I hope you enjoy this story.. it's taken me a while to actually try to write anything new.. give it a chance!
It’s funny sometimes how your world can split into so many different feelings and colors, that it’s almost as if you’re painting a portrait of yourself so quickly that the hues blend without caution.. into only small pieces of your true appearance. The speed that life throws itself into is almost a blur, and you have only memories of calmer days, when you were free to close your eyes and breathe softly, inhaling the scent of the air.. who said life was better when it was exciting? Thoughts like these dragged through my brain, and I wondered, (for the millionth time) why I was still stuck here in Tulsa, with my mother and her idiotic fiance… Stop it, I scolded myself… Life does improve.. give Oklahoma a chance.. maybe it’ll grow on you… I doubted my attempt at positive thinking, but when I looked up to check the time from one of the town library’s massive clocks, I gasped. Maybe luck would never be with me. I was so busy moaning over my new life that I had missed 20 minutes of piano lessons! I hurriedly rose from my chair in the library and pushed it in with a fury that shook the table.. The one thing I looked forward to all week! Dammit! My breath forced itself through my throat as I ran towards the exit, hoping I could get there for at least part of my lesson, if I drove fast enough… I don’t know why it bothered so much, but I suppose it was because music was becoming my outlet, and I looked forward towards the weekly vent my usually disagreeable mother had scheduled. Even she noticed my talent.. maybe it was a good thing.. Liz, it’s okay, just calm down… the teacher will understand.. you’re just tired and irritated from the move, and you’re making this into too big of a deal.. That calmed me enough to keep moving, this time slow enough that I wasn’t knocking into people. But sure enough, just as I thought this, I crashed into a tall boy, who looked about my age, and sent both of our books and papers straight into the silent air, landing with a resonant thud. About 30 people turned to face me, and I felt the heat rush to my neck and face as I kneeled next to the blonde young man I had rudely knocked into. "I’m sorry," I apologized softly, "but I’m late for a lesson, and I’m just very wound up, so I wasn’t really paying attention, and I didn’t mean to bump into you like that. I’m really sorry." The boy listened with his blonde hair still hanging half way over his face as he picked up the books, and when he looked up, a calm and amused grin stretched softly across his lips. "No, it’s alright," he countered. "If it had been some old grandmother though, I wouldn’t know to say… and man, good time.. are you late for track or something?" I rolled my eyes as I bent down to help him sort out the rest of the papers. "Actually," I quipped, "No, but I do practice doing this a lot.. it’s kind of a hobby.." A warm laugh was the reply, and the boy extended his hand, announcing, "Hi. I’m Zac. Now I just need to know your name, and we’re properly introduced." Before my embarrassment had prevented me from looking straight at his face, but as I focused in, murmuring, "I’m Liz," I recognized him. Zac Hanson. In the Tulsa Township Library, two blocks from my house.. The odds. I shook his hand calmly, and my face showed no shock, but it was kind of a jump. Zac? I had once had his freckled face (along with his brothers) plastered on my bedroom walls, at home in Colorado, and this was weird. They hadn’t had a successful album for about 4 years, (since about 99’) so it was reasonable that he’d be in the library without much hassle, but I was still unsure of what to say next. However, classic to the Zac style, he spoke again first. "Well, Liz, nice to meet you. Or should I say, "nice bumping into you?" His throaty laugh carried past my ears, and it was so familiar. I couldn’t stop myself from whispering something deep from the days of my Hanson obsessing… from trying to imagine them as real people I really knew… even if it was fantasy.. "Funny Zac.. you’d say something like that too..." Luckily, my wistful reply didn’t reach his ears, and he continued to smile as he gestured his arm towards the exit, volunteering to walk out with me. I nodded. "So," Zac continued, "Who are you taking lessons from?" I focused on his face once more, and I felt like I walking next to a talking living billboard.. he was right next to me, real, not a pin-up or a TV image.. but I just broke a small smile and managed to explain. "Um.. his name is Mr. Felder." Zac’s eyes lit up with recognition. "Wow! Cool! My brothers and I actually took some of our earlier lessons from him too! We’ve been neighbors with him for centuries. It feels that way anyhow." Zac shrugged and then stopped. His eyes shone curiously, and he faced me, his darkened blond hair following the spin of his body. "You recognize me, right?" I nodded, unsurely.. maybe he’d rather that I hadn’t. But it was too late, and he just smiled, his grin still warm. "It’s okay, I figured you had. But you didn’t have to plow into me, you could have just said hi." I laughed, my heart feeling relieved for the first time in 2 months, and I was glad to have met him, even if we didn’t become close friends, though my heart was praying for it.