Griffith Park Love

The trees danced in the wind. The birds chirped nearby. The sea of city the color of concrete stretched miles away in front of me. On clear crystal days, the real sea could be seen from where I sat. It was a beautiful day at Griffith Park.

As I waited for Paul to arrive, I wondered to myself how I had agreed to come to Griffith park. My best friend since the first grade had asked me, begged me to come and deliver a love letter to Paul, her secret crush since three years. I only agreed because I know her parents don't let her out. She finally mustered the courage to talk to him, indirectly that is. I finally got through to Paul and asked him to meet me at Griffith because I had something important to tell him and it had to be somewhere private were no one would see us. 

It had been twenty minutes since I had arrived, and I wondered whether Paul had decided not to come, when I felt a hand over my shoulder. I screamed and jumped off the bench almost stumbling on my feet. My heart was racing, but it slowed down in relief when I saw Paul staring at me, puzzled.

"Oh, it's you!" I said. I felt like such a freak.

"Of course it's me. Weren't you expecting me?" he said in a soothing voice, reminding me why I was here in the first place. His tone surprised me. I expected something more like Duh!  No other boy had talked to me like that, not nice and sweet like Paul just did. They would usually laugh at my idiocy. Not like I cared. 

"Sorry, you took me by surprise," I said blushing.

"It's Ok." He smiled. "This place is nice. It's .. I don't know.. like private, yet you have the whole city in front of you. I like it," he said, obviously trying to make conversation. I thought he would ask me to get straight to the point, but I decided to follow his lead and give him the letter later.

We sat on a bench for awhile and talked about the park and the view, about sports and TV, and then somehow about our lives. The more we talked the more I realized how easy the conversation flowed between us. I told him how this was my little haven, and how I used to come here every week with my dad until he moved away to New York to take care of his sick mom. Paul looked at me with empathy, and something filled me up inside. I couldn't figure out what that feeling was, so I decided to give Paul the letter and end with it soon. 

"What's this?" he said.

"It's a letter from Margaret, my friend. She asked me to give it to you....because she likes you," I said somewhat timid. I felt like I was was the one confessing my love for him, which I didn't have. 

"Oh," he said as I handed him the letter. I think I was hallucinating because I saw a hint of disappointment in his face. His big blue eyes looked down at the letter in his hands, but he didn't open it.

"It was nice talking to you. If you would like to give me something for Margaret, you know where to find me." I started walking, but he stopped me, grabbing me by the arm.

"Wait!" he said, "I think I might give something to your friend, too. Can you meet me next Saturday here around the same time?"

"Sure thing," I said.

"Cool. See you then, I guess."

I began walking again. This time he didn't stop me. I left him in the bench staring at Los Angeles.

When I got home, I called Margaret to give her the good news. She squealed with excitement and asked me a million times what I thought he would give her, to which I answered 'I don't know,' with lack of enthusiasm. I don't think I liked playing the love messenger for Margaret and Paul. I hang up and laid on my bed, staring at the ceiling, and I replayed the conversation with Paul again in my head. What's wrong with me, I thought. I changed my thoughts to something else, and after a while, I fell asleep.

Next Saturday came along quickly. This time, though, it was him who waited at the bench. He was laying down with his hands behind his head and his eyes closed. I approached him slowly and quietly not wanting to wake him up. I gazed at him in his slumber, at his T-shirt and his jeans. When I looked back to his face, he was looking at me with a quirk smile. I blushed at having been caught red handed. 

"Hey!" he said. He sat up straight and patted his hand on the bench, inviting me to sit next to him. "You look pretty when you blush," he analyzed, to which I blushed an even deeper red. I looked away in embarrassment. He laughed at my gesture and switched sides to face me.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

"It's Ok," I said, and then, I gave him an exaggerated smile. This time we both laughed.

"Listen," he began, his tone becoming serious,"I've seen Margaret a couple of times with you before, and she seems like a very nice girl, but..." He looked down at his hands.

"But what?" I inquired.

"But I don't think I like her the way she likes me," he said slowly in the most gentlemanly voice he could manage. For a moment, I was appalled at his confession, and I couldn't find what to say. I stared at him like an idiot. He got anxious at my speechlessness and began to talk.

