Take it All (Blinded by Love) (4 page)

Therefore, getting ready Tuesday night she was a nervous wreck. Worried that he wasn’t going to show, that she would end up sitting there looking like an idiot; but more nervous that she had wasted time getting to know someone who she believed, upon agreeing to their date, was interested in her. She couldn’t deny she didn’t have an interest in him, she definitely did.

That was the only explanation as to why, after sitting in Fizzy Wigs waiting for KingK to show up, she was in fact still sitting in that booth; waiting. Grabbing her phone, she noted the time was eight fifteen. He was an hour and fifteen minutes late and she wasn’t sure if she should put herself through the embarrassment anymore by sitting there any longer. But there was a voice in the back of her head, telling her to give it a few more minutes and just wait. Instead of listening to the voice she pushed it aside and started to gather her things to head home.

It was then, when she tossed her phone into her bag and grabbed her coat from the seat next to her, that she heard the front door chime as it opened. Not thinking anything of it, she looked up in the direction of the door, and saw the back of his black leather jacket. She looked down at his slightly baggy jeans that seemed to be hanging off his hips just right, noting his feet matched hers; only his converses were black. Her eyes moved back up his backside to the back of his neck, as she wished he’d turn around so she could see his face. It was as if everything froze briefly then started again in slow motion. He turned in her direction, as if he felt her intense gaze on him, and his bright azure eyes met her honey ones.

Lennox’s lips parted and the air flowed from her body as she blinked. “Oh, my God,” she whispered to herself, now knowing the reason his picture was familiar. She had seen those eyes before; the bright azure colored eyes, the same ones she had sworn years ago as she watched him disappear with his family that she would never forget.

Not ever.

Caleb Kingston knew he was late; almost an hour and a half late to be exact. He wondered if it was even worth going inside when the girl he was supposed to be meeting, PurpleStar, was more than likely long gone, and would probably never speak to him again. But this wasn’t the first time it happened to him. There had been a time long before he met PurpleStar that he was supposed to meet someone else but ended up being late and she had left, so it wouldn’t surprise him if he found no one waiting for him.

He pulled his navy blue, two door Sunfire into a parking stall on the end, directly in front of the main window on the right hand side. The cafe was small and hidden; if it hadn’t been for its giant coffee cup shaped sign, he might have missed it. He knew when she suggested they meet at Fizzy Wigs in Spruce Hill that it was a new place, one that hadn’t been around when he lived in town years before.

Looking around he noted the busy parking lot; a clear sign the cafe was most likely packed. Though, how a small cafe could fit so many people was a mystery to him. As he turned off the ignition, he looked at the window in front of him. The window had a thick lining of frost around the edging as well as dark curtains making it hard to see inside the place. He looked at the front door as a young couple came strolling out, hand in hand, smiling, as the frosted glass door closed gently behind them.

Pulling his pack of smokes from the cup holder next to him, he slid it open and removed a cigarette, placing it between his lips then bringing the orange flame of his lighter to the end and lighting it. Caleb watched as the couple walked to their vehicle and the guy opened the door for his girl. He watched as she leaned up, and placed a small kiss on the side of his cheek before hopping in the car with a bright smile across her face. Caleb couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealously as he watched the scene before him. Being twenty one, Caleb didn’t have that; he never had anything like that. The only thing that ever came close was his on again, off again relationship with his high school girlfriend, Sarah.

Caleb and Sarah dated from the beginning of grade ten until she moved out of the country the summer before senior year began. In the beginning it was good, it was sweet, they were each other’s first then things changed, and like in life, people changed and they grew apart but always had a way of finding one another again. It wasn’t until she announced she was moving to New Zealand, that Caleb knew it was over for good. Once she moved, he started dating other girls but nothing serious ever came out of it, not with any of them.

Caleb wasn’t that guy. He wasn’t a man whore. He wasn’t a player. He wasn’t a bad guy who used girls for sexual favours. He was just a guy who was waiting for the right girl to come along, the right person who fit him to perfection. He thought he might have found her, years ago when he lived in Spruce Hill. But back then he was young, too young to know anything about what your feelings meant or to even know what love was. But with Caleb there was always a part of him that knew he might have met his match, someone who, if they had grown up together, might have ended up together and life would be a lot different for him.

Blowing out a puff of smoke, he shook his head, forcing away the thoughts that were about to come up; thoughts he didn’t want to be thinking about at that moment, the moment when he was supposed to be inside sitting across from a beautiful girl. He’d only seen one picture of her when they exchanged them a few weeks before, and there was something about her, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on, and it nagged at him every time they talked.

Finally, he tore his eyes away from the black Pontiac that was driving out of the parking lot, and put his keys into his pocket and hopped out of his car, slamming the door behind him. Taking one last pull from his smoke he tossed it on the ground, stepping on it with his converse clad foot and blew the last breath of smoke out before walking towards the frosted front door.

Inside, the place had a steady flow of people filling up the tables that were scattered around the surprisingly large cafe. The outside tricked you into thinking it was quite small when, inside, it was actually a lot bigger. The counter was placed at the back in the right hand corner, facing out to all the tables. The walls were lined with book shelves that were all filled with books and knick knacks. The walls were painted a warm, rich, mocha color with matching hardwood floor. The tables were a few shades lighter with matching chairs with cream cushions on the tops. The booths on the side matched the table color, with the same type of cushions on the benches.

Each table had a small round vase filled with water and a floating gerbera daisy inside. The café’s lights hung from the ceiling, making it seem brighter and comfortable. Where there weren’t shelves, there were paintings; paintings of different types of scenery. The Cafe wasn’t bare, it wasn’t boring or stuffy; it was comfortable and cozy, and from the looks of the full tables, a popular spot for coffee.

