That Sweet Innocent Love

"Do you think dogs know it when it is their birthday?" Samantha quizzed Nicole as they open a few cans of dog food and put edible candles on top of those.

"I don't know, but hey! We don't need a reason to celebrate! Besides, he will be so happy seeing all these food, it won't matter," replied Nicole, smiling all the way.

"Ohhh...... I can see that smile coming, what did you guys do last night?" Samantha asked, being happy for her best of all friends.

"Nothing! Just dinner, a movie, then we went back home," Nicole is still smiling, her eyes sparkling when she looked up. Samantha knows that there is something she is fying to tell her but obviously still can not believe that news herself.

"Ok, come on girl, spill it out, you look like you're gonna burst."

Nicole took her hands and jumped up and down excitedly.

"Ohhhhhh!!! Roger just gave me this small crystal ring yesterday, I mean; it is not much, probably a cheap one, but real and asked me to be his girlfriend! Like, officially and even as his date to our college's prom!"

Nicole's face was flushed and it is clear how happy she was, and for that, Samantha is happy too.

    They spent that afternoon after that talking about the prom, their dream dress and create cookies recipes for their guys. However, Nicole did not realise that deep inside Samantha's heart, there was a slight tug of envy.

    You see, David, Samantha's boyfriend, have not asked her out for a date for a month now and have yet to ask her to be his date for the prom. She told Nicole about this before and Nicole thinks that since they are already an item, it is a given that they will be each other's date. But he could have just asked, grumbled Samantha.

    A week later, Samantha received a text message from David. It reads:

Heay hunny,

Free tomorrow night? Wanna bring you out to a place I bet you've neve been before.

Love, David

    A smile curved in Samantha's face for every time David bets that she have never been to that place before, it always turn out to be untrue. Quickly tapping back a reply, she gets ready to go for a dress shopping for prom.

"Aww, you look so sweet in this!" exclaimed Nicole when Samantha stepped out of the fitting room.

"Really? I don't like these frills though," Samantha turned around to let Nicole have a good view.

"Urgh! I take back my words, it is hideous!"

Samantha laughed and Nicole slumped on the coach.

"Man, I wish they are here," she sighed, referring to their boyfriends.

    Roger and David had quickly make their own plans when they overheard that Nicole and Samantha wants to go for a dress shopping and the two girls have yet to forgive them for it.

"Cool it, you know how they hate it when we keep them waiting in a shop while we cam whore in the fitting room. To come to think about it, they hate it more when we cam whore with them!" Samantha laughs.

    She took another dress and turns for the fitting room when she heard a squeal behind her and before she can turn around, her eyes were covered and panic starts to bubble up her body.

"Guess who?"

Wait a sec, she thought.

    The cologne smells familiar. So does the hand over her eyes and the pressure the hand is applying on her waist.

"David!" she blurted out and immediately, the hand was removed. Relief filled her every pore.

"Heay, beautiful," came the warm voice.

"You gave me a fright," she said reproachfully but is secretly glad that he is here. She turned around and was stunned to see that he is in a white tuxedo.

"Oh my God! What are you doing in that?" she exclaimed and saw Roger behind him with Nicole, wearing a similar tux.

"We wanted to give you both a surprise. Do I look OK?" David is too sweet for words.

"Yes, you look fab! How'd you know that I wanna wear white?" Samantha asked, taking in his get up.

"I overheard your conversation with Nicole."

"Ah! That'll be the second time. I think I have to be careful the next time I talk to her."

"Nah, just close the door next time and crank up the TV volume."

Samantha laughed.

"So, is this what you have decided to wear?" David asked, his disgust clear on his face. Samantha tried to hide a laugh and made a turn.

"Why, yes, baby don't I look gorgeous?"

"Yeah, you do," David said, then looked into her eyes and added "should I change my tux into a frog suit instead to suit yours?"

Samantha laughed again and playfully smacked his arm.

"No, you silly! Now, move away so I can change into this gorgeous dress."

    Samantha and Nicole went into fitting rooms to try on their dresses. Smiling, Samantha took a deep breath and thought, let the fun begin!

    And fun they had, posing together, cam whoring and choosing dresses and accessories. In a blink of an eye, a day had passed and Samantha once again slept with a smile curved.

"Wow! This is so awesome!" Samantha exclaimed when she saw the view from the restaurant David brought her to.

"I told you you've never been here before," teased David.

"Yes, clever boy, how'd you fine this place?"

"Never mind that, enjoy it?"

"You bet! It's just awesome! I think I see the Twin Towers over there!" Samantha is so excited, she have barely touched her food. David laughed and reminded her to eat.

    The night passed beautifully, both of them being the only ones on the balcony, overlooking the town, under the calm sky and a full moon. They talked, laughed and generally just melting into each other, glad that they are both there.

    When the night was about to end, David have a surprise in store for her. He clapped twice and from a distance in the restaurant, a moving light. Samantha squinted her eyes and made out an outline of a group of people. A soft rhythm filled the place; everyone in there went quiet, bearing witness for something beautiful to happen.

