1. Smiles and her Laughter

"Can I call you Breezy?"
I asked her. Her name is Bree Victoria Callahan. She's my girl. She hasn't always been though. Just in case you're wondering, this part of the story hasn't happened yet, at least for you. Well, I love her. It was only yesterday I met her in the record store.
"That's the last one."
She said as we both grabbed the last Eyes Shut album. I couldn't help but look at her though. She had long dirty blond hair and green eyes. She was beautiful. What was she doing listening to Eyes Shut?
"I know, that's why I grabbed it."
I retaliated. I wasn't stupid, I saw the obvious. Later I'd find out that was what she did to troll people. "Well, I really want it." She said softly that I barely heard her. Let me be clear that I'm not sexist and so her having a vagina meant nothing to this stand off we had going.
"As do I." I replied.
"You can wait until they get more."
"Why can't you wait?"
"I said it first."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
What is going on here? Why am I fighting with this pretty girl as opposed to trying to know her name? I let go of the album. She finally looked up at me. "I thought so." She said with a half-smile and walked away. That smile, that face.
"Damn."
I watched her walk away. I don't believe in love at first sight, and I still don't, but there was something about her. It must be something in the way she moves. Her tight jeans, her slender thighs, and her heels. "Wait!" I ran after her. She didn't stop. It made her even more attractive.
"Can I help you?"
She said with her back facing me.
"What's your name?"
She stopped walking. "What time is it?" I fumbled for my cell phone and opened it. "It's a quarter past four." That was a little odd, not to mention rude. "Come on." She grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the doors. Before we walked out she put the Eyes Shut album between a bunch of pop band's albums and we left. Why was she holding my hand? I didn't even know her name.
"I know what you're thinking."
Could she read my mind? "Don't worry, I have about fifteen minutes until I have to be home." She kicked open the men's restroom doors and pulled me in. She opened the stall. "Perfect." She flushed the toilet with her foot. "At least it doesn't stink." She pulled us both in.
"I think this is more private."
"What are we doing here?" I said nervously. How often do you get dragged into a restroom by a stranger? "I wanted to be alone." She doesn't even know me. "My name is Bree Callahan."
Her name is Bree Callahan. It fits her perfectly. Before I could say another thing we were kissing. She was rough. I liked it. She told me she liked my clothes and my blue eyes. She liked my hair because it reminded her of a soul singer in a band. She said she didn't know many that liked Eyes Shut. "Me neither." I said trying to catch my breath. How she was able to talk and kiss me at the same time I still haven't figured out today. And that's how I met her. That's how I met Breezy.
"Yes. I like that name."
She said after a brief moment. She set her book down in the grass. We had a long day before this and we decided to lay in the grass reading random philosophy books from my book case. I liked that about her. She had brains and beauty. She laughed every time I told her. She said she's just happy to have brains.
"That settles things, Breezy."
"Do I get to give you a nickname?"
She ran her fingers over the book's cover. The philosophy of Kant. "Only if you want to give me one." I said laying down in the grass watching her. She looked out ahead of us. "No, never mind. I don't want to give you one just because you gave me one." She turned to look at me and smiled. "It's my birthday in two minutes." She said happily. I knew this. She didn't have to remind me.
"I know. Did you think I had forgotten?"
She nodded. She knew I knew. She just liked hearing herself talk about it. She came from a broken home, birthdays meant nothing over there. Broken homes meant broken memories. Hell, memories that never existed and if they did, well, you didn't want to remember them. We could relate to that. We knew the importance of a birthday. Life was tough for us both growing up and we had the scars to prove it. Thinking about it though, I don't know how war could make a girl so gentle on the inside. Sure she played the hardcore bitch often but behind the walls she put up there was a porcelain heart that would break if it was shook one more time. I would never shake it. I wouldn't dream of it.
"What are we going to do for it?"
