San Diego

Do you ever get the feeling that you're being followed or watched?

I was strolling down Newport Avenue, soaking up the warm sea breeze when that ominous feeling crept into my mind. I spun my head around, trying to catch a glimpse of anything suspicious as I continued my walk.

Everyone seemed to be consumed by their own business: surfers making their way to the ocean with their colorful shortboards, a group of teenage girls laughing amongst themselves as they walked into Starbucks, and the line at Hodad's nearly starting to back up around the street corner. The smell of burgers triggered a loud grumbling of my stomach reminding me that I still hadn't eaten anything yet but noon was coming up fast.

Nothing looked out of the ordinary and it seemed no one had even acknowledged my presence. I shook the feeling off and laughed at myself for believing I could be important enough to anyone else on the planet; that someone would take the time out of their own life to follow me around.

I had just started to turn my head forward and was taking another step when I felt a crashing impact as if I had hit an imaginary wall in the middle of the sidewalk. Immediately, I was propelled backward. A small jolt of electricity lightly shocked my back, and I seemed to be caught suspended in the air. The bolt quickly made its way through my body before settling in my mind and making my brain shut down for just a second while I tried to process everything that had just happened.

“Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you saw me." His voice was deep and sounded full of anguish. The minor whiplash feeling had rebooted my brain and I started processing everything again. My memory of the last 30 seconds replayed quickly before me and my gaze focused on the concrete sidewalk below that I thought for sure I would be lying on right now. "Oh no, It's totally fine! I've never been the most graceful pers...."

I wasn't able to finish my sentence, I looked up at him and lost all ability to think clearly. He was absolutely perfect.

He had sun-kissed skin that seemed to radiate its own light, and his eyes were a beautiful light brown hazel with flecks of green that slowly overtook the brown as he peered into mine. His hair was a tousled chocolate brown that hung just below his ears. His muscles were mountainous like the men from those werewolf novels I shamelessly read late at night. His clothes hugged his body only at his chest level and his jeans were loose enough that I started to imagine what they were hiding. I could feel a warm glow consuming my face and running down my neck.

He made sure I was vertical again and balanced on my own two feet before he let go. He was a whole head taller than I was and I took a step back to prevent myself from having to lift my chin up unflatteringly. "I should have moved over, I am really sorry." He said looking down at me, rubbing the back of his neck with his arm, absent-mindedly showing off his brawny bicep and forearm. I imagined what it would be like to be held in those strong arms and have him lay his chin on top of my head in comfort. Snap out of it, you're still staring and that's bad enough, I thought to myself as I got lost in my imagination.

"I should have been paying more attention to where I was going," I admitted embarrassedly, knowing that if I spent even a minute more looking up at him, I would never leave his side again. I could feel a strange pull to him like an unseen tether growing stronger the longer we were near each other. I looked down to the sidewalk and tried to continue my journey down the street. He did the same, but we both stepped in each other's direction again, bringing us back to a halt.

"Sorry," we murmured to each other still taking the same position on the sidewalk and not making it around each other. I couldn't help but laugh at the silliness of the situation. "I have always loved a good dance." He said meeting my gaze once again. It was like all of my resolves broke in that look and I could no longer deny the invisible string that tied around us. I quickly looked back down to my feet and bravely but very quietly asked, "I was just going to go for a walk on the pier. If you're not busy or have anything better to do, you could join me?” There was a slight hesitation and I could feel the energy around us shift. "Sure. Since we can't seem to get away from each other." He replied, just as quietly.

I’ve never been good at hiding my thoughts, you could almost always tell exactly what I am thinking by the look on my face. I immediately looked up at him with a giant involuntary smile. The corner of his lips curved up to a smirk in return but the look in his eyes seemed distressed. Seeing the conflict in him, my face must have shown a look of confusion because his mouth soon faded into a tight line as he turned around and took a place next to me on the sidewalk.

I took the first step and he matched my strides. "I was just out for a little break and thought I would get some exercise on the pier," I hesitantly tried to clear the air while still watching his face for any hint of what he might be thinking. "That sounds like a great idea." His attention and eyes were fully on our path. Mind-deafening silence was all there was between us as we walked. The emotion in the air was dry and felt rough. I could sense regret and vexation oozing off him, confusion and intrigue washing from me. It hung between us like a dense fog as we stepped up the stairs to the beginning of the pier. "I don't even know your name," I told him as I stopped at the top of the staircase and turned to him. "Hmm?" he grumbled and stopped a few steps below me so we were eye to eye.

The chemistry between us was exhilarating. It felt as though the whole world was still moving around us but we were frozen in time together. "Your name?" was all I could spill out as his eyes pierced through my very soul.

He took another step up closer to me, he smelled of toasted cedar and nutmeg. I wanted to smell it for the rest of my life. Make a candle of the scent, and burn it till the end of time. "Donovan, yours?" He asked as he turned his back to me to continue his climb to the pier. I grabbed his hand and pulled him around to a stop; directly facing me. "Adelaide," I said still holding his hand.

We stood there again, lost in the moment of each other. "Nice to meet you." I realized I was still holding his hand and started to let go. He gave my hand a slight squeeze before letting it slip away. We continued the last few steps up.

The pier was full of the usual fishermen, all gathered around the few concrete benches with their tackle boxes and buckets. Some were cleaning their catches in the small sinks. Seagulls lined the wooden apron, hoping to steal whatever scraps they could.

"Tell me about yourself, Donovan?" I asked as we started our way down the long concrete stretch. I wanted to learn every detail about him. What he did, where he's from, where he sees himself in the future; everything, not leaving even the smallest detail unknown. "You first." He chuckled with a slight sadness.

What is he hiding? I thought to myself as I could feel the tugging conflict inside of him. I have always been good at picking up people's emotions, especially those who try to hide them. I decided not to push him, somehow knowing that he would tell me eventually. Wishful thinking had me dreaming that it meant getting to spend more time with him to find out.

"Hmmm, where to begin..." I started as we continued down the center of the concrete path, making our way further towards the horizon and over the slow crashing waves beneath us.