    The group of people arrived to their table, a lady holding a bouquet of flowers and hand it to David. He took it, walked to Samantha's side of the table, all the time smiling and watching her, taking in her expression and reaction.

    She, blushing and happy, not knowing how to react except to take the situation as it comes and let her smile open wider, her blush deepens by the second.

    He kneeled down, took her hand with his left hand, his right hand giving her the flower, she took it happily.

"Thank you!" that's all she can manage to say. She put the flowers on the table and David took out a ring box from his pocket. Samantha looked at it in surprise.

"Happy 5^th anniversary, honey," he said and slide the crystal ring into her middle finger.

"Be my prom date?"

    Samantha can say nothing else but yes and once she said it, the whole place rang with applause.

    That night couldn't be more perfect and as they danced in the middle of the dance floor in prom, Samantha looked into his eyes and knew, then, that they will last, forever.

A Story starting with ‘I saw…’

    I saw an ice cream peddler surrounded by happy kids. I would love it if I have an SLR camera to capture the whole scene in front of me. The colours are just so rich! The sky is so blue, the blouds clumped together but not too much so that sunlight passes through just about enough. The grass is so lush and green, the pond so blue.

    A small toy boat got pushed into the pond boy a little boy in a red cap. I saw people playing all around me, laughter filled the air and everyone is just having a great time. Someone started to play a banjo and jumpy tunes joined the fun of the time.

    I smiled and turned around to my own pack of joy. A picnic is ready to be unfolded. A piece of red and white cloth spread on the ground. Food and drinks placed on top of it. A whistle told me to lookup and I saw him wearing a casual top and beach shorts, looking relaxed and totally comfortable with himself.

"So, the idea is to sit under the sun, getting a tan or possibly a sun burn and maybe contracting a skin cancer and eat all the food we have here?" he teases me for my back to nature ideas.

"Oh, shut up! Sit down and enjoy the scenery!" I laughed and sat down.

    A familiar soft sound of music reached my ears. Smiling, I wonder what song is that. Straining my ears, I realise that it is Against All Odds by Westlife. I love almost all Westlife's old songs, except this one because it features Mariah Carey. However, today, it just seems right. Wondering where it came from, I turned to him and saw him working on a mini portable radio. I laughed out loud and he looked up in surprise.

"Have you ever heard of a phone?" I laughed. I know I will annoy him by doing this because he have a better phone than I do and that radio is an effort he made for this picnic, but I just couldn't resist especially with his facial expression like he is asking me a question. Laughing again, I said,

"Well, thank you, I love this song."

Sniggering, he answered,

"I know."

    I am such a sucker for Westlife songs when I am in the mood and this is definitely just the time to be in the mood. Smiling, I put a chocolate covered cherry into my mouth. I felt him coming beside me and lying down, relaxing. I looked down at him and dipped another cherry into the chocolate.

"Aeroplane coming!" I said and deposited the cherry into his mouth.

"Hey, watch out!" a voice sliced the surrounding noises.

Huh?

    I turned just in time to see a black and white football ball land on a container. Luckily, the container is closed, so no harm was done.

"Sorry!" Came the voice again. I looked up and saw a guy coming our way to collect the ball.

"No problem, no harm done," I said and passed the ball to him.

"Wow, nice little picnic you have there, isn't this place just fabulous?" the guy started a conversation.

"Yeah! Totally fantastic, the peace, the laughter in the air, the wind," I replied dreamily. He laughed, extended a hand and introduced himself as Christan. We introduced ourselves too and after a few exchanges, he invited us to play ball with him and his friends. We agreed and after keeping all the food in the car, joined them in their game.

    It was a fantastic day. If a person would have taken pictures of us, I can imagine it to be him sliding and falling down on the ground, of me kicking the ball, of others playing and laughing all around. It rained all of the sudden in the middle of the game. As others ran to take cover, we walked to the nearest shelter slowly, arms linked.

    When we finally reached the shelter, the guys took the food we have in our cars and we started to eat and chatted there. Once, a girl offered me a strawberry. Before I could answer, he told her that I do not like strawberries. Smiling, I looked away, pretending not to hear.

    He has always been the one that knows me best and he knows that too. I hope I can say that I know him a lot too even if not as much as he does me. Then it was time to go home. By the time we reached my house, it was already dark. I was about to get down from the car after saying good bye when he pulled me and hugged me, and it was just so predictable, I laughed out loud.

"What?" he asked, surprised. I laughed again.

"Well, you may be the one that knows me best, but you are the most predictable to me," I replied.

"I am not predictable," he smiled.

"Oh, OK," I answered and mumbled, "We will see about that."

"Bye!" I said cheerfully and leaved the car.

"Hey, come here," I heard predictably and went over to the driver's side of the car from the outside. He had his window rolled down. I stooped to talk to him.

"See? What I said about predictability?"

"Ha ha ha, very funny, what am I gonna do next?"

"You're gonna knock my forehead lightly with your knuckles"

    He smiled and did just that.

"Bye," he murmured into my ears and when I stepped back, he drove off.

    Smiling to myself, I spent that night thinking of what a fantastic day that day was.

