The One

Chapter 1

You walked down the street to a grocery store, the same one you'd gone to since you were a child. As long as you can remember, the elderly cashier would always wave you over and slip you a handful of pennies or a nickel to splurge on a candy bar in aisle 11. You remember always running and wrapping your pudgy little toddler fingers around a bar of Hershey's milk chocolate. But alas, times had changed, and your customary candy bar runs had ceased when the cashier, also the owner of the store, retired. You grew up and lost weight, grew up a bit more... The only consistent thing was that you were still surrounded by black and white.

You simply couldn't understand anything besides it, but you also knew something was missing. Every so often, when your noisy roommates would go out to drink and leave you alone, you would spend hours trailing your finger up and down the creases in the brick walls in your apartment. You tried to feel for something, a cavity behind the wall, an emptiness that could be described. But you never found it, nor did you find out what the missing piece was, for quite a long time.

The memories of the past danced around your mind like swans on a lake, distracting you enough to make you completely zone out. You walked straight into a taller, skinny man with brown hair and a blue polo on. Out of reflex, you put up your hands, but that made it look like you were feeling up his chest so you moved them quickly. You chuckled awkwardly and apologized, attempting not to look him in the eye.

"No problem," he responded.

It was like your heart was set aflame by a sweet, syrupy match made of rainbows and unicorns. A line of bumps formed down your spine as you turned back around to... oh, just start a conversation... maybe he was from the area, it was always nice to meet new people... you weren't attracted to him or anything...

Oh, who are you kidding? You're head over heels, all-or-nothing, do-or-die, 100% IN LOVE and there is no turning back now.