Like A Bird

Prologue

Something changed in me that day, on the top of that mountain. The air was a little clearer and my phone was a little out of service and unable to distract me. The silence was unfamiliar, but I learned quickly how much I enjoyed it.

The peace inside of me, while I sat on top of Mount Tibidabo looking over Barcelona, was intoxicating. It was a new experience, but one I knew at that moment I needed to find again.

I wanted to stay forever in that moment. With my best friend, Josie, on my left quietly looking out into the foreign country and having her own life-defining moment. Thousands of miles from work, school, and almost anyone I knew. There were no expectations of me, no deadlines to reach, or bills to pay.

There was just peace. And silence.

It was beautiful.

As much as I wanted to build a tent and never leave that mountain, I did have to go home eventually. The two-month-long summer trip I took to Spain with Josie to visit her cousins would come to an end. The new semester would be starting soon, I had family who needed me, my boss definitely wanted me to finally come back to work, and, most importantly, I had Steven Prince to get back to.

Steven and I began casually dating about a month before I left. We bonded pretty quickly but decided it would be best if we waited until I came back from my trip before getting serious. I thought it would be torture to be away, but we ended up talking on the phone every night and texting every time I found wifi.

Except on that mountain.

The ding of a text did not hit my phone every few minutes. It wasn't even on my mind. In fact, nothing was. My mind was completely clear and all I saw was the world around me. There's something about silence and solitude in nature that makes you awaken in ways you'd never know.

I'm not sure what happened that day, but I do know I came down a different person I went up. I was calmer, more peaceful, less irritable. I searched for more adventure and opportunities to be alone with my thoughts. If I started to feel overwhelmed, I could close my eyes and tap back into the peace I felt that day.

But it couldn't last forever.

CHAPTER ONE

My flight landed and I was finally close to Steven again. He was picking me up and I knew he was just inside the airport, but I couldn't get to him yet.

I sat impatiently bouncing my leg as I watched people slowly file out of their seats and into the aisle. Could they move any slower? I hadn't seen Steven in more than two months and I could not wait to see his handsome face.

Steven was definitely the kind of guy that girls were jealous of because he had long and thick eyelashes, beautiful hair, and clear skin that he doesn't need to work for. His hair was long, with curls falling just below his eyebrows and sometimes covering his black eyes.

Finally, the line started moving faster and it was my turn to get off the plane. My heart was racing and I couldn't wait to see him, to hug him, to give him a kiss.

I rushed off the plane, down the walkway, and hurried into a bathroom to check out my appearance. I'd been on and off multiple planes for the last 26 hours and I was exhausted. During the last flight, I was able to get some makeup on my face, but my brown hair still sat sloppily on the top of my head.

I looked at my face and tried to decide if there was anything I needed to fix before finding Steven. A thin black line and heavy mascara surrounded both of my hazel eyes, but I didn't get a chance to complete my look on the plane. Briefly, I considered doing it there, but decided I couldn't wait one more second to see his face.

This will have to do I thought as I looked at myself one last time. Messy bun, light makeup, an oversized green sweatshirt, and black leggings tucked into brown boots. It's not how I was used to seeing myself. Typically I was so put together all of the time. My hair was always styled and my makeup was usually more on the heavy side. The black leggings are a pretty standard staple in the Annie Jones look, but this would be the first time Steven would ever see me in a sweatshirt.

After a few minutes passed, I finally found my suitcase and made my way out of the airport. The cold evening air hit my face as I walked out of the building and I immediately saw him. Our eyes locked and time froze as I watched his face light up while he took the first step towards me. Butterflies filled my stomach and I could physically feel my skin tingle.

He didn't have his own car but stood outside his brother's black Corolla that he must have borrowed to come to get me. He had been leaning against the hood in dark blue jeans and a black hoodie. His hair hung perfectly across his forehead, and underneath were those mysterious eyes. He was so perfect that he almost looked drawn.

I take in every single thing about the way he looked as a smile quickly spread across his face, revealing a beautiful set of straight white teeth. The fact we're both in hoodies despite it being summer made me smile. The look is more of his typical style and we don't usually match like this.

In fact, sometimes people look at us funny because our style is so different. Our first date was a little embarrassing to me because I wore a dress and heels to lunch and he wore a t-shirt. One table we walked past made a loud and obnoxious joke about how I must like him much more than he liked me.

