This year started out with being set up on a blind date from someone I had met in the art field. It was set up where it would take place at a bar in the small town of Stillwater, I had just moved here and accepted a teaching job at the local college. I did not start the job for a few weeks, so I decided I would try the blind date. The bar's name, Lights Afar Bar, it was on the edge of the town, and was right on the lakeside.
I walk into the bar and walk straight into the bathroom to wash my face because of how nervous I am. I wash my face in the sink and look at myself in the mirror, my green-colored eyes show how nervous I really am. I brush my brown hair out of my eyes, I button up my shirt, to collect myself; I take a breath and put my glasses back on my face and calmly walk into the bar.
I spotted someone who matched the appearance of the girl I was supposed to meet, I walk up to her hoping it was her,
"Are you Alice?"
She smiles and replies, "yes I am."
She stands up and shakes my hand, her hands are extremely soft, and I swear I just felt something when our hands met, almost like a spark of electricity. I look at her face and see she has eyes that are bluer than the seas of the world, with small flecks of gold in them. Her hair was in a ponytail but was still long enough to touch her shoulder blades, the beautiful sandy blonde hair throws off a floral smell, almost like fresh flowers.
"Hi Alice, my name is Oliver, it's a pleasure to meet you."
We sit down at the table, and ask questions to begin getting to know each other,
"Alice, are you feeling as awkward as I am?"
"Yes, is it just me or do blind dates never end good?"
"I actually agree with you Alice," we both laugh as the server approaches.
We order two beers; the server walks away with our order, and we stand up and walk over to the 8-ball table. We get right next to the table, and she asks the first question.
Alice asks me, "Oliver how old are you?"
"I'm 24 why do you ask?"
"Damn it you are older than me I was hoping we were the same age; but I am only 18."
"Wow your definitely are younger Alice, so are you any good at 8-ball?"
"No not really," she watches me sink 2 balls in at once.
"Come here I'll show you what to do." I handed her the stick.
I get behind her and show her how to hold the stick in her hand, and explain it to her,
"Now imagine the path this ball is going to take when you hit it and try to imagine the angles of the balls you hit, now pull the stick bask and don't hit too hard but strike the ball."
She hits the white ball, and it hits the red one into a pocket, she claps her hands and gets excited. She tries again this time by herself and makes another in, she gets excited and jumps up and down, it was really cute. She missed her next shot and gets disappointed, she watches me as I sink in three more balls, I purposely miss the next one. She hit another ball and then she sees that the white balls path has been blocked by one of mine.
"What do I do here, Oliver?"
"Do you want me to show you?"
She nods with a smile on her face, I get behind her and help her line up a shot and then say,
"Ok relax and let the stick glide through your hand and strike true."
We pull back on the stick and then smack the white ball low which causes it to jump over my ball and hit hers into the pocket, scoring her the win. She is so excited and hugs me,
"Thank you that was incredible, I can't believe we made that."
"You are pretty good for a beginner Alice."
She smiles and puts the stick back on the table, we walk back to the table and finish our beers. Suddenly a voice comes on the speaker saying karaoke will be starting in two minutes and asks the crowd for volunteers, and Alice points towards me.
"You should give it a try."
"No, I don't sing,"
"Please!" she begs.
I stand up and walk to the stage, I look out as the music starts and see about 30 faces staring at me,
"Don't know how long I been waiting, worth every min…ute though."
Start singing the song "Take you a little bit higher, by Companion." I do not think I'm doing good but then people start cheering. I look down and see Alice clapping and moving her head along. I keep singing and find that I am actually starting to enjoy it.
"When I close my eyes, only you that I see…. You're in my head, in my heart, in my dreams."
Everyone stands up and starts moving along and clapping, that embarrasses me a little, but I keep going, Singing till the last line.
"I take you a little bit higher." The music ends and everyone claps.
I go back and sit with Alice; she has a huge Grin on her face.
"Oliver that was so good, I thought you said you don't sing."
"That was the first time I've ever sang," I reply.
"I mean that can't be true you sang like you've done it forever."
