As I stare at him, every reason for why I shouldn't take a walk with a stranger flashes through my mind. Stranger danger. He could be an axe murderer. He could any type of murderer, axe or not. All of a sudden, the panic subsides and I'm not afraid. I know he won't hurt me and he doesn't and never had any intentions too. My intuition has always been strong and I'm depending on it right now to not lead me astray.
After a long pause I say, "Uhhh... yeah. I think I have time for a quick walk." Just in case, I want to dodge out of there I make it seem like I have a busy schedule ahead of me.
"Great. Thanks," he mumbles, as he turns back to face the path.
I take a few jogging strides to catch up to him so we can walk shoulder to shoulder. As I catch up, I can't help but notice how the feathers of his wing tattoos seem to ripple in the breeze. I screw my eyes shut and shake my head before I reach him; as if what I saw was all in my head.
"So... Dane, you had a few questions for me," I ask trying to avoid an awkward silence.
"Oh yeah! Um... I was wondering if you could see me?"
"If I could see you? I can see you. I don't wear contacts or glasses or anything. Or what do you mean," I ramble back, utterly confused by what he really meant. Obviously I can see him. We are talking and I have looked right at him multiple times. Maybe I shouldn't have agreed to this walk.
"Nevermind. Weird question. Do you go to this church often," he asks shaking his head, trying to change the subject.
"Yeah, I have been going here for a couple years now. I found it after having a rough freshman year. How about you," I ask back, liking this direction of conversation a little bit better.
"I have only gone a few times now. Kind of new to town so I drifted in."
The word drifted catches me off guard somehow and quickly stop sipping my iced coffee to tilt my head to the side and furrow my brows as to ask what he means.
"I moved here a month ago from out of state. Heard good things about this church so I decided to come," Dane elaborates. "You go to school at UCSC? You from Santa Cruz," he shoots back.
"Yeah, I'm a senior at the UC, but I'm not from Santa Cruz. I'm from San Diego, so I'm a little far from home," I say looking into those gorgeous blue, grey eyes. I have relaxed since our conversation has eased into a flow of back and forth. I always like meeting new people for these easy types of conversations. I know what the answers are to all the questions, not getting too deep anything, but getting to know a new soul that resides in this universe of ours. I always thought it was cool.
With this laidback conversation, I'm starting to notice just how handsome this man is. His dark cropped hair makes him look well kept, but his stubble that dusts his cheeks and chin makes him look rugged. The biceps that stretch the arms of his short sleeve t-shirt is enough to make any girl swoon. And his jeans are a little tight, but aren't so tight that I would call them skinny jeans. His outfit is made complete again by those boots that he was wearing last week.
"You don't go to UCSC, I'm guessing since your new? What brought you to Santa Cruz," I ask not missing a beat even though I'm ogling the heck out of this guy.
"Oh, ya know... wanted to live by the ocean. Feel the sea breeze every morning when I wake up," he dodges the question with a light hearted smile. Interesting, there's something he doesn't want me to know, but I know better than to push the subject with a new person, so I just laugh with a smile of my own.
"Since your in college," shifting the conversation back to me, "what are you studying?"
"I'm a Community Studies and Politics major. I'm interested in how politics and government has an influence at local levels," a line that I have given probably a million times since having to switch from Chemistry after my disastrous freshman year.
"Interesting," Dane nods, which is what most everyone says after I give my answer. "So I'm talking to a future world leader," he smiles.
"Future community leader," I raise my pointer finger to correct him.
This makes him actually laugh for the first time and puts both his hands up to say, "I stand corrected."
Seeing and hearing him laugh makes me laugh too. He seems like a different person than the person who was glaring at me across the auditorium last week. I wonder what has brought on this change.
As our laughter dies out, I shake my head and drop my gaze to the ground. We each take a sip of our coffees to fill the void. I sweep my eyes away from him for the first time to check out my surroundings. The path is pretty cool with tall eucalyptus trees all around. There are a few other people on the path in front of us, but we can't hear them and I'm guessing they don't hear up either.
There's a beat of silence between us, but it's not awkward or uncomfortable. It's just relaxing.
"Why did you choose Santa Cruz," he asks breaking the silence while looking at me with his head bent.
"Uh..." I started looking at my hands, this question is always a hard one for me because the answer is really loaded. "I needed to get out of San Diego," I say meeting his eyes, not giving my usual response of I wanted to still be by the ocean to surf, but be far from home. "It was SSDD, you know? Same shit different day and it was just getting oppressive. Excuse my French." I don't really give away too much, but for me to even express the need to "get out" is huge. I have no idea why I decided to not give my usual answer to this stranger, but it just didn't feel right. It wasn't the right answer for Dane.
He furrows his brow in a concerned, apologetic look, "I'm sorry."
"Oh it's alright. I made the right decision and now I'm almost done," I say trying to sound more upbeat, but I fall a little short. I drop my eyes from Dane's gaze to my hands again. Feeling oddly emotional, I bat down the swell rising to my eyes. There's no way I'm going to cry in front of this guy the first time we're talking.
Our conversation lapses again and it's my turn to save it, "So what do you do, then if you don't go to school?" I look up at him again now that I have my emotions in check.
"I was in the military for a while, but I'm out now. I do a little bit of everything at this point," he replies not really giving me an answer of the here and now. What is this guy hiding?
"Oh wow! Thank you for your service," I say, something that I picked up in high school after one of my teachers was a veteran. "How many years did you serve, if you don't mind me asking," I tread lightly because military service can be a difficult thing to talk about for some.
"No, I don't mind. Thanks for asking though. I was in it for four years. I joined right after high school. I knew that's what I wanted. It was hard at times, but it helped shape me into the person I am today," Dane says with a slight smile.
As we have continued our walk, we have drifted closer together, closing the gap between him and I. There's maybe an inch or two between our elbows. The path has popped us out on the other side of the church. I'm a little disappointed that we have finished the walking path.
"Where are you parked," he asks and I let out a sigh of relief that he wants to walk me to my car.
"On the other side of the lot. I usually park in the farthest section so I can get out quick and avoid the back up afterwards."
"Nice, I'm over just in the section after that. Can I walk you to your car," he asks looking straight at me, almost pleading with me for an extra minute or two.
"Yeah," I say with a smile, "I'd like that."
We walk to my car, elbows nearly touching and I wonder if he will ask for my number or to meet up again outside of church. I hope he does. After he seemed to lose the mean mug, he seems like a nice guy. Someone I would actually like to continue to see and hang out with.
We make it to my car, "well, this is me," I turn to face him.
"Nice. Um... would you like to hang out sometime? I would like to talk with you more, if you want," Dane asks rubbing the back of his neck. Damn look at those arms and that tattoo!
"Yeah, that sounds cool," I say trying to be all nonchalant, while heat rises up my cheeks. The blushing always gives me away.
"How about Tuesday? Do you want to grab lunch," he asks, not noticing my redness or if he does he doesn't give me away.
"That works. Could we meet at one so I'm not rushed after class? We can go to this place on the Westside that's good for lunch and has a few different places to choose from," I say, just making plans without his input. "If that's ok way you?"
"Yeah that works. Could I get your number and we can work out the details?"
We exchange phone numbers and make plans to text later to iron out the details for Tuesday. I'm smiling at the end of the transaction and I hold out my hand and say, "It's nice to meet you Dane."
He puts his hand in mine and bring my hand to his lips for a quick kiss. I'm pretty sure that my mouth drops a little bit in surprise. The kiss is an electric burst that runs up my arm and through the rest of my body. "The pleasure is all mine," he says pausing, "Summer."