Inevitable

He wasn't meant for her...but she needed him.

 

The sun shone down on the little outdoor café that they sat at. It was the perfect spring day. Butterflies flittering in the air, the crystal clear blue sky above them, warmth, not heat fell upon them like Zephyr’s breath, flowers were blooming with a myriad of colors, and people passed by comfortably, going about their lives. They looked around at the surrounding customers, sipping their coffee, eating their pastries, and smiling as if the world only existed to bring them these small gifts of pleasure. Everybody seemed to be wearing the fashion of the day- peasant skirts were everywhere in all lengths and colors, skin tight shirts, big fashionable sunglasses, sandals and pearl smiles. The girls looked around, liking the scene, though not quite fitting in. Nobody really noticed though, it was a public place, and it was none of their business to inquire why two people didn’t wear the same things they were. One girl tossed her short ponytail back, tied back so tightly, and letting the small curls shine in the sun. She smoothed out her surfer shirt and brushed off some crumbs from her jeans and let them land on her tennis shoes. A few crumbs were tumbling softly across the table to the other girl’s pudgy fingers, one of which with was crowned with a ring with a stone worthy to be the queen of all her tears. Her baggy, smart-alec t-shirt blew with the gentle breeze and her frizzy hair danced with it. She sighed. There wasn’t anything she could do about her hair. It was long, curly, in desperate need of a cut and-

 

Just the way I like it, she thought to herself. Even if it’s not easy to maintain. She sighed, brushing the crumbs away, and drinking her creamed and sweetened coffee. Today was just so perfect. Everything seemed to go so right today. She didn’t get lost picking up her friend, there was a nice breeze, the weather was warm but not sweltering, the sun was smiling on them, and everything inside of her was just at peace. Everything was just in sync today. God was being unusually nice today. God made everything so right today. God was-

 

Up to something, her suspicious mind thought. The conditions are perfect...just a little too perfect. There’s got to be a reason for this, everything is so nice and peaceful. Including me. I’m not usually like this. What are You up to, God? What do You have up Your sleeve today...?

 

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” She awoke from her thoughts to see a tall young man, a few years older than them both, knock some coffee over the side of his cup and onto her friend.

 

“Oh my God, I am so sorry,” he apologized, an accent lacing his voice, but she wasn’t quite sure what to place it as. “God, here, let me help you.”

 

“It’s ok,” her friend said, grabbing a napkin. She squinted in confusion. For some odd reason...she didn’t seem to be all that upset. It felt too much like she was ok with it. Well, the guy was very handsome, maybe she didn’t mind his new role in her life, however unexpected and messy it was. Something was going right.

 

“Are you sure? I feel really stupid about this, I-”

 

“It’s ok,” she repeated with a genuine smile. “It was an accident.” The word, “accident” kept repeating in her mind. For some reason unbeknownst to her, every time that word repeated, the less she believed it.

 

“Yeah, but that’s going to stain there.” She looked at her friend’s shirt, and indeed, there was a shadow line of the coffee that had just been wiped away left on her baby blue shirt.

 

“Oh, it doesn’t matter. It’s totally cool.”

 

“Really? If that’s so, then I need to tell the waitress I ordered hot coffee and not an ice coffee.” Her face lit up in a smile and laugh that rivaled the sun. And he liked it.

 

“What’s your name?” She held out her hand and gave him her best smile.

 

“I’m Michelle.”

 

“I’m Randall, nice to meet you.” They stared at each other for a second.

 

“Oh God, I’m sorry, by the way, this is my friend, Daphne. Daphne, Randall.” She reached over to take his hand.

 

“Nice to meet you,” she said, a little more overwhelmed by his handsomeness than she wanted to admit. She looked up into his eyes, like the oceans she had loved all of her life. So much like them. But not quite.

 

Every part of her unseen seemed to move as he joined them at the table. She could barely tell that Randall and Michelle were talking up a storm, making use of what she called an accident. Daphne just didn’t believe that anymore, after only a few minutes. Something was telling her that this was right. This was supposed to happen. Randall was supposed to be there with them. Did that justify the feelings that were starting to well up in her? It wasn’t love, she knew that much. But it was something else. Just as deep, though not as...beautiful? They were real, so that wasn’t the word she was looking for. Correct and right didn’t seem as strong, but were like the building blocks of the word she really wanted. Whatever word was alluding her grasp, she couldn’t help but admire Randall. She was starting to understand how Michelle could find herself so attached to him. His hair was cut very short to his head, but it was starting to grow out more and she could tell the hairs on his head were starting to curve into little curls. She almost wanted to reach out and touch the spikes growing on his chin. The light she was seeing from him was more than just the sunlight reflecting off of his skin- he seemed to glow with his own light. He had a fine boned face, and a body that she could tell seemed to have been carved by the gods themselves. Her mind registered the word, “perfect”. Her heart was as well, but there was something else attached to it that just wasn’t surfacing yet. Randall’s presence brought forth the first word- what were the other words her heart was trying to say?