I laugh and we keep talking about all kinds of other things, I found out she grew up with a brother and sister, they both lived in the city that's a few hours away. I also learned that her parents were ling in the big city in California, Los Angelas. She told me she was an Artist and that her dream was to sell a painting at an art exhibition one day. She asked me about myself, and I told her I grew up in an orphanage and that I had to pave my path all on my own.
The date continued late into the night and before we knew it, it was almost midnight,
"I guess it is getting late Alice can I walk you to your home."
"You can walk me as far as Main Street but after that I'll be fine on my own."
We stand up and I help her with her jacket,
"Such a gentleman Oliver, thank you."
We walk out of the bar and walk towards Main Street, as we walk, we talk and have a lovely conversation about the beauty of the town of Stillwater. She tells me about all the trails and the fact that we are surrounded by trees is amazing, I feel a hand grab mine and look down to see her hand softly squeezing mine. Her hand in mine makes me blush and I look at her face and see her blushing too, so I squeeze he hand back and see her smile. We get to the intersection of main and straight street, and she looks at me.
"Thank you for a such a fun night, this was better then what I was expecting."
"I'm glad I could exceed your expectations, Alice."
She pulls her hand away from mine and reaches into her pocket and pulls out a piece of paper, which she hands me.
"What's this," I ask.
"It's my number call me if you feel like having another date."
She smiles as she starts to walk away, she turns around and leaves.
I put the paper into my pocket and turned around and started to walk to the convenience store. I get to the store and walk in to buy a drink, grab a sparkling lime soda, and walk to the counter, to pay, I don't see the clerk anywhere, so I leave the two dollars and a note on the counter and walk out. I go to the public parking spaces right next door and walk up to a black Kawasaki ninja motorcycle. I put the soda in my backpack and get on the bike and put the key in, it starts up, so I take my glasses off and slip then into my pocket then put my helmet on.
I start driving out of town, my house I about 15 minutes outside of town, I pull down a private road and drive up it for about five more minutes. I pull up to a big house and open the garage and pull my bike in parking it between the Corvette and F350. I walk out, closing the garage door behind me and walking in the front door. I turn the lights on, walk past the ling room and into the kitchen; I put my bag down on the counter and walk up the eastside stairs to my room and go to bed.
I wake up the next morning rolling out of bed and walking to the balcony outside the sliding door in my room. I stretch and watch the sunrise come up over the treetops, the sun sparkles on the trees almost like all the forest is waking. I walk inside and the speakers throughout my house ring, I look at my tv and it says I'm receiving a call from Dean Summers.
A voice asks if I'd like to take the call, it is my new boss, the Dean of Emerson College.
"Alice please accept the call," the virtual assistant answers the call, and it plays through my room.
"Dean Summers how are you doing this morning."
"Very well Mr. Silvers, I wanted to see if you received the Email of your schedule this year."
I tap a glass table and a holographic screen pops up, I scroll over to an email, and look at it. The email says I will be teaching Mythological studies A on Monday and Fridays, then Tuesday and Thursday its Mythological studies B. Wednesday says PTS on it.
"Dean Summers, what is PTS?"
"That would be your Personal Theories Study, essentially it is a free day to do thesis papers or work on your own projects."
"I think I understand. I will have both syllabus to you Tuesday afternoon."
"Very good Mr. Silvers we will see you in 2 weeks, enjoy your day."
I look at the email again. It seems I will have three classes every day, I walk into my closet and pull-out clothes for the day, placing them on the bed. Looking over the email it says my classes are all about 70% full. That surprises me seeing so many in my class already, student's still have a week to decide on classes. I close the email and push the hologram down making it disappear,
"Alice play some music please."
My virtual assistant plays a song by Jack Johnson as I take a shower and get ready for the day. I get out of the shower, and I get dressed in the clothes I laid out. I grab my glasses as I exit my bedroom and walk down the stairs into my kitchen. I grab some orange juice out of my fridge and turn and see the paper with Alice's number sitting on the counter. I touch the screen built into my kitchen island and type the number in, the music stops as it rings. I drink some more orange juice and then here a sleepy voice,
"Hello."
"Hey Alice, its Oliver, good morning to you."
"Good morning, I was hoping you'd call."
"Well, here I am ha-ha, anyway I was wondering if you had any interest is in rock climbing?"
