Sally
When I was just a little girl, I always read fairy tales and I loved hearing how the handsome prince would fall in love with the princess and sweep her away. He'd love her with everything in him and he'd do everything he could to protect her. I always thought I'd find that love. It's all I've ever really craved. There was something so comforting knowing that there was someone in the world who loved you more than life itself. My childhood was pretty normal I suppose. My parents divorced when I was barely three and I was shuttled back and forth between them for the next eight years of my life. Then my dad moved back to Guyana, in South America, to take over his family business and all of a sudden I went to seeing him once every couple of years and talking to him on the phone every few months. My dad remarried, though he had no more kids, and I felt like his new relationship took precedence over his role in my life. His new wife hated me because she was a jealous cow and I was a reminder of his loving another woman. My mom, well, she sort of drifted about life aimlessly after the divorce, never knowing if she was coming or going and the bitterness of her marriage ending never seemed to leave her. I'm lucky I didn't become bitter and jaded myself, but I think that was thanks to having Mila as a best friend and having her family as a surrogate.
It didn't hurt that I found Cody mesmerizing and that he was on my mind all the time. I suppose my unhealthy obsession began the first time I met him. Even though we were young, it was love at first sight for me. He was the golden boy, all dimples and big smiles, teasing and loving and full of life. When I was around Cody, I forgot about everything else. I forgot about being scared of exams, the loneliness of going home, the heartache of rejection when a boy I had a crush on didn't like me. I forgot about being hungry, angry, sad, mad, whatever emotions I was experiencing at the time. It was like time stood still when I was with him. We were just us, at a moment in time, and nothing else mattered. I can remember the exact moment when I knew he was my true love. I can remember it as if it happened yesterday. We'd been by the lake house and we'd gone for a walk. It had just been the two of us and I'd been so happy to have some alone time with him. We'd stared out at the lake, under the moonlight, and we'd just gazed at the rippling water in amazement.
"It's so beautiful," I'd said softly. "How amazing would it feel to fall asleep in the water and let it carry you away gently?"
"Pretty amazing, I suppose," Cody said quietly, nodding as we stood there.
"The only issue I see," I continued, "is if you floated off into the middle of the lake, though I suppose that would be scarier if it were an ocean. Then you'd float off into the middle of nowhere."
"That would be pretty scary." He nodded. "Though I suppose we could be like the otters."
"Be like the otters?" I asked curiously, turning to look at him. "What do you mean?"
"You don't know about the otters?" He turned to look down at me and his eyes were sparkling in delight as he stared at me.
"No, tell me," I said, gazing back at him, wanting his eyes to never leave mine.
"When otters fall asleep in the water, they make sure to hold hands so that they don't drift apart. So even if the water carries them downstream they're still together."
"Oh wow," I said simply, my heart melting at how sweet that sounded.
"So we could be like them," he said with a small smile. "We can go and fall asleep in the lake and let the water take us where it may, but we'll have to hold hands to make sure that we don't drift apart."
"That sounds like a good idea to me." I grinned up at him, my heart overflowing with love. "That sounds like a really good idea."
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