Let me get to know you

The air was cold and the sky grey, but it doesn't matter when you're with the one who makes your heart beat faster. "My hands are cold," Johanna said, as they were both walking through the park. "Let me warm your hands!" he told her and she reached her hand in his direction. He grabbed her hands and exclaimed: "Woah, they're cold! And tiny! And moist!" "Thanks!" she said. He held her hand for a few minutes, then they continued walking that way. "I used to play here in this park when I was a child. See that place under the trees there right next to that bench? There I pretended that I had superpowers and blasted my enemies with them!" "Right there? Hmm, that sounds nice. How did you learn English? Have you been tutored or..?" "Oh, I used to watch cartoons. Characters spoke in English and after watching lots and lots of cartoons my English drastically improved! Say something in English! I want to hear you talking in English!" "No…." she protested. "Come on, I want to hear you talk in English!" "Fine! My cat talked to you last night and she frightened me! How was that?' "Yeah, that's English spoken with a Russian accent!" he teased her.

"Do you sometimes miss Romania?" Johanna asked him. "I miss some of the parts of my life here like you, however, my life is now there. My parents had to leave. They had better job opportunities there and I followed them." Johanna sighed. "I am glad we finally met up. I never thought we would meet up in person or be able to hug and be face to face after so many years. I bet you forgot about me all this time you were gone." He laughed. "Yeah, I kind of forgot. But it's a good thing you reached out to me. I needed a friend like you." Johanna smiled and replied: "Yeah, I don't think friends want to kiss each other." She immediately blushed and they both laughed.

From time to time the wind blew. Even though the park had a greyish appearance and it was a little bit chilly Johanna still enjoyed walking in the park hand in hand with Josh. She looked at some clouds and asked him. "Do you think it's going to snow?" "Nope, I don't think so. Do you like snow?" Johanna nodded: "Yeah, I do. I hope it's going to snow soon. How about you?" Josh kicked a little stone in front of him. "I hate snow. We have plenty of it in Canada. I'm sick of it. I managed to break the door of my house a few winters ago. I smashed it because the key would not work anymore." "Sounds like you were really angry," Johanna replied. "Yeah, I can get pretty scary when I get angry. You don't want to be around me then," he said and stared ashamed into the distance.

The park was rich in vegetation. Apart from a lot of trees, there were also many benches and several monuments, like the Mausoleum, the Cantacuzino Fountain, the Giants 'Statues, the Zodiac Fountain, the Technical Museum, and the Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy.

"See that building over there? That is the Open-air Roman Arena. Sometimes concerts are held there." Johanna joyfully pointed in the direction of the building. "I usually go to a lot of metal concerts in Canada. Don't like other types of music. Sometimes I still listen to other rock bands though or I can still like a song that does not belong to the metal genre. But that's rare." Johanna curiously asked him: "Ok, can you please give me an example?" "How about Nickelback?" he asked. "Yeah, I love them too. I don't understand why people don't like them. I love their music. "Yeah, I agree," Josh replied.

"Do you want to join me?" he pointed toward a bench. Johanna nodded. "Of course." They sat down silently next to each other and stared toward the lake. Johanna turned for a second her head from the lake and was surprised to see him longingly gazing at her. "What?" she smiled ashamed and blushed. "You're so beautiful! I can't stop staring!" he quietly told her. "Mhm," she nodded and could not stop smiling. She moved closer to him and asked him grinning from ear to ear: "Do you know what we could do now?" I have a couple" of ideas," he replied smiling. He moved in closer and passionately kissed her. His hands were soft, yet his arms were strong and his kiss was deep and passionate. This was the passion she secretly hoped for, yet was afraid to count too much on a happy ending. After all, they did not see each other for years, only through the webcam and nobody knew what the future would hold in store.