Those Memories…

I was walking on a long dry road when i heard a sudden honk. I turned to my right and i saw a deep blue Honda Accord and a smile sparkling inside. It is a smile capable of melting that frozen block of a heart inside, with an ability to pull that secret little smile to the front.

'Heay, I fetch you home?'

I started to say yes, my heart urging me to do anything to spend all the time I can with him. But I look around and saw that there is no place for me. I wonder if he really meant that invitation. I never knew, that is why it is still a wonder.

A clash of lightning outside and rain started to pour outside, pulling me back down to Earth, out of that little dreamland. I look back at the small little red card I am holding and put it back into the plastic bottle in front of me. Releasing a satisfied and happy sigh, I tilt my head slightly to the back, looking out of the window, watching as the raindrop drop down on the ground, as the beautiful pattern of splashes form on the puddle on the ground.

My little miniature pinscher came bounding over, giving small yaps and jumped on my lap. It never cease to amaze me how high he can jump, and turn in circles on my lap and curl himself, his little head on my right leg. He looked up at me without lifting his little head up, looking down fast when I look at it; embarrassed that he is afraid of lightning and thunder. I guess it is not his fault as I always comfort him every time there is thunder when he was young. I remember him in a box when we just got him and always finding him in the laundry basket the next morning. He was a bouncy, cheeky and adorable puppy.

The thunder ceased and he pricked up his ears and in a second, ran out of my room, someone must have just came home. I stayed on in front of my table, the smell of the rain remind me of my primary school. I remember a link between the main building and the labs. When it is raining, the tar road gets a little flooded and our shoes may get a little wet when we cross it. Once, we bought mini sprays containing flavoured water to drink and after we finished it, we refill it with the rain water and rush around spraying each other. Our class teacher appeared suddenly and we got a good old scolding.

A nice warm day for me is when the sun is shining brightly outside and him coming to me, knocking my head lightly with his knuckles and talking. I pretended to be really angry with him once; he was worried and gave me a card and a winding sound system. The song is Fur Elise. I brought it all around with me but lose it the next day. I was depressed and that was when I realise that I will lose anything I hold precious. I hoped, from then, that I will not lose any anymore.

I sat straight and with my left hand on my chest right in front of my neck, push my collared shirt up. Sniggering suddenly, I remember where I picked this habit up from. He was my friend in standard 3. We met in tuition. I stopped that tuition in standard 4 and we met again in secondary school. Weird that we couldn't recognise each other, or rather, I did not. We use to quarrel using all the languages we know, ranging from Bahasa Malaysia to English to Chinese to Tamil to even numbers.

We became close in Form 3 when we finally realised that we knew each other before and I find him to be quite a great guy. There's once that I saw a glass basketball keychain in his wallet, given to him by his girlfriend. I love it so much; I even wipe it clear for him before. When his girlfriend broke up with him, he wore that glass basketball around his neck, attached on a chain.

Thinking about the glass basketball reminds me about an apple crystal that my mum gave me before. At that time, I considered it the most beautiful thing on Earth. One day, it fell down and the top of the glass stick chipped off, again my fault that it is deformed. I guess I should stop thinking of all this.

Bang!

A loud noise stopped my reeling mind and I looked around for the source of that sound. A water bottle rolled towards me. A smile crept to my face and I took it up. My untired mind brings me back to Form 1 where I first met my first secondary school best friend. She used to not bring a water bottle, nor even bother a pencil case! She just dumps all her stationeries in the front compartment of her bag and drink water from my water bottle. At last, I took all of her stationeries into my pencil case and bring an extra water bottle to school everyday. I wonder how she is now.

Thinking of her reminds me of another best friend. He was a really patient boy and I couldn't stand that. I guess I just like getting into people's nerve to see where they draw the line so I know where the line is. If they still stuck by me by then, then they should be true. I do not know where I got this crazy logic from, but it is something that I realise from what I am doing. We got close because of a hand sign I always do. I remember our version of tolerance that we use to play. He seemed to be in a good shape now.

A sudden warmth ran down my body and I looked around, wondering what it is. Seeing nothing, a memory spun in my mind. The first time someone told me 'bless you' when I sneezed was him. It was a dark night in the tuition place and I sneezed. When he said that, I felt a warm wind swept pass me. We were in standard 5 and already I realise how much him smiling and looking at me have an effect on me.

A black thing in front of me is a little decoration shoe, holding my hair bands and necklaces. It was a present from a bunch of friends. My birthday was never really special, I am happy to celebrate with my family. That year was quite a year for me. I met new friends, refrained myself from slashing sarcastic and hurtful comments, suppressed my hot temperedness but unfortunately increased my insecurities and unconfidence. It was a nice birthday celebration and a nice surprise for me that year.

A waft of smell tickles my nose, the smell of food! I was always a big eater. I don't fain weight easily when I was young, but that changed in secondary school. I use to eat lunch with a best friend, we use to eat a lot then miss the bus and walk home. I guess it was her that gave me the passion for good food 'cause I use to not be able to discriminate between good food and bad food. However, I am still like this, only now am better at remembering places people say have good food.

A tinkering sound, a message received. I red it and my mouth curved into a smile, a smile, hopefully, will melt his heart too.