 

“...So where are you from originally?” Randall smiled at her, not at all arrogant or egotistically.

 

“Well, I grew up in Memphis, but I moved out here a year or two ago. I kind of leaped from place to place for a while before I got here.” Michelle couldn’t help it- it was like he was drawing her smiles like he was drawing water from a well that sustained him.

 

“Oh, well that explains your accent.”

 

“Yeah. I guess that just stuck with me since I was a kid. I love yours though.”

 

“I don’t have an accent-”

 

“Yeah you do. Have you lived here all your life?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Then you wouldn’t be able to tell that you have an accent. If you listen to other people with different accents, you start to see how differently you talk. You can’t really tell when you’re with other people with the same accent.” She rested her chin on her folded hands.

 

“So you sort of need other people to bring that out of you, right?” Their smiles were softening, feeling a change in the mood.

 

“Yeah. You could say that. Other people bring out the sides of you that no one else can. Stuff that you can’t find alone.” Randall and Michelle had gone quiet again, losing themselves and each other in the midst of this little café. Daphne wanted so bad to leave. Right before her was something so out of her reach.

 

“Hey, Michelle?” Daphne interrupted. She felt bad because her friend seemed to have found someone special- someone that she knew innately was meant to cross her path. But she felt bad because...Randall wasn’t meant for her.

 

“We have to get going. I’m really sorry, but we have to start walking towards the car if we’re going to beat the traffic-”

 

“It’s ok,” Michelle said, not liking Daphne’s timing. She got up, sighing. Randall noticed the disappointed look on her face and got up.

 

“Where’s your car?” Michelle told him.

 

“Wait, I’m heading that way. Do you want me to walk you to the car?” Daphne tried to hide her annoyance. He was the very reason why she wanted to go, and he was going to pursue Michelle until he felt the chase was over.

 

“Yes, please, I’d love that.” Daphne bit her lower lip as she gathered her things. She wanted to run. She wanted to run as fast as her legs would carry her, and despite her physical state, it was pretty far. She picked her belongings up and waited until Randall and Michelle were ready to leave. They began to walk in the perfect settings of the day. Daphne felt so out of place by now. The day outside matched nothing inside of her. Randall and Michelle continued to walk on, slowly together so they could still keep each other company and not risk losing the other. Daphne looked to her right. There was another way to the garage where the car was.

 

“Guys,” she said suddenly. “There’s a store I forgot to stop at down here. I’ll meet you at the car, ok?”

 

“Do you want us to come with you?” Randall asked. Daphne tried to ignore the way his profile cast a shadow over his face.

 

“No, that’s ok. I don’t really know how long I’m going to be, so you guys just go ahead of me ok? I’ll see you there.” Without giving them any warning, she began to jog down the street. It wasn’t as nice as the other streets they walked on that day, and there were shadows being cast that shaded this street more than the others.

 

Damn him! she cursed in her head. I would have never gone down this street if it weren’t for Randall! Damn him!

 

She continued to run, not realizing until after a few minutes that she didn’t really know where she was. The sun was going down in the sky, and while it was going to take a long time for it to get seriously dark, the dimming light was beginning to worry her. She let fear seep into her pores, acknowledging for once in her life that running from a problem wasn’t always the best way to solve it.

 

“Oh! Sorry! I didn’t see you!” She looked up at him, suddenly cured of her blindness. He looked down on her with an unexpected kindness.

 

“That’s ok,” reassuring her, but so gentle that there was no shock or alarm in his voice. He seemed to admire her calmly and softly.

 

“Why were you running?” She gulped wanting to look into his eyes even more, but not wanting to scare him.

 

“I...I was looking for the car garage a few streets back, and I got lost.” He lifted an eyebrow.

 

“Really? You were running really fast in this direction. Are you in a hurry?”

 

“Well...sort of, I...well, I don’t really know.” He nodded his head, not believing her, almost like he could see her real reasons.

 

“Do you need help? Do you want me to take you to the garage you’re looking for?” She bit her lower lip, her heart racing, and not because she was running.

 

“Yeah. Thank you.” He smiled very softly.

 

“No problem. By the way, I’m Luke.”

 

“I’m Daphne.” They took each other’s hands to shake, but they didn’t. They just held each other’s hands. Luke seemed as if he was trying to gather his scattered thoughts from when she bumped into him and began to walk forward. He walked so slow for Daphne that she had to force herself to walk at his pace. She wanted to hear his voice again.