She goes quiet for a second and then I hear a thud, I hear some scrambling, then Alices voice comes on the phone.
"Sorry my roommate was mad I was being loud, rock climbing sounds fun, today?"
"Yes, around 3."
"Yeah, I'm in just text me the details ok."
We exchanged goodbyes and hung up; I walked out my back door and headed towards the woods to the right.
When I return home, I send a text to Alice saying,
Alice the meet me at the recreation site just north of Emerson bridge, I will see you there at 3 and I will have all the equipment you'll need. See you soon. J.
I change into some climbing clothes and go to the garage; I reach into a metal cabinet and pull out two things of climbing equipment and put them into the bed of my truck. I climb into my truck and leave to go meet Alice. On the way I stop and grab some fresh water bottles from the gas station, as well as some sports drink that'll refill our electrolytes. I fill my truck up with gas and head out towards Emerson Bridge which is towards the mountains to the east of town.
I arrive a little Early and get the equipment out and set towards the cliff, I stick the anchors in the ground and get everything tied up and throw the ropes down the cliff side. I lower myself down the rope and start putting anchor points in the cliffside in various spots on my way down. I reach the bottom and can see the recreation site down the trail a little, my watch vibrates with a text on it.
Hey, it's Alice I'm pulling up right now.
I look down and see a black car pull up, I walk down the trail and waive as she gets out of the passenger side door. I walked up and hugged her.
"Hey Alice, Glad you made it."
"Will you be able to give me a ride back or should my friend stay."
"My truck is at the top of the cliff, so I can give you a ride home."
Alice's friend leaves and we walk up the trail, towards the ropes. I watch her step into the harness and get it buckled and tied in properly.
"Have you done this before Alice?"
"I did do it with my day when I was 14."
"So do you want to race and see who gets to the top first?"
Alice looks up the cliff and then at me with a smile, she lets out a soft laugh and says,
"If win you buy me ice cream,"
"What if I win?"
"You win, I… K. Kiss you," she says while blushing.
I smile and we count backwards from three, we run to the cliffside and start to climb. I rush up, wanting that kiss, I watch my placements and make sure I have a firm grip before letting go of my earlier grip. I passed the first of two anchors. I clip into the anchor and start climbing towards the second, I look over to check on Alice and she is right behind me. I reach out and place my hand on a rock and use it to pull me up, Alice climbs up next to me.
"Chocolate chip ice cream here I come," she laughs and passes me.
I look up to see my next grip and see her climbing, she looks amazing and is climbing like she was a pro, I realize I'm not just looking at her climbing. I shake my head and focus; I grab the next grip and make my way up and catch up a little. She is just finishing at the second anchor as I star clipping into it.
Suddenly my body starts burning up and my chest begins to ache. My skin feels as if it is on fire and my veins feel cold like ice, the pain spreads throughout my entire body.
"Not now," I say under my breath.
I stop and take a breath I try to calm my nerves and collect myself. My body temperature returns to normal and the pain in my chest subsides. I focus on the climbing again to catch up to Alice, I still have a small chance of winning. I grip the cliff and start climbing, remembering to watch my feet placement, and reminding myself to stay focused on my path.
I look up to see Alice standing on the top of the cliff, smiling down at me and waiving. She won and there was nothing I could do about it, I climbed to the top and stood next to her,
"Congrats on the win Alice."
She leans in close to me and kisses me, I can see her blushing as we share a kiss that feels like pure magic. She pulls away and looks into my eyes,
"I saw you stop Oliver, thank you for letting me win."
"I didn't think you saw that," I hide the truth from her.
"But I still want ice cream," she says laughing.
She helps me pull the anchors out and we throw everything into my truck; and then we hop in and head back to town.
The ice cream was well deserved after climbing, we licked our cones and walked through the park, hand in hand. I feel something incredibly powerful every time I'm with Alice, and a part of me hopes she is feeling I too. Later I walked her to Main Street again but this time, I pulled her close and kiss her; I can feel her kiss me back and the whole world feels like its full of the impossible. We pull away and stare into each other's eyes,
"Wow," we both say.
She goes her way and I go mine, but we know we are going to see each other again.