When it Rains it Pours

The rain broke the silence as my pickup tore through the puddles on the road. Wipers slapping across the wind shield on the fastest setting barely kept a visible path on the glass. My eyes should have been on the road, yet I would catch myself glaring over at her with a dumbstruck grin and wild admiration. Her green and brown eyes looking up to meet mine, with a soft smirk creeping from one corner of her mouth to the other. There was no direction or destination in mind, we flipped a coin at every intersection to decide where our adventure may lead. There was nothing overly exciting or even outwardly noticeable between the two of us, but there was a quiet laughter and a certain comfort that I had never experienced before. It wasn't magical by any stretch, but somehow mysterious and enchanting in its own unique way. The unknown taunted us on a dismal dark evening. Two people, strangers a few short weeks before, sit in silent contentment while The Gaslight Anthem hums quietly across my speakers. In my own dark saturated mind, I felt every emotion in the spectrum inside one single, solitary moment.

I gazed towards her again, my eyes should have been on the road, instead, they were glued to her, and the way she looked astonishing under that big bright moon. She peered over at me, a subtle grin and the smallest glimpse of her wild piercing eyes. So simple and elegant, yet curious and amused, they seemed to sing a song all their own. Anytime we made eye contact I lost all sense of direction and became flustered like a grade school kid around his first crush. I couldn't help but smile, there wasn't anything that needed to be said, just the silent understanding that wherever our lives were going, this moment we were exactly where we wanted to be.

I reached across to grab her hand and hold it gently inside mine, and that's when it hit me. She a beauty entirely her own, physical and intellectual. When she spoke she knew herself, there was a confidence in her words that rang in my ears for days to come. Her long, thick, natural red hair flowed over her shoulders like a hidden waterfall, so far back in the wilderness that few had ever come face to face with her fascinating beauty. I gave her hand a gentle squeeze, pulled it up and gave the most gentle little peck, as if to say that I was astonished by her. There wasn't anything I could do, I was fucked. Looking into her eyes in that specific moment, I knew she would haunt my dreams at night, and invade my thoughts throughout the day.

I promised myself I would build a wall that nobody could ever break through or tear down. I was to become a fortress, one massive, emotionless fortress of man. My gates would never be conquered or broken down. Yet, as my pickup speed through those dark rainy streets, it occurred to me that she had no idea that she was already standing on the inside of my castle.