“I had a really fun time today,” Nick grinned at Riley as they entered the house.

“Yeah same here,” Riley smiled back.

Their what should have been a lunch outing lasted for the most part of the day and did not return until 9:00 that night.

“Well I’m going to head up and start getting ready for bed,” Riley informed as she started to make her way down the hallway that will ultimately lead her to the stairs to her room.

“Are you real tired?” Nick called out abruptly

“Uhm…tired as in…?”

“Sleepy-tired. Are you planning on heading to bed?”

“No, I usually don’t find sleep until around 2 in the morning,” Riley grimaced. “Why?”

“No reason,” Nick shook his head as he made his way to the next room, the kitchen, to get a glass of water to drink. “Well, it’s just…I’m going to go sit out. You want to keep me company? I mean, if you’re too tired and sick of me or something…I’ll understand”

Riley couldn’t help but plaster a smile on her face. She didn’t want to admit it but during that day, the time she had spent with Nick getting to know him and letting him getting to know her, she had started to develop feelings toward him. She chose to ignore them because he knows that a good looking rich guy like Nick will never be attracted to a girl like her. Despite it all though, her feelings for him soared. She felt like she was on top of the world knowing that he was asking her to spend time with her. Of all the beautiful girls out there, he chose her to talk to. Why? She didn’t know why, but she didn’t care either. Never has she experience a feeling of exhilaration and contentment until that day. “I’d love to,” she replied softly while letting out a small smile.

Nick led her to the room that gave way for them to go in the backyard of the house. The two of them sat on the green grass while overlooking the ocean that occupied most of Nick’s backyard. The sky had darkened but the light that was placed on the side of the ground created a glimmer into the water as the moon’s reflection danced with along the tiny waves the ocean made caused by the wind. “I love sitting out here for hours,” Nick admitted quietly. “It’s so serene. It’s like, the rest of the world is out there and you’re in this place where no one can ever bug you or touch you. You’re just alone, segregated, and it feels…” Nick stopped, at loss of words as he searched his eyes in the empty space he was looking at.

“…amazing,” Riley filled in the blank for Nick.

“What?” Nick looked at her, somewhat confused.

“Feeling like you’re away from reality, it’s an amazing feeling,” she explained while staring bewildered at the moon.

“Is that how you feel?”

“Sometimes”

“What do you mean?”

“Being alone and away from everything is a nice feeling to have every once and a while, but to spend most of your life feeling alone, it gets kind of lonely”

“But there’s also that feeling of being in a room filled with people all talking to you, all trying to find a way to grab your attention, that’s also kind of lonely,” Nick frowned as he looked down on his hand

“Is that how you feel?” Riley looked at him as her eyes narrowed and focused just on him, forgetting about everything that existed around her. All she could see was Nick’s face.

He looked back at her, returning her gaze at him. “All the time!” he admitted. “Except maybe for now,” followed by a small chuckle. “Weird huh?”

“What is?” Riley squinted her eyes. Suddenly, Nick seemed to have been talking in codes.

“That someone like me could feel so much loneliness: to close my eyes at night and feel so empty and so incomplete: to go through my life, day after day, feeling like I’m wandering aimlessly, feeling so lost and so…always having this empty void in my heart and this fear that I’ll never find someone who will actually look at me and see me for the real me, and not create some perfect creature they believe exists. All that, it’s weird, right?” he chuckled as his eyes were filled with so much distress and sadness.

“No, it’s not weird, it’s…it’s normal, it’s what it is”

“That’s because you can relate, I guess,” Nick said followed by biting his lower lip, regretting to have said that. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for that to come off as rude or anything like that”

“It’s not rude at all, it’s the truth”

They gazed into each other’s eyes; it was as if they could read each other’s thoughts without having to hear the other person talk. They understood each other; everything that the other person was feeling, they both felt it. For both Nick and Riley, it’s been a long time since they have felt a connection with someone. It was weird for the two of them, but at the same time, it gave them comfort and hope. And where there’s comfort and hope, happiness is surely not too far away.