I'm sorry I haven't updated Following the Path. Hopefully sometime over winter break, you'll get a new chapter. Until then, I hope this will do. I actually liked writing this, even though I'm not so sure why.
Disclaimer: I do not own the song "Naturally" (by Selena Gomez) or Harley Davidson motorcycles. Just saying.
Naturally
—a one shot—
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How you choose to express yourself
It's all your own and I can tell it comes naturally
It comes naturally
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The first time I saw Landon Crane, well, I didn't think much about it, really. Back then I was a somewhat taken girl, I'd been on and off with Chris Plovert for a while, but I was happy. The first time I saw him, it was more kind of one of those things where you notice a person across the street, and there's a sort of way about them that just strikes you, but otherwise you shrug it off and continue to where you were originally going. He was just a flash of dark hair and bright eyes on the other side of the road. It was nothing big and I didn't think much about it. Like I said, I was happy with the way things were. A random new guy didn't matter.
That was the first and only time during that year that I saw him. He was easily forgotten. That is, until the boys befriended him at their mandatory summer soccer practices.
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You follow what you feel inside
It's intuitive, you don't have to try
It comes naturally
It comes naturally
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A few weeks in is when I first actually met him.
Everyone had convinced me to come to a house party that Cam and his older brother Harris were throwing, despite my pleads to stay home and be lazy. They told me that it was important to not be a hermit during summer. I disagreed. Sleep was important for the sake of my sanity, and hermit-ism just seemed to be one of those nasty side effects.
But after much begging and very annoying nagging, I told them I would go. I had been to the Fishers' parties before, and they were fun. I was also told that it was in celebration of summer starting, which wiped any doubt of leaving home out of my mind. If I was going to a party, it would be one honoring no school.
So I went.
When we got there, it was around nine or ten and the party was already in full blast. The music was pounding, there were people dancing. A few kids were already passed out in a hallway, cups still in hand and alcohol stains on their clothes. It was what was expected and I was even a little bit excited. I hadn't been out in a long time, and being in the craziness was almost refreshing compared to the dull and familiar walls of my room.
Dylan, Alicia and I headed in the direction of the kitchen for drinks, while Claire and Kristin left to go talk to one of their friends in their AP classes. We found the boys lounging at the dining room table playing quarters. I didn't pay much attention at first, due to having the really bad urge to pee. I guess it was inevitable after drinking the jug of cherry limeade I had made earlier in the day.
I grabbed Dylan's elbow and asked her to go with me. She pouted, but otherwise agreed.
After making it past the surges of teenagers and into a space where we could walk side by side again, she was finally able to talk. "Omigoodness, Mass, do I have news," she declared, tossing her bright red hair behind her back so she could see me properly.
I frowned as she started to slow down. Dylan had a problem with having to stop everyone from moving and/or talking when she had something to say, and now was so not the time to stop. I tugged on her arm to keep her moving. "What kind of news?"
She grinned and pulled me hurriedly around the nearing corner to Cam's room. I was happy that she realized that I had to go, and had guided me to the right room. A little known fact about Cameron was that he was OCD about his space. Cleanliness was guaranteed.
She shoved me in the bright (not to mention immaculate) tiled bathroom and closed the door between us. However, I knew this news wouldn't be able to wait—she had been antsy ever since we entered the doors of the house—so naturally, she told me through the door. "Boy news," she giggled out.
"What do you mean boy news?" I called back. We had lost all embarrassment way back in junior high, so I didn't even bother worrying about the awkwardness of talking about boys while I was doing my business. "And why will this boy news matter?"
I finished up and opened the door just in time to witness her huff and glare. She stomped into the small room and sat on the edge of the tub while I washed my hands. Continuing her glare through the mirror she tempered out, "What boy news doesn't matter, Massie? Honestly, it's like I don't even know you anymore." I smiled at her dramatic statement. We only saw each other every other day. "You know that new kid the guys have been hanging out with lately?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Why?"
She flashed me a smile full of white teeth. "He's here. And he's hot."
"And you've got a boyfriend already." I pointed out, laughing.
Her bottle green eyes sparkled. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate. You'll understand once you see him. He is yummy."
I rolled my eyes and hurriedly dried off my hands on a hand towel hanging off a rack. We soon ventured back into the bulk of the party where Dylan decided that dancing never got old. I, however, got tired of the sweaty kids pressing up against me, and optioned for spending a few minutes in the breeze outside. She sent me away happily and focused her attention on Josh, her boyfriend.
Slowly working my way through the masses and back to the front door, I slipped outside and sucked in the crisp warmth of summer. I closed my eyes and let the slight breeze toss around my dark curls and dance with the edges of my top. It was a great night, with the stars seeming to shine exceptionally bright, and I smiled at the peace. Quiet echoed across the neighborhood, despite the loud bass playing inside the house.