"Annie!" he called as he made his way to me.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh," I repeated as I ran into his arms. He grabbed me in a tight hug and spun me in a circle.

I immediately felt at ease. The fact that I didn't have lipstick on or my hair straightened didn't matter to me anymore. All that mattered was the distinct and familiar smell of his cologne that filled my nose. I quickly grew to love this smell and have missed it so much while I was gone for two months this summer.

We spoke almost every day and would webcam often, but it wasn't the same. I couldn't believe he was here in front of me in person right now.

His grip loosened but I hugged him harder, not ready to let go yet.

"Annie, we have to go," he laughed. "We can't stay parked here. I promise we will hug and do so much more later when we get you home."

"Few more seconds," I begged, holding him tight against my body. I almost forgot how much I loved being in his arms.

After a few moments, he peeled me off of him, kissed my forehead, and grabbed my suitcase. As he opened the trunk to toss it in, I stood behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist.

A small laugh came from his throat and I smiled as I listened to my favorite sound. At that moment I felt so lucky that he waited for me to return from my trip. We hadn't said it yet, but I was certainly in love with him.

CHAPTER TWO

"How was your flight?" he asked when we finally got in the car.

I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before answering. Ugh, how I had missed him so much.

"It was fine. I wasn't ready to leave yet, but at the same time I was ready to come back to you so I had a weird, torn feeling the whole way."

Josie left a day earlier than me because we couldn't get tickets together so I spent the whole last day in Barcelona with her cousin alone. Even though we’d just spent two months together, it was still awkward without her.

I hadn't taken my eyes off Steven once since we got in the car and I thought about all the places I wanted to travel with him someday. I studied the way his eyes darted around the road in front of him, the way his full lips moved as he talked, his white teeth underneath them when he smiled.

There wasn't one thing about the man that I wasn't in love with and I couldn't wait to find a moment to tell him.

"I'm so glad you had a fun trip," he said, looking at me out of the corner of his eye. "But you sound like a hippy the way you talk about that mountain."

I giggled in my seat as he jokingly poked at my thigh.

"Nature changed you?" he laughed along with me. "Okay, flower child."

"Listen, listen. I grew up here in Chicago," I said. "I wasn't used to all that calmness, it was so peaceful. If we travel together, we'll have to find a mountain to hike so you can experience it also."

My eyes stayed locked on him to see if he had any reaction to me talking about us in the future tense like that. He pulled up to a red light and gently leaned over to kiss me but didn't answer.

I caught him smile as he pulled away and bit my lip so I didn't blurt out my feelings right there. Instead, I smiled back, threw my hands up and said "I'm so hungry."

Steven kept my left hand in his right one as he drove across town to the pizzeria we had our first date at. Every few minutes he would lift our hands to his mouth to kiss me and remind me how happy he was that I was home.

I was happy too. I had never been in a serious relationship before and this was the first time I'd ever actually wanted one. Though we wanted to wait to get serious until I came back, the relationship continued to grow steadily even from thousands of miles apart. There was something so different about Steven that I was convinced I had found my soulmate at the ripe old age of 20.

It was kind of cute how we met actually. I was in the middle of a shift at the boutique I worked at and he had seen me in the window while walking passed. He came in and pretended to shop for his aunt for like a half-hour until finally admitting he just wanted a reason to talk to me.

It was so Hollywood, really. He was a charming sweet-talker from day one and we went out for pizza that next day.

Now almost three months later, we sat in the same booth but were no longer strangers. The conversations went from favorite movies to places we wanted to visit together. From biggest fears to biggest insecurities. From the best foods to anything that would prevent me from blurting out the L-word before I was ready to say it.

Steven immediately started to pick pepperoni off his pizza to eat first. Watching someone eat doesn't seem like it would ever be attractive, but there was something about the way his lips moved that I could watch forever.

"Do you want to sleep over tonight?" I asked, hopeful.

"Would Josie be okay with that?"

Josie and I had been roommates since freshman year. We were randomly assigned to each other in the dorms but moved off campus to our own apartment just a few months ago.

Steven and Josie hadn't gotten along the first few times they met, but I was hopeful with time they'd grow to love each other as much as I love them.

"I mean, I'm sure she's expecting it. She knows we haven't seen each other in months."

"Then sure, I'll stay over," Steven said flashing a big bright smile before he bit into a greasy slice of pizza.