 

“What street is this?”

 

“Laurel Street. The street leading to the garage is just a block or two away. You can make that can’t you? Wait, never mind. You ran all the way down here, of course you could. With the way you were running, I’m not sure if I would have been able to keep up with you myself.” She smiled at him.

 

“Really? I can outrun you?” He looked at her almost mischievously.

 

“Well, I don’t know. I just said I wasn’t sure if I could. That doesn’t mean I can’t.” She could feel the pent up energy inside of her from walking so slow catching up to her.

 

“Want to race? See who’s the faster runner?” The light radiating from his eyes and almost illuminating the street, told her he was going to rise to the challenge.

 

“All the way to the next street,” he challenged, pointing to the street that she had previously left. “Ready? Set-”

 

“Catch me if you can!” she taunted, running before he could finish. He smirked before taking off after her. He was starting to lose breath after a few seconds, but an unknown back up system inside of him pushed him forward, gaining on her.

 

She loved the thrill of the chase. She wanted to be pursued. Chased after. Sought for. Wanted. As she reached the finish line, she began to slow down. She wanted to be chased, but there was nothing she wanted more than to be-

 

“Got you!” Luke ran faster than the speed of sound, and the slapping of his sneakers against the concrete followed them several seconds after he wrapped both of his arms around her and stopped. They were both breathless from the chase, sweat pouring off of them. She looked up at him, seeing his pleasure at finding his prize.

 

“I beat you,” he said, still trying to catch the breath that he just couldn’t seem to find.

 

“You got me,” she said amusedly. She just looked up at him, not saying a word. She loved the way the beads of sweat dripped down his face. They were just a microcosm of the raging waters that were flowing from the busted gate of her heart. Words that had no place in the human language were running through her after being suppressed by her loneliness for so long. Slowly, their lips met, brushed against each other, and finally united when they couldn’t take the teasing any longer. “Perfect” was the word that came to mind when Randall was there. Two more words finally surfaced when Luke’s lips touched hers: “for me”.

Reviews

[Drew Wade]

I think that your talent for description really showed through in this story. The first paragraph really sets a tone for the story, and I think if the story has a problem, it's that sometimes it veers off the pace. Not that it's hard to veer off the pace; it's hard to maintain that constant descriptive level for long.

The story itself is sweet, the instant connection between Daphne and Luke, doesn't everyone want something like that? and the whole idea of pursuit.. not to be chauvinistic, but it seems these days that girls and guys get it backwards a lot. Guys should be doing the pursuing, and girls should be chased.. Some things just feel right. You know? That's just a personal idea I'm interjecting..

To nit pick for a few thoughts, "The sun shone down on the little outdoor caf� that they sat at." Hmm, maybe, 'where they sat.'?

and... "it was a public place, and it was none of their business to inquire why two people didn't wear the same things they were." maybe add a wearing at the end of this sentence? but that's I think more of a stylistic difference.

very good story. you pick out the beautiful things of life and you elucidate on them very well.

[Linda Stinson]

Inevitable is truely a proper title. It appears that fate worked overtime on this day. It is funny how Daphne from from one ackward situation right into another. One with a better out come too. Maybe sometimes jealousy pays off.


The use of dialogue throughout the story was steady and consise with the subject. You painted the setting of picture perfect spring day which sets the scene for no wrong to happen. But wrong did happen and a whole lot of right came out of it. Your ending echos "and they lived happlier ever after." Now who could ask for better? Good work.

[Lauren Xena Campbell]

Ah, I really liked that story. It's sweet! I loved the whole plot, the happy unease, the fatal attraction, the resistance, the chase, and the surrender. One word springs to mind after reading it; perfect. I loved it truly. The way you wrote it, the feelings you presented, the thrills of the day, all the emotions you portrayed through your characters that I inherited from reading. Perfect, perfect, perfect.

I do however have one little nick pick about the story, �Whatever word was alluding her grasp�, do you mean �eluding�? Otherwise, I think it really is brilliant!!!!!!!!

[Lexy]

I'm glad you entered this in my contest. This is beautifully done (and if you have a bad memory like me, it's the love love love contest ;))

[DarkAngelWriter]

"Everything was just in sync today."...you just wanted to say *NSYNC

And you, you damn hopeless romantic, you make me hurt. This "love at first sight" thing you seem to really believe in. It sucks that you can believe in it.

But I have to admit..when I met Bradley, my first thought was "he'll be mine someday"...but I don't think I believed it. Just the inevitable, I suppose? :)

Great write.