"I can explain," he said. He stopped for a moment and then continued slowly again, "There's someone else I like." This time, though, I knew exactly what to say.

"How could you? You told me to come here because you were going to give me something for her, too," at which point I was standing. I felt like punching him in the face."You knew she had a crush on you. You made me believe you liked her."

"I know and I'm sorry," he said with an apologetic face that almost deceived me again.

"Right," I said sarcastically. I turned around and started running through the path that led out into the street. I could feel him running after me and calling my name, but I lost track of him after a few seconds. Still, I kept going. I wasn't going to stand there and listen to him give me excuses for having tricked my best friend into thinking he liked her. I wasn't going to let him toy with her feelings. I wasn't going to let anyone betray my best friend.

I got home and I ran to the phone to call Margaret, but I stopped midway and instead slouched in the arm chair next to it. How was I going to tell her? She had been really excited. She wouldn't stop talking about him. She was probably staring at her phone right now waiting for my call.

I decided not to. I was too much of a coward to break her heart. Being a love messenger wasn't for me. The phone rang and rang and rang, but I didn't answer. I couldn't. I went to sleep without calling her. The next day, I went back to Griffith Park. I didn't think Paul would be there after what had happened yesterday. I think it was pretty clear to him that he wasn't invited anymore. 

I found the bench empty. I sat down and stared at the blue sky like I usually did. There was a cool breeze that swayed the trees. I let it sway me, too. I let it sway my problem away if only for an instant, and for a moment, I felt like humming. The wind made the bushes rattle, and it stopped me from hearing the footsteps from behind.

"Rebecca," a soothing voice intoned of me. I knew instantly who it was. I stood up and slowly turned around to face him, rage filling in my blood again.

"Rebecca, please listen to me," he said. I took a step back as he took a step closer.

"I don't have to listen..." I began, but he closed the gap between us in two long strides and put a finger on my lips. My body went limp. I didn't expect that from him.

"You didn't let me finish yesterday." He took advantage of my limpness to talk. "Margaret is a great girl, but there is someone else I like, someone else that I don't know feels the same way." 

"You didn't have to fool Margaret if you liked someone else," I said after pushing his hand away.

"I know, but I can explain." I was about to protest, when suddenly he rushed his lips to mine and kissed me. His lips were hot and soft, and for some reason I couldn't explain to myself, I didn't back away. Instead, I kissed him back with as much fervor as he did. I pressed myself against him and grabbed his hair with my hands. He held me tighter in his arms.

Two emotions ran through me, two strong emotions that created a conflict inside me. One was complete passion, and the other was guilt. I realized now that I had fallen in love with Paul in the short time I had given him Margaret's love messages, and now that he held me in his arms, the feelings I had for him came afloat. The anger I had felt for him just a moment ago wasn't anger at all.  

I felt guilt at the same time. I had betrayed my best friend. I had toyed with her emotions, too, and now, I was making out with her crush, while she was still at home waiting for my call. For  a moment, I thought the guilt would have the best of me, but the ardor of our kiss was drowning the guilt slowly. I only hoped Margaret could forgive me someday. 

In the end, my newly discovered love for Paul won over the other emotion I couldn't even remember anymore. All I could think about was Paul's lips locked with mine.

Author's Note

I'm so self-conscious, I thought maybe I should get feedback first before letting it be published in the school newspaper. Your reviews will help. Thanxs!

Reviews

[1ceburnt2ceshy]

i love the way u express her feelings. it's really nice, it's missing some punctuation in some places, tho. lol. btw, it mite just be me, but i could tell how it was going to end. u mite want to watch out for that. i love the language u used though -_-

[J.P. Lylinstern]

Aww!
This was really cute, I love little lovey-dovey stories like this (I'm such a girl).
Your imagery is very nice. The way you were able to clearly give a description of the character's surroundings while using little verbage and STILL getting across where they were is a very good skill with writing.

I will warn you to watch out for excessive punctuation. I didn't see too much of it here, but it's a good thing to have pointed out to keep you in check.

Bon chance!

[Bekah]

I love it! I agree with your 2 first reviews I was hooked at the very start of it.
Awesome Job!

[BluesForTheRisingSun]

I agree with the person below, it held my attention throughout.
Very entertaining :)

[Blue]

This is a great story to post up! Keeps the readers interest from beginning to end. Great story!