"When I get married, it's going to be in a park."
Kristen Gregory has always been an enigma.
The way she weaves in and out of your life can drive anyone into insanity. To Joshua Hotz she was like a breath of fresh air. When you needed it, she'd be there for you, she'd let you into her little world and then when she thought you'd grown your wings she'd let you out. She was just soso damn mysterious.
Though no one else saw it, the twinkle in her eyes the smile tugging at her lips at the most random of moments, no one saw her. She was just that pretty blonde who hung around Massie, the girl with a sweet tooth and mindless wanderings. She was just Kristen. The smart one who actually studied, the one who spent time in the libraries breathing in the smell of tainted books, coffee and dust.
Josh had always been soso wrong about her.
His infatuation for her started at a young age and he'd continue to pester her and beg her to date him. After all, how could a girl refuse him? He was Joshua Hotz. The attractive counterpart to the Derrick, Cam, Josh trio. The stupid one with a knack for telling dumb jokes and being utterly spontaneous, he was just Josh.
He'd spent many a day wondering why it had to be her. Why it had to be Kristen that he'd fallen for. Not Dylan the funny one. Not Alicia the hot one. Not Claire the sweet one. Not Massie the aggressive leader. But Kristen, the simple, hardworking, moral thumping, bookworm with those blueblue eyes and those pinkpink lips and that hair that fell soso naturally onto her tanned skin. It took time but finally her many 'no's' and insults healed, he began to get over her. Her, the girl who was always equipped with a classic and a little smirk on her full lips.
But then Senior year came along and he was partnered with her for their AP Chemistry class. Her dislike for him was so blatant, she didn't think he deserved to be in this strictly brains classroom. She thought he got everything handed to him on a silver platter, thought that all he had to do was donate a building, buy a few hundred computers and the school was at his and his good for nothing friends' mercy. And she was soso wrong yet soso right.
He knew it, like a spark in their Bunsen Burner, something ignited in him. It was his last chance to prove her wrong, to show her how soso wrong she was. He stepped up his game, worked harder, and over time she accepted him with a little grunt when he tried tredding into the dangerous waters of her personal life. Just like that the closet door opened and it was like he was let into Narnia, Kristen's little Narnia. Her world of funny puns, idealistic views, her odd dreams, her need and hunger for classics, her love for 90's sitcoms. Her world of magic.
Soon his little flirtatious adventures were a laughing matter in her eyes, they'd dance and whirl when he told her a pick-up line. She'd snort when he tried to grab her hand, and his little tries and slips of questioning her feelings for him were always just a mere wave or a smile and the shake of a head.
So after knowing her so well he doesn't think much of her outburst and her declaration of her wedding venue. They're walking down the hallway (he's now earned the privilege of being seen in public with her), she's holding her book bag and there's a light skip in her step. Just knowing he'll be able to see her the next day causes him to have a light skip in his step. He finds himself staring at her, his eyes eating her up because she's just soso perfect.
"A park," He repeats, letting the words sink a little. He smiles a little at her oddly hilarious quirks, random outbursts just being one of the many. Others being her love for cinnamon gum, the way she nibbles on dark chocolate when she's nervous, how she has to wear her lucky socks on test days, the way she can sit still for so long and be so concentrated that nothing can break her trance. She's soso complicated, yet soso simple. A puzzle he is just itching to solve.
"Not just any park," She states, excitement coating her voice as it rises up an octave. "It has to be the one near my house. I used to play there all the time when I was little. There's this large, white pavilion there that's just so gorgeous and absolutely perfect for a wedding!" She sighs a little as if she's imagining it. He grins because she's soso gorgeous and absolutely perfect.
"Sounds brilliant." He replies, his grin expanding at her bright eyes. "So you don't want a grand Plaza wedding?" He asks. If it were any other girl she'd have said on a tropical island, a huge hotel, somewhere exotic. Only Kristen would say a park and that's what makes her soso attractive in his eyes and soso amazing.
"No," she says, "I want a beautiful wedding that's simple and beautiful and meaningful."
"So if you could have a wedding anywhere in the world, anywhere at all, it would be-"
"In the pavilion at the park near my house." She says firmly with a smile. A soft, heart stopping smile on those pinkpink lips, those blueblue eyes twinkling.
The walk in silence for a few moments, the chatter around them being all the noise they need, before she asks, "And you? If you could get married anywhere in the world, anywhere at all, where would it be?"
He stops walking and it takes a few paces before she realizes he's not standing next to her. She turns to face him and raises an eyebrow, a boyish grin covering his blessed features, an earnest smile and his hazelhazel eyes shining in the florescent light.
"In the pavilion at the park near your house," he says simply, "beside you."
Her laughter bounces off the ceilings and she shakes her head at him, a wry smile on her lips because he's soso perfect.
i'm really into the whole 'he's obsessed with asking her out' romance right now. :)
review?
-arielle.
