Love Happens When You Least Expect It

I am lost. No, wait. That's an understatement. I am completely and totally no-idea-where-the-heck-I-am lost. That sort of lost. I don't know where I am and I sure as heck don't know where in ANY world this place is. Let me take some time while I try and figure out where this is to tell you what it's like. It's sort of humid, yet there are pine trees around the glade I'm sitting in. And in between the pine trees are large, purple flower-esque plant things. That's as far as I can describe them. I glance around and of course see no one. So, what do I do? I shout for help. Yeah, like THAT'S going to work. Nice try, moron.

"Is someone there?" Yes, FINALLY! A VOICE OTHER THAN MY OWN!

"Yes, I'm here. And I'm so lost." I tend to play the part of the poor little wide-eyed shojo girl quite well, no?

"How'd you get out here?" And enter...wow...and enter a BISHIE! Oh, perfect height for me too! Sixteen, I'd say. His red-brown hair shown brightly in the fading sunlight and his worried hazel eyes plucked my heart strings in to an orchestra of guilt for thinking he was a problem of any sorts!

"I wandered into these woods - sigh - but soon after, I lost my way. How am I supposed to get out of here?" I blubbered.

"I'll help you." He held out his hand, inviting me to enter a world of dreams.

|~|~|

Hand in hand, we walked through the strange forest in silence.

The boy eventually obtained the courage to speak up. "Oh, by the way, my name is Derek. What is yours?"

"Oh, me?" I asked back. "My name is Alazne."

"Alazne, that's an unusual name." Derek commented. "Nothing like mine. My name's pretty common."

"Really?" Soon, we started an easy-going conversation that continued the entire walk back to my home. But in that short period of time, I realized that there was something deeper than friendship that rested in my heart. Something I have not experienced in a long time. Love. I realized that soon, I had fallen in love with Derek.

But how to tell him? When to tell him? Does he feel the same way? Those questions and many more bounced around my heart.