I'd never been to Steven's house, but he had slept over at my apartment for the first time the night before I left. It was then I knew I was going to fall in love with him. It felt like I was born to be curled up next to him while he slept. I had stayed awake for a while listening to him softly breathing and running my finger down his soft stomach, thinking this is where I need to be every night.

I can't believe I will finally get the chance to do that again.

CHAPTER THREE

I loved my apartment. It was so comfortable and colorful. Josie’s an artist so our walls were covered with her work. The living room came furnished with the ugliest and most uncomfortable brown leather furniture ever. If it weren't for her art on the walls, the place would feel really different.

There was one brown couch up against the longest wall and a yellow accent chair with a small flowered pattern against the far wall. A black stand faced the couch with an old television and a vase with fake sunflowers.

We thought the yellow would bring sunshine and happiness to the dark room and it definitely worked. In addition to the yellow chair, we also had a yellow throw over the back of the couch and several small yellow pillows on top of it.

The art on the walls were all different colors, but everything tied together with a large rainbow-colored area rug on the floor under a glass coffee table between the rest of the furniture. For a bunch of kids living on their own for the first time, we really made the place feel like our home. I loved it.

My room was a little different. When I first moved into the dorms freshman year, I decorated it to resemble my childhood bedroom growing up and moved that look with me to the new apartment. College had changed me so much that I didn't feel a connection to the pink paisley bedspread anymore. It was really the only color in the whole room. The room came with black furniture and all of my decorations were white.

It was nice, I suppose, but it didn't really feel like me anymore.

We walked in through the small kitchen and I dropped some leftovers in the fridge. The kitchen was pretty tight with only a few feet between the counter and an island with barstools that started the living room on the other side.

Josie sat on the couch with her phone in her hand. She had a movie playing but wasn't paying attention to it.

"Hey girl," she said, swinging around to face us. When she spotted Steven the smile faded from her face and she just nodded at him.

"What're we watching?" he asked, taking a seat next to her.

Immediately Josie stood up in a very obvious attempt to not be near him. She walked over to me and put one arm around my shoulder.

"Glad you made it home," she said. "What a trip! I can't wait for the next one."

"Oh, I know. Me either!"

She grabbed a water bottle off the island, walked into her room, and closed the door.

I really wished she would at least give Steven a chance. I knew she decided the first day she met him that she didn't like him and there was nothing I could do to change her mind. She had said her first impressions are always accurate and that didn't think I could trust him.

It was amusing to me that the two couldn't get along because they were more alike with each other than either of them were with me. The both of them could sit through a whole movie but have no idea what's happening because they never look up from their phones. Josie also shared Steven's constant desire to be comfortable. She often walked around our apartment in spandex shorts and a sports bra, maybe pulling a t-shirt over her head if she was leaving the house. Maybe.

Her blonde hair was always pulled into a knot on the top of her head and I don't think I had ever seen her wear makeup a day in her life. Her look was very comfy, but it worked for her. She was so naturally beautiful that she never needed to dress up to impress anyone.

While I struggled for perfection every day and overthought every move I made, Josie was more of a free spirit. She often would return home with a new piercing or color in her hair. When I first met her, the bottom half of her head was light pink. It faded pretty quickly and a few weeks later she walked in with green highlights.

Right now her hair was mostly her natural blonde, but she did recently have one purple streak on the left side of her head. It was often hidden though, especially when she wore her typical top knot. On a rare occasion that her hair was down, you could see the lilac stripe peaking out.

I plopped down on the couch as Steven threw his arm up and landed gently on my shoulders. He grabbed the remote and started to flip through the channels as I looked up at his face. I couldn't get enough of him, I could look at him all day and it would never be enough.

He glanced over and held my gaze for a moment before leaning down to kiss me. As his soft lips touched mine, my heart fluttered, and butterflies filled my stomach for the second time that day. The hand he had on my shoulder softly stroked my hair and I suddenly had to have him.

I swung one leg over until I was straddling his lap as he ran a trail of kisses down my neck. In one effortless motion, Steven grabbed my legs tightly and stood up. He carried me into my room and I pushed the door closed behind us just before he tossed me onto the bed.

"I've missed you so much," I said laughing as I landed with a jolt.

"I've missed you too. There's so much I want to talk to you about."

"Oh yeah? Like what?" I asked with a smile, my best attempt to be seductive.

"Later," he whispered across my lips then continued to kiss me until my eyes closed.