The trees in the park had once been full of a thick mass of dark green leaves, but now the autumn had colored the remaining leaves like fire, yellow and red. The sun shone from a clear blue sky and the air was cool and refreshing like only autumn air can be. Walking through the colorful park was a young couple. Close together holding hands they were oblivious to the cold and saw only the beauty in their surroundings and each other. To them it was a good day...to others it wasn’t.
Brian stood in front of the big gate and when he laid his eyes on a young loving couple he felt a sting of jealousy and glanced away quickly, not wanting to see them holding each other’s hands smiling. He shivered slightly as a cold wind swept by him and made the dead leaves on the ground swirl around like a premonition of the long cold winter that would soon come. In his hand he held a single red rose meant for the one and only girl he’d ever loved. He closed his baby-blue eyes briefly and took a deep shaky breath collecting courage, forcing himself to be strong even though he felt anything but it.
With a weak squeaky sound the gate opened easily and he walked through it. Even though the park he had just been in was only a hedge away, it was like entering a whole new world when he walked through the gate. Slowly he closed the gates behind him and stopped for a moment, looking around. Not a living soul was to be seen. Good, he thought, he wanted to be alone. He began walking forward along the gravel path until he found what he was looking for. Right next to a large oak tree it was. The tombstone. Her grave. He kneeled in front of it and let his hand slide over the silvery inscription. Elizabeth Ross. 23/2-78 - 12/8-99 God borrowed us an angel.
Had it gone two months already? Brian placed the rose on the ground in front of him. Two months. God, how he missed her. He missed her so much it hurt, so much he wanted to scream and cry. But to what use?
Brian would never forget the first time he saw Ellie. It was in the school library and afterwards he often thought it must have been their destiny to meet. That God wanted it to be that way. There were just too many details that contributed for it to be only a coincidence, like the fact that he, out of all people, should have been in the library at exact the same time as she was. He wasn’t exactly the type of guy that you would expect to find with a lot of books, rather out on a basketball court somewhere. But that day he had to go and pick up some books for an assignment about the World War One, and he was walking amongst all the shelves with a heavy bunch of books in his arms, most of all wishing to get out of there. It was way too quiet, not to mention boring for him to like it there. He sighed to himself as he rounded a shelf and then all thoughts just washed away from his mind and he stopped and stared.
There she was, the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen, standing looking down at a book in her hands. She had long wavy hair that hung loose on her back and it had almost the same color as the purest gold and she was quite tall, just an inch or two shorter than he was. She wore a simple white shirt and a pair of bright blue jeans that fit close to her well-trained legs and the soft lightning in the library made her look more like an angel than a human. When she looked up from her book and turned to him, Brian was sure he was going to faint. God, she was so wonderful.
Her eyes wore the clearest color of emerald green he’d ever seen and they seemed to be shimmering. A bang made him snap back to reality and a blush crept to his cheeks as he realized two things. The first was that he’d been glaring at the girl, the second was that the loud bang was the sound of him dropping his books to the floor. Quickly he bent down to collect the books and so did she.
"Sorry," he mumbled as he stood up again with the most of his books back in his grip. She handed him the rest of them with a shy smile that almost made him drop them again. "Wow, sorry!" he repeated once he had regained control of all the books again.
"Do you need any help with those?" she offered but he shook his head no.
"No, it’s ok. Thanks anyway," he said trying to sound cool although his heart was pounding inside his chest. She was so sweet and...and perfect!
"Ok then," she said and smiled before she turned to leave. Brian stood dumbfounded for a second or two before he managed to open his mouth to speak.
"Hey, wait!" he called out and she spun around again. "What’s your name?"
"Ellie... or well, actually Elizabeth, but no one calls me that," she said looking slightly surprised. "You?"
"I’m Brian," he paused. ‘Ok, here goes nothing’ he thought and took a deep shaky breath. "Would you... um... Do you want to go for a coffee or something with me?" Their eyes met and she looked at him with shock. Then her lips curled into a smile.
"Sure"
From that moment on, Brian believed in love at first sight.
Brian closed his eyes as all the images from the past flushed over him like a wave and he let himself be overwhelmed by the bittersweet memories.
"No I don’t want to" Ellie protested as she stood by the side of the basketball court watching while Brian dribbled the ball before shooting towards the basket. With a swishing sound it went right through the net.
"Oh, come on! Play with me!" he said while catching the bouncing ball.
"No, I’m lousy at basketball."
"Ellie, come on" Brian tried again nonchalantly spinning the ball on his index finger.
"No, I don’t play basketball." Ellie crossed her arms at her chest stubbornly "Especially not in front of a pro like you. You’ll despise me forever cause I can’t even make a shot!"
"Ellie, please" Brian begged and gave her a puppy-dog like glance. "Just try at least."
"Uh-uh"
"Please? I’ll teach you," he said, giving her that look again.
"Brian Thomas Littrell! Stop looking like that. It’s cheating" she said laughing.
"Please? I’ll let you win."
"No, I..." She groaned. "Oh well, ok! But if you laugh I’ll kill you."
"I won't" he assured her with a smile and threw her the ball. She caught it and walked up to him.
"And the rules?" Cursorily he explained the simple rules of street basket and she dribbled the ball a couple of times. "Ok, I think I got it." They began a playful game and soon they were both totally in to it.
"Yes! NBA here I come!" Ellie shouted out laughing making a weird victory dance as she managed to shoot the ball through the net. "Hey!" She stopped as Brian took advantage of her lack of attention and stole the ball and headed for the basket. "Oh no you don’t," she murmured and shot after him and so they went on.
Of course Brian was quite superior but to be honest most of his attention wasn’t at the game. He couldn’t manage to take his eyes of Ellie so he presumably watched her more than the ball. That was also probably one reason why both of them somehow managed to get all tangled up in each other in a close tackle, which ended up with them stumbling to the ground together. Giggling they helped each other up on their feet again. Brian felt his heart skip a beat when Ellie smiled at him. Her cheeks wore a light color of red after all the running around and as always her eyes shimmered.
"I’m sor-"
"It was my-" They began at the same time, interrupting each other. Ellie blushed and smiled slightly. The ball rolled away on the court but no one made an attempt to go and get it, instead they just stood there close together. Their eyes met and at that moment it was like nothing else mattered, everything around them faded away, became unimportant. Their faces were only inches apart and Brian felt like he couldn’t breath. Never had he been so close to her before and he could feel the soft scent of her perfume. Brian wasn’t sure who had made the first move, him or her, but it didn’t matter. The moment their lips met and lingered it all came naturally and Ellie wrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled her close by the waist. Not caring who might see, they kissed slowly and tenderly as if time would have stand still.
Finally they broke apart after their first kiss and a thousand feelings flushed over Brian. He felt hot and feverish, high and intoxicated, happy and it was all because of her. Looking into her green eyes he knew no words were necessary between them.
