tell me you love me, come back and haunt me
oh and i rush to the start, running in circles, chasing our tails
coming back as we are; nobody said it was easy.
-x-
That morning, Emily awoke to the sound of chirping birds. She slowly opened her eyes and stretched. A smile spread across her lips as she remembered where she was. She was on a camping trip with Toby; getting away from that dreaded town that went by the name of 'Rosewood', the drama, and especially 'A'. Once she quickly changed into some faded blue jeans and a red tank top, she made her way out of her tent and walked over to sit down her chair as Toby handed her a bowl of cereal. Emily looked down at her cereal then up at Toby perplexed. Toby laughed. "My friends & I built a cabin here which is equipped with a bathroom and kitchen which includes a fridge, and there's a little convenience store a few miles west..." "The cabin includes a bathroom? Thank god." Emily said as Toby just laughed again. As they both finished up their breakfasts and did the dishes, Emily and Toby went off into the thick forest to find some fire wood. "So what's our plan for tonight?" Emily asked as she cut off a couple of branches with a knife that Toby had lent her. "It's a surprise Em," he told her. "But-" "No buts; this is a well planned surprise and I don't want you to find out." Toby informed her. "Okay," Emily replied, as she brought the serrated edge against a defenseless branch.
Night fell quickly as Toby had ordered Emily to stay in her tent as he was in the field setting up the surprise that would supposedly 'take her breath away'. She had kept her restless self occupied by doodling in her notebook; which kept her busy until she ended up doodling Toby's name and she quickly closed her notebook almost like writing down his name was a curse. After the notebook she moved on to reading the books The Truth About Forever and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. By the time she had finished the books, Toby had finally told her that she could come out of the stuffy cabin. As soon as Emily walked down he steps, Toby placed a bandana over her eyes and led her by the hand to the center of an open field. After the bandana was untied and fell away from her eyes; all Emily could do was stare. There, in the middle of the field where rows of fireworks, contained in different sizes and shapes. Just as Emily turned to Toby he pressed a button into her hand. "Would you like to do the honours?" "Of course." Emily breathed, as she took a deep breath and pressed the red button.
Seconds later, fireworks erupted with crackles, pops, snaps, and bangs. Toby watched as Emily's eyes were trans-fixed at the black sky which was quickly being filled with dazzling, brilliant, shimmering; reds, oranges, blue's, purple's and golds. He also noticed the way the fireworks' reflected back onto her brown pupils, causing the colour's to merge and blur together. Toby then slipped two sparkler's into Emily's hands and told her to hold still as he lit them. "Do your thing," Toby told her, as soon enough she had run out into the middle of the field and began twirling; her arms outstretched as a laugh escaped her lips. As Emily was oblivious and in a state of magical enjoyment, Toby seized the opportunity to grab his Polaroid camera and snap a perfect shot of her. As soon as the photo developed, Toby felt is heart beat fast. The photo was absolutely breathtaking, as it portrayed Emily with the sparklers in her hands, as her hair danced in the minuscule breeze, and a smile was glued across her lips. But what tugged at his heart where her eyes. Her eyes where a deep mahogany, and shone brightly almost as if light was emerging from the back of them.
As soon as her sparklers burnt out, Emily walked over to her iPod dock and found the playlist that she had planned for the day. As the melodies of Hellogoodbye's Here In Your Arms began to play, Emily grabbed Toby's hand and led him into the middle of the fireworks and willed him to dance with her. Toby definitely wanted to dance with her, and as the song changed into Paradise By the Dashboard Light, Toby had gotten so into the song that he had begun grabbing her hands and jiving with her; he heard her laughter ring in his ears as he spun her, then slid her underneath his legs before twisting back around and spinning her again. Emily never knew that Toby was this good a dancer; she thought that he knew basic foot steps and certain moves, but he was spectacular. It was a good thing she too was a good dancer, because if she wasn't, boy would she be tripping all over the place and killing the mood. Emily felt herself frown as the energetic song came to an end, and a slow soft song began to play. Slowly Toby stepped back and bowed, offering her his hand. A blush crept across Emily's cheeks. "May I have this dance?" "Of course," Emily said before placing her hand in his, letting his hand drop to her waist as Emily placed her other hand his shoulder.
They moved with a peaceful grace, rocking back and forth as the slight breeze blew softly through Emily's silky deep brown hair, flowing around her head like a halo. All Toby could do was look into her eyes; as they were now twinkling and shining with emotion as she looked back into his own crisp, crystal blue orbs which were as a clear as glacier water. As the song ended, and another soft one began, Emily curled one hand around the back of his shoulder and lay her head against the crook of his neck, looking at the view behind him. "Emily what song is this?" Toby asked quietly, as if he was afraid speaking loudly would ruin the quiet surrounding them. "The Scientist by Coldplay," Emily whispered back. "Oh okay, I really like it." Toby told her, before quickly falling back into silence and continuing to sway back and forth. Emily lifted her head from his shoulder and straightened her back, before looking into Toby's eyes again. God, she just couldn't stop looking at them. There was always about his eyes that pulled her in, and left her wondering what type of things those eyes have analyzed, seen, and what secrets lay behind them, but little did she know that Toby felt the same way.
As they danced on, Toby caught a whiff of Emily's light but heady perfume. It smelled of sweet flowers, mixed in with raspberries and a hint of vanilla. Emily was absolutely beautiful, graceful, and intelligent. She was just intoxicating to him, almost like a beautiful mystery that was just waiting to be solved by whoever dared to unlock the secrets of this girl who was just like every other teenager out there. Over the past few days Toby had been carefully contemplating whether he should express his feelings or not. In the end, he was caught in a dead-lock as he knew that there was a fifty perfect chance where she would say that she was feeling the same way or her telling him that she would just prefer if they just stayed friends. But Toby just decided to go with his heart, and his heart told him to just take the risk. So since then Toby had planned to express his feelings for her during the big fireworks display. Which was about the end, so he knew that he had to make his move; as it was either now or never.
"Hey Em, there's something I need to tell you.." "What is it Toby?" Emily asked, looking up at him, her heart picking up speed. "Remember how I told you at my house last time that I thought I was in love with you?" Here goes everything. "Well I wasn't thinking, I am in love with you, like 100%" Emily's heart felt as if it was going to jump out of her chest. There he said it. He is head over heels in love. Now what about her? Emily tried to speak, but her tongue felt leaden in her mouth. She wasn't good with words, especially when it came to verbally expressing one's feelings. She licked her lips and pushed herself to speak. "Toby, wow. Everything's a little fuzzy right now, but I feel the same way." Everything's a little fuzzy? God what an idiot. Emily thought to herself, but was thrown out her thoughts by Toby's face coming closer into her field of vision and blurring as he came closer and closer. It was then that their lips connected, and all coherent thought swam into the back of her head and the sound of her heartbeat overwhelmed her ears. Toby felt his insides shine as he mentally gave himself a thumb's up for going with his true gut feeling. Just to hear Emily say that she too liked him back sent him over the moon, and all of the sudden he wished he could capture this moment on his Polaroid camera which lay abandoned feet away.
