Horizons

Dedicated to ChanHolly for nagging me to finally publish this.

It starts like this: she's lying on the sand, her eyes closed and her hair spread around her like a glowing halo. The setting sun makes her skin look gold. She looks so peaceful, and I don't want to disturb her.

She notices the sound of my footsteps, however.

"I was wondering when you'd finally show up," she says without opening her eyes. She is smiling slightly, though.

"Right. Sorry, I-" got nervous and almost didn't come. "-had a minor setback. Would ice-cream make it up for you?"

She smiles wide enough for me to see in the evening light. "You certainly are forgiven, good sir."

She finally opens her eyes. Her eyes are beautiful- then again, everything about her is beautiful to me.

Her green eyes open and I can see the golden flecks in her irises from where I'm standing.

She searches my face for a second before she turns her head towards the sky which was darkening by every passing minute.

"Why don't you lie down beside me? You look kinda awkward standing there."

I lower myself into the sand slowly, trying not to lie on her dress.

"You've cut your hair," she notes.

"I've noticed."

"I liked it better before."

"Oh."

My hair used to be a mess of dark curly hair on the top of my head.

We lay there for a long time, not talking, just enjoying each other's company. Listening to the rhythmic crashing of the waves. Watching the sun set.

Long after the stars have come out, she says, "Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever reach the horizon."

"That's impossible."

"Nothing really is impossible, Isaac. Except licking your own elbow. That is one impossibility."

She continued talking. "I meant it in a metaphorical way. We're all on our little ships, yearning for the horizon.

"We all think it's impossible, but we still reaching for it, the impossible, because deep down, we still have hope."

She paused. "That, and we're hopelessly stubborn."

"The people who stop, the people who let their ships wander aimlessly, are the ones who fail in life."

"At least, that's how it is to me. So, I'll ask you, Isaac, what is your horizon? When will you feel like you don't need anything else, when you feel like you are just the luckiest man in the world because you are just so darn happy it's ridiculous?"

I answer with silence.

"That's what I thought."

She had always been the dreamer, the one with her head high up in the clouds. I was the realistic one.

I still remember the day we first met. We were both twelve, and she was the new kid at school. She accidently-on-purpose sprayed my bike bright pink. She apologised afterwards, and bought me ice-cream.

("Because nothing fixes anything better than ice-cream," she'd always say. I agree with her completely.)

We've been thicker than thieves since.

I developed a little crush soon after. Now, four years later, I know that I'm completely in love with her. Very cliché, yes, I know.

It's not like I could help it, anyway.

Then it hit me. (Not literally, of course. That would've hurt. A lot.) She was my horizon. Being with her made me so happy sometimes I felt like I was going to explode.

I loved the way her would fall on her face. I loved the way her eyes twinkled with mischief. I loved the way her eyebrows furrowed when she was thinking hard. (Yes, that sounded very cliché as well. Deal with it.)

I decide to speak up.

"Hey, Heather?" My voice came out cracky.

"Hm?"

"I think I've found my horizon."

She opens her eyes and turns her head to face me. "Really, now? That was fast," she muses.

"Y-yeah," I say, gaining a little bit of confidence. "And it's- it's you, Heather."

It's you.

It's you.

It's always been you, ever since the day that we first met.

"I just- well, it's just- I thought about it and-" I was interrupted when she suddenly kisses me.

My brain stopped working. The only coherent thought is probably something like, She's kissing me. Oh, my god, she's kissing me.

It was so perfect (now I'm starting to sound like a teenage girl), and I couldn't possibly be any happier. I knew it. I was right. She was my horizon. I was there, finally there, the place I've been dreaming of since I was twelve.

When we finally pull apart she says, "Now, about that ice-cream . . ."

I laugh at that.