She lied back next to me. We were both looking at the stars now. It was almost midnight. "Anything you want to do." I smiled. She held my hand. "Can we sleep here?" She said calmly.
"Your parents would blow up."
"It doesn't matter. It's my birthday."
"Yeah, but I don't want you to get in trouble."
"Whocares. It doesn't matter to me."
"I don't want them to hurt you."
Those words stopped her. She didn't like thinking about it but I had to say it. It was the only way to make her not do anything reckless. A month ago her dad almost broke her jaw. I almost killed him the next day. I would have killed him. I would have. If not for her. She protected him to protect herself. Still so young, she'd be sent away if her parents were arrested. You might say she stopped me to stay with me. It's tragic, but she dealt with it. She'd poke fun the next couple days every time I kissed her saying I was kissing the girl with a broken jaw that her father gave to her. She didn't know how much that bothered me. She didn't know. I wanted to help her find something better. I still do. I want to help her find something better if there is something better.
"Fine."
She said quietly. I raised her hand to my lips and kissed her hand. "Happy Birthday." She turned to look at me. Her eyes shined with the moon in them. "Thank you." she motioned with her lips, without really saying it. Here we were. Two young kids in love. You can call it what you want, we don't care. How could someone really tell us any differently? When she says she loves me, I believe her. She believes me.
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
We kissed. How did she become mine? How did I catch her? What idiot guy let her go? Killed those thoughts. I don't care to know who else had been me before. She's mine now and I'm hers. The past is now buried. I put my hand into my pocket.
"What are you doing?"
She said as she stopped kissing me. "Hold on." I tried to pull out her gift. "What is it?" She said seeing the black box. I looked at her impatiently. She knew what it was. "It's yours." She took the box from my hands and kissed me. Surprisingly, she laughed when she saw what was inside.
"It's a promise ring? You are so gay!"
"It's not a promise ring."
"Sure does look like one."
"But it's not. It's just a ring."
Her smile disappeared. She always wanted the truth but her face always showed signs of bitterness each time she got it. I laughed. "Relax bro." she laughed. "It's a ring but it's a ring with words." She looked up at me.
"I love you, Breezy. I love you so fucking much. Now I know I'm going to sound really cliche and like a boy band from the 90's but I really don't care. You are, you are everything to me, B. These past two months have been too amazing. Every day, and yes we have spent every day since we met together, has been special in its own way. You've changed me, dude. You've made me more of a man than my parents have. More than I've done for myself. Without you, well I'd probably still just being a walking corpse that never felt the life of love."
"You're being cheesy."
"No I'm not. Shut up, alright?" She didn't say another thing.
"I'm not used to this, despite all I've said. Happy sounds, smiles, laughter. It's brand new to my little life. What could I do though? I still can't help but letting it enter me. Letting you enter me. Not in a nasty way, but in a serious one. You are amazing, and sometimes I forget to breathe around you. Good thing it's instinctual or I'd be dead. Breezy Callahan," I put the ring on her finger. "I give you this ring to just say I love you and that nothing will separate us. I will always be yours." I said. Her eyes were watery now. I told you, porcelain heart.
"You will?"
"I will."
She kissed me again. Her face hit my face hard this time. It hurt but I didn't mind. I never mind when she bashed my face in while trying to kiss me all exited. She couldn't do any wrong.
"You're something else, you know that?"
I nodded. She liked my confidence. She said it made me who I am. "I thought you said this wasn't a promise ring." She said as she got on top of me.
"It's not."
"It sure sounded like one."
"Shut up."
"Or what?"
I kissed her. We made love under the stars, under a blanket, wrapped like shoelaces that would never come undone. Never. We didn't care what the world thought about this. We were young and stupid, but we wouldn't have it any other way.
"What's your name, fucker?"
She said in the boys stall as she pushed me away. I licked my lips. She was nice.
"My name's Sonny Stone."
My name's Sonny Mullen Stone. That's what I told her.