The One

As a teenager, Kaolin Cortes just thought she'd think about boys later in life, when she'd matured, when there was more likelihood of a lasting relationship. Her patience definitely paid off.

Shivering in the mid-January cold, Kaolin Cortes rubbed her hands together for warmth as she scanned the busy street for any sign of her Uncle's blue Ford F150. It was dark, except for the street lights reflecting off of the icy pavement and the headlights from passing cars. Kaolin bounced on the balls of her feet, cursing anxiously. It had already been almost an hour, and he hadn't come. The message must not have sent before her phone died. She was worried. She didn't want to be alone out here on the street all night long. It was long past 7 pm, and the sun had set a while ago. Snow was softly falling from the dark night sky and catching in her fiery red curls and brushing her rosy cheeks. They were almost numb, and her nose had been numb for a while already. She would probably freeze to death before morning. She furrowed her brows and glanced up and down the street again, afraid. 

This night was special. Even though it had sucked at first, and even though she had frozen her a*s off for almost an hour, it was a special night because it was the night she met him. 

At first he kind of drove past, but then he slowed down and did a U-turn at a gas-station and he pulled off the road in front of her. She reached inside her jacket and gripped the handle of the knife tucked into the waistband of her Levi's. It was a small, black Chevrolet covered in bumper stickers, with a duck-taped crack in the back window. A sticker in the window warned people that there was a baby on board, while another literally said "F**k you" on it in bold, capital letters. Kaolin smiled a little and loosened her grip on the knife.

She walked cautiously over as the window rolled down, suspicious but also hopeful.

The smell of baby powder and Febreeze reached her nostrils.

A man leaned out the window, and it took Kaolin a moment to look him over fully. The first thing she noticed was his hair. It was dyed a bright red on top. Honestly, she thought he was handsome as f**k, but she wasn't just going to say that outright. A normal person doesn't do that s**t, right? He looked Asian maybe. Just a little bit. He had rough black stubble where his beard was growing, plump lips, and dark brown eyes that reminded her of the city sky at night. His skin had a delicious tan, and Kaolin felt paper-white in comparison.

He gave her a shy, sort of awkward smile as he looked up at her. His voice was deep. "Car trouble?"

Kaolin couldn't help but laugh a little at that. "Obviously," she breathed into her trembling hands.

He lengthened his awkward smile, except this time he was actually smiling at his awkwardness, "Yeah, um, is it the battery? Do you need a jump-start or. . . something else I might be capable of doing? Because if it's engine trouble or some something. . ."

"Oh my god," Kaolin jumped ecstatically, "a jump-start would be amazing! Would you? I don't mean to be a bother-"

He was already climbing out of the car, "Oh no, it's not a problem. I'd have felt like such a jackass if I just left you here," he laughed, as he popped open his trunk, muscles flexing beneath his unnecessarily large winter coat. 

Kaolin smiled genuinely and bounced up and down from the cold as he connected the necessary cables and climbed back into his car to rev up the engine. After a minute, the man told her to get inside her car and try to rev it up. She did, and after she had twisted the key at least three times in the ignition, her hatch-back convertible sputtered back to life.

"Sweet Jesus," she shouted gleefully, her eyes with excitement and relief, 'f*****g Christ, thank you so much!"

The man climbed out of his car again and he walked toward her grinning, holding out his hand. Kaolin shook it excitedly.

"Kaolin,"

"Mark,"

Alright. He was hot. He was sexy. He was her type, and normally if you run into someone who happens to be all of those things, you don't just say goodbye without even giving it a go. Why would she not? Sure, she'd just met him and he was a random stranger, but this guy. . . something pulled her toward him. It wasn't that she'd been a f*****g damsel in distress and he'd been her Prince Charming. It was that something felt. . . right.

She had to be blunt.

"Are you single?"

Don't judge her. You would've done exactly the same thing.