

“Wow, It's, it’s been so long,” he said, stuttering the words.

“Yeah, wow,” I said, the wow more to myself than him.

“So, what brought you to Philly?” he asked.

“Well my dad passed away, and my mom needed a job to keep up the family, so we moved to an apartment on sixty seventh street,” I said, with a slightly sad tone.

“Oh, I’m so sorry for your loss,” he said very solemnly, looking at his boots.

“Yeah, well where have you been all these years?” I asked, squirming my toes in my damp boots.

“My grandfather, who was 87, had a heart attack, and so we rushed to his house near Baltimore right away. We stayed at his house for a few days while he's recovering, and then my mom and dad decided to move here. They said it was time to be near their parents, since my mom's side lived in Boston,” Justin explained. 

“Wow, so you just left completely?” I asked, wondering why he didn’t tell anyone.

“I guess so. We were already in a tough living situation, and I guess for my parents it was just another sign,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. I nodded my head to show him I understood.

“What a coincidence we are running into each other,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief. 

“Yeah, wow,” I murmured. 

“Well I've got to get home, but I'd love to chat some more. Want to meet here tomorrow at one?” he said, his eyes wide and full of heart and love. I remember him being sort of a mean guy in high school. Maybe it was just me, or maybe he had just changed into a charming and sweet man.

“Yeah, that sounds great!” I said, excited to reconnect.

“Awesome, I’ll see you then!” he said excitingly. He mounted his bike, put his helmet on, and faded into a dot on the horizon. I turned around and started walking my usual loop through the park.

★★★

I sat down at the dining room table with May, Luca, and mom. Luca stayed for dinner almost three times a week. It was always so nice to see him, he was like the big brother I never had. We each helped ourselves to the beautiful dinner my mom prepared; green beans, scallop pasta, and more. 

“Okay guys, dig in!” mom said picking up the platter of green beans and handing them to Luca. 

“So Bri, where did you walk earlier?” May asked. Bri is my nickname. Most people say it doesn’t make sense, but I say it’s right in Sabrina.

“Well I did the usual loop, but I saw a guy that went to high school with me. We chatted for a bit, and decided to meet tomorrow to catch up some more.

“Oooh, like a high school sweetheart?” May asked, in the kind of tone that only siblings would use.

“No,” I said, making it sound like she was the stupidest person in the world. I guess I blushed a little because her and Luca started giggling.

“Well it’s about time you get a boyfriend,” May snickered under her breath. 

“May, really,” mom said in a slightly harsh tone, but May just laughed even more. Once we passed all the food around and had great big portions on our plates, the talking stopped.

After dinner, we all watched a movie on the large sofa; My mom on one end, me in between her and May, and Luca on the other end cuddling with May. During the credits we all went our separate ways; Luca went to his home, I went to my room, mom fell asleep on the couch., and May went out to do who knows what. I read for a while, and then slowly drifted off.

★★★

I walked through the park for the second time this weekend, but this time I knew what was coming. I arrived at the same time as Justin, eyeing him from a distance. We picked a nice patch of snow, and sat down, covering ourselves with many blankets. You’d think we were cold, but the blankets kept us warm, and just being near him I felt comforted. 

“So, do you go to college around here?” He asked, his eyes mirroring the snow around him.

“No, I go to Loyola University in Chicago and am majoring in political sciences,” I told him.

“Political sciences, that's interesting,” he said, and I could tell he meant it.

“Yeah, what about you?” I asked him.

“I'm going to UNC in North Carolina and am studying international relations,” he said.

“Wow, that's so cool!” I said, sifting snow through my thick mittens.

We talked for almost two hours, before both of our butts started hurting, so we decided to walk around the park. The snow started falling faster, the whole world turning white. I saw one large snowflake slowly being pulled down to the ground, and decided to catch it on my tongue. I ran over wildly, my big boots trudging through the snow and my scarf flying behind me. I jumped out to reach it and fell on my face. Justin and I started laughing, the kind of laugh where you bend forwards and fling your head back. I could see his eyes shine even brighter than before, like tiny light bulbs. He helped me up, and for a second we just stared at each other, the rest of the world stopping for just us. Then I realized what I was missing- Love. He brought me slightly close, my chin only an inch away from his shoulder. He looked down. I looked up, He leaned over. I got on my toes, And the rest is history.