Friday - Wk 1 Chp 4 - The Sighting

Wesley was a tricky fellow. I knew it the moment he gave me his hand to help me up. But, there was something about him that caught me off guard and completely pulled me in. There was his smile, but that wasn't it. After he helped me up, there was something about the way he stood there and just looked at me for a moment. It was like he could see straight into me and read what was written on my mind. Like he knew me before he even had time to get to know me. It made me nervous, and a bit angry. It was unfair that he could know me so quickly, and I had to turn the tables. I had to know him, too.

So, we left the reception without even waving goodbye to my sister and her new husband and headed towards a place he knew. It was a nice little cafe. We sat and drank coffee and talked. He was a journalistic photographer for the local newspaper, but that wasn't his passion. He loved using his skill with a camera to create art, specifically with an old thirty-five millimeter he inherited from his grandfather. But, there was no money in that, so he supports his hobby with his day job. I told him about my editing job at a publishing house, about how I used to write silly novellas in high school. But, nothing ever panned out with that, so I took a job that at least got me close to what I loved.

We had a lot in common.

Eventually the cafe had to close, so the logical place to relocate was a bar down the block. We continued to sit and to drink wine and to talk. We couldn't stop talking and therefore could not stop drinking. When  my watch told me it was midnight, I decided it might be a good idea to leave. We stood to leave. I was a little wobbly on my feet, so he put his arm around me to keep me steady. We walked outside and he called a cab. It was chilly, at night in a town situated so close to the sea. I shivered in my red party dress.

"Cold?" he asked.

I looked up at him, and I must have been a pitiful sight as I nodded my head. He chuckled lightly and that's when I first saw it. The complete smile. All night, it had been gauging closer and closer to it's full capacity and finally it reached it's brink. It was beautiful. It was warm. It was breath-taking. And, it was a tad bit toothy.

He removed his arm from around me and shook off his jacket before draping it over my shoulders. After tugging it a bit at the arms, with his hands at both of my sides, he dropped his head a bit and brought his face close to mine. Before I knew what has happening, I was kissing him. When I finally realized it, I had wrapped my arms around his neck, letting his jacket fall to the ground, and the cab had arrived.

Once we got into the cab, I felt I should go back to my hotel room alone. But I didn't want to part from him. I didn't want to be in my hotel room. And I didn't want to be alone. So, our drunk logic sent us in search of a jp at midnight in San Diego, California.

That brings me back to this morning. I woke up curled with Wesley, on top of the covers on his bed, both of us much in the same shape as we were at the reception, married.

And, when he woke up, he gave me that exact same full-fledged, complete smile.

As crazy as it all had happened, I looked forward to seeing that smile in the mornings.