“Chi vuol nascòndere l’amore sempre lo manifesto”

When one tries to hide love, one gives best evidence of it’s existence

-Italian Proverb

Chapter 1

Her voice trembled as she whispered something into his ear, and smiled as she watched his beautiful brown eyes light up. He took her hand, leading her away from the rest of the world...into a more secluded area of Central Park. Raindrops were beginning so gently fall, and they felt icy cool on her face. They danced around in circles, to the joyous tune of love. She felt his soft skin, brush against her porcelain cheek sending shivers up and down her spin. Everything was so perfect. Everything was going so well. She had him, and that’s all she wanted in life...but who was he????

Alyssa woke to the sound of screeching car horns in the street below her tiny little apartment in New York City.

Damn it, she thought. Crazy people always ruined the best dreams.

She rolled onto her stomach and looked at the glaring red letters of her alarm clock.

6:21.

She was never going to get used to living downtown. Alyssa had just moved into a small apartment near the NYU so it would be closer to her classes. She had thought the change from living in the suburbs to moving out on her own would have been simple. She didn’t know how wrong she was.

The apartment wasn’t terrible...but it wasn’t glamourous either. She had just wanted something to live in. A place to cook her food, and somewhere to sleep. Nothing more. What she got was a noisy apartment above a street that never seemed to sleep. The ceiling was cracking in the corner, the hot water only worked for about 10 minutes, and her neighbors fought constantly. She didn’t care though. She had come to expect less than marvelous in life after her mother died, leaving her as a lost 13 year old, who had barely even begun to grow up yet..

It was Wednesday, which meant she didn’t have her first class until 10:45. She knew she’d never get back to sleep, so she slowly dragged herself out of bed and walked across the freezing cold hardwood floor to the bathroom. She looked at her blurred image in the mirror, and sleepily groped about for her contact case. Once they were in, she washed her face, and did some light make-up.

She was just going to sweat it all off anyway during her run.

Taking off her cami, and tossing it on the floor she walked into her bedroom, and put on a pair of navy blue shorts and a gray beater. Despite the usual crispness of the Autumn weather in New York, they had been having a heat wave and even in the morning it was too warm for pants.

After eating a bowl of Lucky Charms, Alyssa brushed her teeth and pulled her pretty brown hair into a ponytail. As she was doing so, she thought back to her dream. Who was that man in the park??? She had never seen him before, or had she?? No, she decided. She’d remember eyes like that. Beautiful chocolate brown eyes that shone with the all the love of the world. There was no way she could ever forget someone with those kind of eyes...

She grabbed her MP3 player, and her keys, which were attached to a neon yellow wristband, and walked out the door, locking her apartment as she did so. She took the steps slowly, as she had to go down 4 stories of them. The elevator in the building always seemed to be broken. It had just been fixed a few days before, but just last night the ‘OUT OF ORDER’ sign was up again. The doorman smiled at her as she left, and greeted her kindly. She replied, more out of respect than actual interest.

The doorman was an old guy, about in his mid-60's, and though he was slowing down, the landlord just didn’t have the heart to fire him. He was a nice guy who was as helpful as he could be, but he tended to get in the way sometimes, always wanting a conversation with anyone and everyone who went in the building. Alyssa understood though. He was lonely. His wife had died about 10 years back and his 2 kids, twins, were killed around age 16 in a cab accident. Plus, he couldn’t help but remind her of her grandfather who had passed.

It was still fairly early out, but the streets and sidewalks were already filling. She continued on her way, against the natural flow of people heading to work, towards Central Park. When she got there, she started down a little path, running at a steady pace.

Running helped give her time to think. Mostly she thought about things involving school, and trying to get through her classes, and her dad, and things like that...but today she couldn’t get her mind off the dream. Who was the man who she had been drawn to that night? Was he a figment of her imagination, a concoction her heart came up with to satisfy what she desired? Or was he real?

She stopped, turning off her MP3 player, to buy herself a bottle of water. She walked in front of the stand and bent over to get a dollar out of her shoe. She usually just stuffed one in there so it was easy access while she ran, and she didn’t have to carry anything more than she already did. As she was pulling out the green bill, she felt someone standing behind her. Almost touching her.

She stood up payed for her water, and was going to say something about liking her personal space, but as she turned around, her eyes met the stranger’s own.

Beautiful chocolate brown eyes. His brown hair was ruffled from the wind, and there was a black sweatband across his forehead. He was wearing a gray sleeveless shirt, and knee-length black shorts. His muscles were well defined and he looked so strong. He was about half a foot taller than her, and he had a beautiful white smile on his face.

“Ohh...sorry,” she said meekly as she went to turn away.

The water vendor, handed the man a water, and said, “Cya tomorrow Brian. Have a good run.”

Brian...Alyssa replayed in her mind.

AUTHORS NOTE:

Hello everyone. Are you enjoying my story???? I hope so! Yeah, well if you know me, then you know I like to keep people in a little bit of suspense, and wonder in what’s gonna happen..sooo HAH. I’m not posting any more of the story for now. Just know that you’ll like it, so keep on readin!

Please review! I really appreciate it. If you like this so far, check out some of my other stuff...but beware..it’s all centered around teenage years...not quite like this!

Thanks!

LOOK FOR MORE SOON!

Always

FTT