Hooray! Finals are over!!! Sorry about the long wait and I know this chapter isn't very long but there isn't very much time in my day lately for everything. The next chapter will most likely be twice as long as this one though and hopefully I can get it up in a week….

Chapter 14 of THAT Girl

The past couple of weeks I've spent fully by Angela's side. Her wedding is coming up quickly and she's elected me, without my approval I must add, to help plan it all. Not that I object to the idea of helping with my best friend's wedding, but it take's so much time as I'm newly learning, and we've only been focused on it for a little over two weeks.

Today however, was such a beautiful and sunny day, that we decided to take a break from the wedding business. I had gotten dressed in a light fabric dress that was almost the same shade blue as the dress I had worn to dinner at the Masen's house, only it was slightly darker.

Behind my house there were trees that used to be part of a large forest. Most of the actual forest was still there but some of it had gotten cut down years ago. I decided to stroll through one of the paths that had been worn down by people who traveled the forest.

Many of the trails were overgrown with grasses and weeds but there were a couple that I liked to walk down that were clearer. I strolled down one that I knew led to the lake near my house. It was a little less than a mile's walk.

As I went along, I listened to the various sounds around me. I heard birds chirping near me, overhead. There were scurrying feet everywhere. Those were probably squirrels and mice and other small creatures that liked to search for food constantly.

I loved listening to the forest. It calmed me. Whenever it was sunny outside and I wasn't needed, I was in the forest.

Some days I would walk along the paths and other days I'd just walk wherever my feet tool me and sometimes on those days I'd bring a blanket and have my own quiet lunch. Today I just wanted to sit by the lakeside and read my copy of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, alone, in the warm sun.

I hadn't gone much further than a few yards on the trail when suddenly I saw a doe. It was beautiful and when I moved closer to it, it didn't even flinch at all.

I held out my hand and beckoned it towards me but then, as I leaned forward a branch snapped under my feet and it sprinted off in the other direction. It stopped running, however, only a couple seconds later and, crazy as it sounds, sort of nodded its head in the direction it had started running off into as if it wished for me to follow it. Then it took off at a brisk deer-style trot.

And even crazier still, I followed behind.

I always carried a long string when I went into the woods so that, just in the event that I went off the pathways, I could find my way back to a familiar area.

So I pulled out the string and went after that doe.

I only followed it for maybe five minutes when it stopped. Then it looked back at me, as if trying to see if I were still there.

It crept forward. Slowly.

And I crept forward after it. Even slower.

The thick trees thinned out and soon I found myself amongst a field of wildflowers that led into rows upon rows upon rows of sunflowers.

I stood still for a moment, awed by the beautiful scene before me and when I looked over to see my companion, I noticed she stood still as well. It was magnificent.

I went knee deep into the wildflowers spinning and laughing with giddy. And then I started to run.

I ran past the shades of blue and purple and yellow. Past the bees collecting their flowery goods. Past the earth itself it seemed. And then I stopped, turned, and spotted my friend. She was at the edge of the field. I caught her eyes as she turned back once more and we shared a moment.

In that short time I voiced my silent gratitude and she acknowledged it in the same mute way. It was one of the most beautiful and wonderfully natural moments I'd ever shared with another and I wondered if humans could ever be at peace enough to experience it with another human.

Then she abruptly turned and walked back into the forest while I turned and walked into the rows of sunflowers. And, true to my clumsy nature, found a tuft of grass to trip over.

But I didn't fall. Instead I felt two arms catch me around my waist. Two familiar arms. But it was impossible for him to be here. Completely, utterly, impossi—

It was amazing how a pair of those green eyes could stop my train of thought. It was amazing how that bronze hair could make my breath get short. It was amazing how that face could make my heart stutter. And it was amazing how that Edward Masen boy seemed to be my knight in shining armor, my hero, always there to save me.