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American Dream

  Book Two

  Z.M. Kage

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Blank Page LLC

  Copyright © 2014

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be copied or reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or people – living or dead – is coincidental.

  ____________________________________________

  ONE

  Jon couldn’t explain it. Even if somebody asked him, if somebody demanded him to put into words how that first glimpse of her made him feel.

  He was still too far away to make out any details, he couldn’t see her clearly, but he knew. Something was going on. Something out of his control. It wasn’t random, the way that demoralizing inner voice of his decided to pack up and leave the second she came into view.

  It wasn’t coincidence. It was a sign from the universe.

  Savoring the sweet silence, Jon resumed running. He ran toward her as she ran toward him, his curiosity and excitement growing as the distance between them kept shrinking.

  Thirty yards and closing.

  Blondish-brown hair, pulled back into a ponytail... swaying side to side with the rhythm of her stride. Black running shorts. Short, black running shorts. Tanned, toned legs.

  Twenty yards and closing.

  Blue tank top. iPod strapped to her arm. White wires leading to what looked like ear bud headphones in her ears.

  Ten yards and closing.

  Eyes connect. His, hazel... hers, blue. Smiles, warm smiles, interested smiles are sent, received and returned just in time for the invigorating rush of air generated by their fast-paced meeting to soothe; purify; cleanse.

  One thousand one. One thousand two. One thousand three.

  Jon turns to look back at her before they drift too far apart and finds just what he’d hoped to see. She’s looking at him, too. With another smile, no less. He’d cranked his neck around at just the right time to catch her gawking at him and watch her refocus on the path in front of her; watch her run away.

  Coincidence? Maybe, but it was still awfully quiet upstairs. No arguing whatsoever. Doubt had gone home early and the only thing Jon was aware of was the unexplainable pull, the need, to go after her, to chase her and catch up to her.

  He could feel it working out well for him. There was no questioning, no but-what-ifs, and no second-guessing. He’d never felt it before; it was exhilarating.

  So he acted on his new sensation before she’d put enough distance between them to make closing the gap in a timely manner a suicide mission. She’d been moving at a pretty good pace. He wanted to have enough energy left by the time he caught up to her to open his mouth and say something.

  But what should he say? Jon’s hamster wheel started turning.

  Gaining ground on her now, he doesn't have much time to decide.

  Should he jump right in with the truth? Hey, you miraculously got the depressed, melodramatic voice inside my mind to take a hike, just wanted to thank you?

  Forget that... Jon knows better than to lead with crazy.

  He’s right behind her now; he’s out of time.

  “Hey,” he says just before pulling up alongside her and matching her pace.

  Crap, Jon forgot about the iPod and headphones. She didn’t hear him. But she’s looking over and smiling at him again, that’s gotta be good. Up close and personal like this, he notices that the blue in her eyes is an almost perfect match to the blue on her shirt. So beautiful. It’s the first thing his ‘voice’ had said since he’d seen her.

  She removes the ear bud headphone from the ear closest to Jon without breaking her stride. Oh boy, now she can hear him. Hey doesn’t seem like a good idea anymore. He doesn’t want to repeat himself, so he goes with his next instinctual thought and lets it flow out in words. “You look so familiar,” he says, smiling, looking her in the eyes the best he can but at the same time keeping an eye on what’s in front of him.

  She giggles. “I should look familiar,” she replies, blushing. “We went to the same high school. Same graduating class, too.” Her words stun Jon, completely stopping his forward momentum... but only for a second.

  “You’re kidding me,” he says, catching back up to her again. “Guess that explains why you look familiar, but how do I not know who you are?”

  “Uh, because our school was huge and our class had about a thousand students in it?” She laughs. “Yeah, I bet that’s why.”

  “But...”

  “And,” she adds, “I wasn’t popular like you.”

  “But you recognize me? When you saw me today, you knew who I was right away?”

  “Of course I did, Jon. I’ve had the biggest crush on you since, like, freshman year.”

