Avendale City Park – ( February 2017)
It was a calm afternoon in the city of Avendale, Virginia. The local military base continued their day to day duties, the frozen boardwalk carnival continued its games and concession stands as the maintenance crew repainted and fixed up the rides for the coming spring. Seagulls continued to screech and hang around the nearest drive thru in hopes of a stray fry falling from someone’s bag.
Just this morning, the city was given the news of the first snow of the year coming in quickly. While salt trucks and road crews prepared for the coming frost, I was sitting at a park table with my sister, Taylor enjoying a warm cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream with chocolate drizzle.
My name is Max Damon. I’m a local shutterbug working his way through community college one snapshot at a time. Today, however; was an easy going day where I had to promise I would leave my equipment at home and relax.
With the coming snow, I was on break from College and Taylor was given the day off while the zoo she worked at closed up and prepared the animals the dining weather. It had been a while since we had some time alone and Taylor saw no better excuse to get out of the house.
The park was filled with children playing happily on the playground nearby with the gently falling snow dusting the ground. The parents sat bundled up with their coats sharing idle gossip with their fellow moms. Each kid was laughing and running as they tried to catch a snowflake on their tongue.
While I’m one for getting lost in my thoughts, I couldn’t help but chuckle watching the children play and Taylor staring off into space at a guitarist sitting on a bench strumming away. Every so often, he would look up from his strumming and smile at her as he played even longer. She would smile back and swing her knee high boots and recording him with her phone. Taylor was never one for crushing over random guys.
“Since when did you start guy watching? You know him?” I asked teasingly.
She shot me with a surprised look. “And you don’t?! That’s Matt Luther! He’s only one of the greatest musicians in Contemporary Christian music. He has a concert tonight and he invited me to sit on the front row and hear him.”
“Uh-huh,” I replied suspiciously. “And how does a random famous musician just happen to start talking to you?”
“Well, if you must know, I was at work the other day welcoming people into the Zoo and passing out flyers. He said he admired my smile and the way I was so happy to see the guests. I politely thanked him and he said he wanted to do something nice for me and gave me a ticket to his show.”
Max sat confused and suspicious. “And?”
“Well…he kind of…” She began to explain as her face turned red as a tomato.
“Wait…did he ask you out afterwards?”
Her mouth shot open as she began to protest until she knew there was no way she could lie to me. “Maybe he did. Don’t be jealous.”
“Jealous? Please, believe it or not, I’m actually happy for you. Usually the only one signing you songs are the howler monkeys at the zoo.” We shared a laugh together as she turned to face me.
“So, what are the chances I could convince you to come with me tonight?”
Normally I would have no reservations about going with her, but I wasn’t prepared to be a third wheel.
“I don’t know, Taylor. Tonight seems pretty important to you.” She rolled her eyes as she looked off in the distance and suddenly stood up.
“Oh, I have an idea! I see your friend Melissa over there talking to some girl in pink hair. You should invite her and we could have a double date!”
I felt myself blushing as I slowly turned to see Melissa sipping on an energy drink with her friend with the pink hair. She turned her face slightly as my eyes were caught up in her thin, dark eyes. The falling snow circled her head with a gentle breeze blowing past them.
A glimmer of light sparkled against her cheek in a way I couldn’t explain. My warm hands holding my cup felt shaky, my mouth awkwardly hung open, and my gaze refused to leave her.
“So, what do you think? You’ve been cooped up in your room editing videos all day and never do anything for yourself.”
“Taylor, I’ve never been on a date before. I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
Taylor shook her head and put a hand on his shoulder. “Just be yourself. You are more fun than you give yourself credit for. C’mon, I promise you won’t regret it.”
I bit my bottom lip, cautiously glancing between them and Taylor. I nodded nervously, setting my cup down and slowly approaching Melissa. I was so entranced by her friend that I could not feel the bitter wind nipping at my face.
Melissa looked up and smiled. “Hey, Max!” She stood to give me a hug as she guided me to her table. “Max, you remember me talking about my best friend, Raven.” She turned to her. “Raven, this is Taylor’s big brother, Max the photographer.”
Raven stared as she studied me for a moment. Her pale skin glowed in the snow. Unsure how to begin, I awkwardly reached to shake her hand and she nervously shook it back.
“Nice to meet you, Raven,” I greeted still fighting nerves from taking over. I noticed her tapping her painted nails on the energy can and his eyes grew. “Is that one of the Diamond Fuel Energy Drinks? The green diamond is my favorite.”
Raven grinned for a moment as she tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. “Really? Mine too. I like to try them all at least once to see how I like them.”
“Have you tried the Black Rush?”
Her face soured for a moment. “That was a weird one. To me it tasted very…” She began to describe as she rubbed her fingers together to find the words.
“Chalky?” I guessed.
“Yes! That’s it. Surprised that so many people drink them. Oh, but have you heard about the Jet Burner coffee blend they are making? It sounds amazing and I’m wanting to try it as soon as possible.”
“Yes, my brother is in the Marines and told me all about how they are sponsoring the military. He’s taking me to grab one on release day when he comes back to the states in a few days.”
Her jaw dropped as a look of jealousy hit her. “That’s incredible.”
“Yeah…” I began to drop my expression as I heard Taylor clearing her throat behind us, reminding me why I walked over.
“If you aren’t busy then, would you like to come with us?”
She felt her cheeks blush as she noticed I was fidgeting with my hands to try and relax. She smiled softly as she recognized my attempt to ask her out. “I wouldn’t want to impose on time alone with your brother. I’m an only child like Melissa, so I can only imagine how precious that is.”
“He won’t mind. Between him and Taylor, they are always trying to get me to try and be more social.”
She gave Melissa a knowing look. “Funny, Mel tries to do the same with me.”
Melissa giggled as she placed a hand on her leg. “What can I say, bestie? He spends all day editing videos for class and you spend all day redecorating the house. I think you should do it.”
Raven looked nervously between Melissa and I as she tapped her can on the table thinking. “Well, if you’re sure he won’t mind, okay. I’d like that.”
An explosion of joy hit me as I failed to contain his smile, causing Melissa to laugh loudly. “That’s great!” I replied excitedly as I took a step towards her and accidentally slipped on black ice, causing me to fall into her. We fell on the powder snow next to each other and started to laugh for a moment until we caught each other’s gaze.
My heart was on fire and her eyes sparkled like diamonds in the snowy wind. It didn’t take long to notice our hands unconsciously rested on top of each other as time froze to them and nothing else mattered, except this moment.
“Say, Raven, there’s a concert in town tonight. My sister invited me and I was hoping you’d go with me. Are you available?”
She smiled and nodded as he helped her up from the snow. “I’d love to if you promise to catch me next time.”
They laughed as he nodded and sat with her at the table. Melissa chuckled to herself as her phone vibrated with a message from Taylor:
*Mission Accomplished! Thanks for setting this up.*
She looked up and nodded as she walked to Taylor to watch Matt strum on with the snow blowing across the guitar.
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About
James is a Christian Fiction writer who puts his faith first and foremost in all his inspiration. After a decade of retail life, he seeks to join the writing world by creating a safe reading selection for teen/young adult readers.
He is the author of a 10-book series called the Grace Series and the Fantasy series Clash of Light and Dark.
James follows the teachings of the King James Bible and believes every day is another chance to learn from the Creator and spend every day taking steps closer to becoming more Christ-like.
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