Looking around Caleb didn’t see anyone who looked to be alone and waiting for anyone. It was a moment later that he felt it. A feeling that crept up his spine so fast it gave him a wave of goose bumps, and he could feel a pair of eyes on him so intensely, as if they were screaming at him to turn around. And that’s exactly what he did, and when he turned around his eyes met a pair of bright, familiar, honey colored eyes.

Standing there, with their eyes locked on one another, he racked his brain trying to place where he had seen the beautiful honey gaze before. His eyes slowly slid over her face, taking in her golden blonde wavy hair that was pulled back on the sides and clipped in the back; they roamed over her soft facial features, including her light pink lips that shimmered with a glitter it was only noticeable when the light hit her lips at the right angle. His eyes moved down her curvy figure until they met her purple converse covered feet.

Then it hit him. It wasn’t just her eyes that told him but, strangely enough it was also her purple chucks. He knew the beautiful girl standing across the cafe looking back at him with what he assumed was the same realization he had just came to; they knew one another from a long time ago. He knew he’d never forget her gold eyes; eyes that were so soft, so warm, it was like looking into a jar of honey. Just looking into her eyes you could see right into her soul; the innocence it held, with the loyalty and love she’d one day grow to understand and share with the world. And just like it had been yesterday, Caleb could still see her skipping across his lawn and into his world.

He had only been a month shy from his eighth birthday when, along with his three year old sister Haley, his parents moved to their old house up on Dover Lane in Spruce Hill. It had been their second day in town when he was sitting out on their front step, pouting about the move and leaving his friends behind when he heard a musical laugh. Lifting his head and looking in the direction it had come from, he watched as a young girl skipped in his direction.

Her purple polka dot dress danced in the light breeze as she skipped in her purple converses with her blonde ringlets bouncing behind her. Her grin was big and bright, as well has holey, as she had a few teeth missing, but she looked like the happiest person he’d ever seen as he watched her skip towards him.

“Hi,” she said cheerfully, her voice soft and full of excitement, “what’s your name?”

Caleb, no longer feeling down or angry about their move, stood up from the step and held out his hand and said, “I’m Caleb Kingston.”

“I’m Lennox, Lennox Ward,” she said and placed her small hand inside his, shaking it.

“Lox,” he said, amused with a small smile pulling on his lips.

Lennox looked at him with a look as if she had smelt something funny before she said, “Lox?”

Caleb reached out and grabbed a ringlet then gently tugged on it. “Your hair,” he said before he let it go, not saying anything else, leaving it at that.

Lennox laughed as if it was the funniest thing she had ever heard. “Wanna come over and play? My mommy made peanut butter cookies and pink lemonade.” Caleb, loving peanut butter cookies, nodded and turned around quickly, running into his house shouting at his mom about going next door to play with his new friend.

From that day, until the day Caleb moved, leaving a crying Lennox on the sidewalk in front of his old house, the two were inseparable. They were best friends, always together, whether it was sitting together at lunch or walking to and from school every day, spending the weekends in each other’s back yard or in the forest behind their houses catching frogs in the small pond. It didn’t matter what they did, as long as they did it together.

The day Caleb told Lennox his father had taken a job out on the coast was not only her worst day, but his as well. Telling her he was moving in a few short weeks was the hardest thing to say but watching her eyes fill with tears before rolling down her cheeks was the worst thing to watch, even worse than watching her fall out of the tree in his back yard the summer prior and breaking her wrist.

It was the beginning of October when moving day finally arrived and Lennox was nowhere to be found. Caleb had spent the whole day waiting for her to come get him so they could spend the day playing together before he left but she never showed and no one, not even her parents, knew where she was; no one but Caleb knew where to find her. And walking through the forest, right to the frog pond, on the rock that overlooked it, sat Lennox in her jean cut shorts and purple striped tank top with her new purple converses, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.

“Thought I’d find you here, Lox,” Caleb said with a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

Lennox sniffled, wiping the fresh tears away at him calling her the only nickname she ever had. “Thought if I hid, you’d have to stay and never move,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “It was worth a try.”

Caleb chuckled as he climbed up on the rock next to her and pulled her into a hug and agreed, “It was.”

Lennox wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face into his shirt and mumbled, “I don’t want you to go.”

Caleb’s arm tightened, “I know Lox, I don’t wanna go either,” he paused, looking around their pond before continuing, “You know, I was so mad at my parents when we moved here, then I met you and I had nothing to be mad at anymore. Now I’m mad that we’re leaving and that I have to leave you behind.”

Lennox nodded her head, agreeing, but didn’t say anything only hiccupped as more tears rolled down her cheeks, soaking into his shirt. “You’ll always be my best friend, Lox. There’s no way I’d ever forget you.”

“Me too, Caleb,” she whispered, her voice thick and raspy, “you and me against the world, right?”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” he agreed with a small smile.

A few minutes passed before they heard Caleb’s mom call his name, telling him it was time to go. Lennox pulled back and dried her cheeks with the back of her hand before she looked at Caleb, who was climbing down the rock. When he hit the grass, he turned and looked up, and with his hand held out he asked, “Walk with me?”

Lennox nodded, forcing a smile before she jumped down and took Caleb’s hand and held it tightly in hers. “Always,” she said, holding on tighter as they started around the pond and towards the opening of the forest, making their way across his backyard and out to the front of the house where the big moving truck was parked behind Caleb’s family SUV.