  He loved the way his name rolled off her tongue and he loved how brave she was to say that to him so soon. He wasn’t that brave. “Why didn’t you tell me that back in high school? You know... say something or do something to show me you were interested?”

  “Because I thought you were outta my league. And you only had eyes for Erin...”

  Jon’s chest tightens at the sound of her name. Erin. He lets it go, feels the tension dissipate. Out of her league? Was she serious? “Erin and I are done,” Jon says, “have been for months. And every guy on the planet is in your league. I mean, look at you.”

  “Yeah... right,” she replies, smiling, face turning red again. “So what happened with you and Erin?”

  “I’d rather not talk about it,” Jon tells her, glancing at the river to their right, responding without looking at her for the first time since they’d been running side by side.

  “Oh. I’m sorry.” Worried that she’d stepped over some invisible line and struck a nerve, she didn’t know what else to say.

  “It’s not your fault,” Jon assures her, “no need to apologize.” He smiles at her. He winks. “So, does my sexy stalker have a name?”

  Was she dreaming? She had to be. The one guy she’d been infatuated with and secretly obsessing over since her first year of high school just told her she was sexy; just admitted he was attracted to her. “Tara,” she replies, wanting to jump in his arms, wrestle him to the ground and kiss his face off right then and there. “Tara Tate.”

  He wouldn’t have put up much of a fight if she had, that’s for sure. “Well, Tara,” Jon says, trying not to seem like too big of a doofus... “Care to catch a movie with me tonight?”

  “I’d love to,” Tara replies.

  He had her at movie.

  TWO

  They had a quirk in common.

  Jon’s experience with women started and ended with Erin, who, much to Jon’s dismay, wasn’t all that big on movies. Sure they watched them – everybody watches movies – but Erin found it annoying the way Jon liked to randomly inject movie lines into conversation.

  Tara was more experienced. She’d had a handful of boyfriends, but not one of them could keep up with her in the movie quote department. Not that she’d had that on her checklist for boyfriend material, but it was a frustration of hers with guys she’d been with before... loving movies, reciting something funny from one of her favorites on a whim, and never, not once, feeling like her guy was ‘there’ with her – that he liked it.

  It was a part of herself she was almost afraid to show Jon for fear that he’d react like every other guy she’d dated: with a blank stare and a ‘what the hell are you doing’ look. Until their first date, that is.

 
; Jon shows up to Tara’s apartment precisely when he said he would. Like a typical female, she’s not ready yet, but Jon’s not agitated at all. Brownie points for Jon.

  They hop in Jon’s black Tundra and head to the theater. The one downtown, not the drive-in. Only an idiot would attempt to start fresh with a brand new girl at the exact place his (now) ex-fiancé accepted his marriage proposal. Admittedly, Jon behaved like an idiot sometimes... but even he knew better than that.

  So they’re on their way there when Jon lists off what’s currently playing and asks her what she’d like to see. Another first for Tara – no guy she’d ever gone to the movies with had once shown an interest in what she’d like to watch... they’d just picked one without involving her in the decision. More brownie points for Jon.

  Tara was in the mood to laugh, so of her choices she picked the comedy title she recognized from recent trailers she’d seen advertised on TV. And as soon as she’d made her selection, out of nowhere Jon rattles off a line from another movie featuring the star of tonight’s show.

  A line from a movie Tara had seen... a line she recognized right away.

  “No freakin’ way! You like quoting movies too??” she asks before picking up right where Jon left off and delivering another funny line from the same scene.

  “OH yeah, I do it all the time,” Jon replies.

  Neither one of them said it, but they fell for each other that quickly, in that moment. Words weren’t necessary. It was enough to exchange smiles and breathe a mutual sigh of relief having finally found an attractive member of the opposite sex who understood that particular kind of weirdness.

  Minutes after finding a couple seats and getting situated Tara leans into Jon and drapes both legs across one of his before he even has time to think about unleashing the trusty ‘yawn and stretch’ move. She cuddled right up to him like they’d been out together a hundred times.

  This was the beginning of something beautiful.