It was the rumbling roar that scared me into a small squeal.
My eyes flew open, and I stumbled back from the sound, panicked. It took only a moment to take in the shining black Harley and the boy perched atop its seat, revving the motorcycle at the end of the driveway.
His eyes flashed a brilliant cerulean blue and the moonlight cast silver into his black hair. He stared in surprise for a moment, before giving me a slow, knowing smile. "I know you."
I blinked in confusion. This kid did look familiar and the way he held himself, in such a confident and natural way, was somehow memorable. "Do you?" I asked. I racked my brain for places where I could have met him, but couldn't come up with anything.
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And it takes my breath away
What you do so naturally
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He nodded, his hair falling into his eyes. He gave me a puzzled glance and continued, "Do you not remember?"
"Should I?"
He revved the engine to the bike again. "Do you always answer questions with questions?"
I was thankful for the darkness that shaded my coloring cheeks. "No." I crossed my arms and squinted at him. "You do look familiar, though." He seemed to bring with him a rush of excitement in me that I hadn't felt in a long time. The party seemed overrated and overused compared to the sensation this mystery boy somehow enthralled into the air around him.
He sent me another knowing smirk and raised a dark eyebrow. That's when it hit me. "I saw you on the road once!" I exclaimed a little too loudly. The sound reverberated off of the darkness, and I repressed the urge to squirm uncomfortably.
He just grinned and nodded towards the empty space on the seat behind him. "Want a ride?"
I knew I shouldn't. I knew it wasn't right to be on the back of a bike with a boy who wasn't my sort-of boyfriend. I knew it wasn't safe to get on the back of a bike with an unknown boy who sent dangerous thoughts circling in my head. I knew it wasn't safe to get on the back of a bike, period.
But I snubbed all of those thoughts in the butt end before they became insistent, and walked slowly to where he and the motorcycle were waiting. He swung a leg over and onto the smooth leather seat, and handed me a black helmet. I looked at the bike and helmet doubtfully: so little to keep me from flying off the seat and cracking open my head.
His smile softened and tipped his head back once more behind him. "You don't have to, but the spot's definitely open."
I nodded and slid the helmet over my curls, before slipping onto the spot behind him. "What's your name again?" I asked. Surprisingly, I wasn't even that nervous.
I felt his laugh as his body moved slightly up and down in front of me. He accelerated onto the road and I clutched tightly to him in a backward bear hug. "Landon Crane." I could hear the smile in his voice.
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You have a way of moving me
A force of nature, your energy, it comes naturally
It comes naturally
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After that night, I was hooked. Landon Crane was like a drug, and I was hopelessly addicted.
I started going to the boys' soccer practice, just to see him move. He had such a fluid, effortless way of displaying himself in everything he did. He didn't try to show off—it just sort of happened. And I loved that it did, because he was impossibly clueless to his talent. While he was striving with everything he had to perfect a move, most of the team was hoping to do half of what he did. He gave one hundred percent of himself in everything that he wanted.
Partly, I have to admit, of what he wanted, was me. When he wasn't practicing or working (he worked at a store that sold dog accessories, and I often took delight in teasing him about how well he could match doggie clothes) he was with me.
We were inseparable. He sparked an enthusiasm in me that I didn't have before, and I seemed to relax his usually agitated state. He was constantly in a quiet unease, a troubled look lurking in his eyes behind that somewhat cocky exterior show, and unwinding with me was his favorite hobby. I started choosing to do whatever random thing we were planning to do, with him, rather then get those few extra hours in bed. My sanity was in him, not sleep.
Our friends didn't understand how we met, or why we were always together, but soon enough they accepted our somewhat quirky friendship. We were both able to incite what the other needed, and in the solace of that, we were close.
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You are the thunder and I am the lightning
And I love the way you know who you are and to me it's exciting, you know it's meant to be
Everything comes naturally; it comes naturally when you're with me baby
Everything comes naturally
It comes naturally
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The first kiss I had with Landon really wasn't intentional. We were playing pool (well, he was playing pool: I was busy being lousy), and he was trying to show me how to actually hit the ball, when I told him that it was useless and that I'll always be an incompetent pool player. He, in turn, told me not to be so negative. And since he had a fondness for torturing me, he started tickling me, which is its own form of cruelty.
When I twisted around to hit him, he sat me on the pool table and he kissed me. It was soft and fervent and caring and passionate all at the same time. It was every one of the emotions I had been feeling for him since that first night I agreed to let him take me home on that shiny black motorcycle.
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Collide, sparks fly, when you look in my eyes
It takes my breath away