"So, tell me about your ex-boyfriend. And why it did not work out? After all, you seem like a great girl." Johanna turned her head in another direction and covered her face. "Do we need to go there?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Just want to know what went wrong in the past so we can create a better future." Johanna sighed and replied: "Well, there was a guy in high school. We were best friends, but he pressured me too early to have sex and I wasn't emotionally ready for that step. And that was it. We broke up. Later we tried rekindling the relationship. But things did not work out and we decided to stay friends. I don't have any other exes. How about you?" He sighed and mumbled: "I had a girlfriend online. It was a long-distance relationship. She annoyed me and I ended things." They cuddled up against each other and he caressed her cheek and held her hand tight. Then he looked at it. "Wow, your hand is so small!" he teased her and she replied: "Yeah, so you can hold it better! Let me have a closer look!" She inspected his hand and informed him: "You have big hands! And also long fingers. Mine is pretty short compared to yours. I tried to learn to play the guitar, but it did not work out!" "That's why my fingers are useful! I can play the guitar." "Have you been practicing lately?" "No, not really. I start doing something about my passion and then after a certain time I abandon it." Johanna stroked his hand. "I saw your Youtube videos. I think you're good at it. Don't give up." She coughed violently, then sneezed. "Oh man, you got a cold. I hope it won't get uglier. Maybe we should spend the rest of the day inside!" Johanna replied: "I agree. Let's go to the mall! I need to buy a game anyway for my Nintendo 3ds."

And off they went to the mall. It had three floors, escalators and a fountain. "The store is on the second floor. I'll show you where it is. Follow me!" Johanna said and he remarked: „I think I used to come here when I was a child." The store they entered sold multiple items, which were carefully arranged on shelves: There were many books on the shelves tickling Johanna's nose with their alluring smell, colorful schoolbags, and stationeries, and other interesting school supplies. "Um, are you sure we are in the correct store?" Josh asked and looked around. "Yes, of course! We just got to keep walking!" Johanna assured him. In a few minutes, they reached the game section of the store. There were games for the PlayStation, Nintendo 3ds, Xbox, and pc. "Here it is, Nintendo's! Can't wait to get a Dalmatian puppy!" Johanna enthusiastically told Josh, while looking happily at the game's photo.

She paid for the game and then went to the food court and sat down at a table. Christmas decorations and carols created a festive atmosphere. Red, green, and blue Christmas globes adorned the walls of the mall, and colored garlands were hung around the beams. Christmas lights and Christmas trees lightened up the mall and cheered Johanna up. "

"Why is this chair so hard?" she asked. "That's not the chair," he said smiling. She turned around, looked at him, and then blushed. "Oh, sorry!" "I'm not!" he grinned as she stood up from his lap and sat down on another chair.

"You have such beautiful green eyes," he remarked and she thanked him shyly. "So, tell me about your childhood after you left," she asked him as he leaned in closer to her and she snuggled up. "I mean I know some details as we kept touch for a while, but there was also a time span in which we didn't talk."

He sighed as if he was about to unload a big burden from himself. "I don't know if you remember much from what I told you, but I used to be bullied in school by mean kids. I did not have many friends. A colleague once stole my Nintendo. Girls called me ugly and avoided me romantically. I was good enough for the friend zone, but not more. The guys did not hang out with me. Most of them insulted me and intentionally annoyed me to the point where I was so angry I could not take it anymore." Johanna listened attentively and asked: "What happened?" "I remember I ran after a guy in class we got into a physical fight. I got suspended from school for a few days." "What did you do then?' "I went to the cinema that day and the next day I recuperated the lessons I missed." Johanna's intuition told her there was more to the story. "So school was a horrible experience for you and what a lot of people call the most beautiful and carefree days proved to be a big disappointment. What happened next?" He sighed once again. "The bullying and loneliness continued: the insults, the negative comments about myself, the pranks led to a deep black hole I got in. Keep in mind I wanted a girlfriend, but girls saw me good enough to befriend me, but never hot enough to see as a boyfriend, I was passionate about guitar, yet could never do something about this passion or writing. This and the lack of friends made me lose my mind. Finally, I was diagnosed with depression. I started therapy, but it did not help with my anger issues, nor with the emptiness. I was prescribed antidepressants. Some of them did more harm than good. I remember taking certain antidepressants and then running away from home on the streets, not knowing where or why or what I was running from. I just wanted to get away… And my mom was very scared and yelled after me desperately asking where I was going… I did not know either. Just knew I was sick of my life." Johanna held his hand tighter and swallowed. "Maybe if we would not have been separated things would have been different. I am sorry I could not be there physically for you when you needed it the most." It's ok, at least we could talk via the internet. Imagine if we did not have the possibility." Johanna coughed badly and sneezed. She covered her nose and desperately reached for handkerchiefs in her bag. "It's a good thing when you most need something, you can't find it!" she annoyingly mumbled and finally after some digging in her bag found a pack of handkerchiefs.

She blew her nose. He commented: "Oh man, you caught a cold!" I hope I won't give you the cold!" "No worries. I'm fine and I'll be ok." She leaned back. Her nose was stuffed: "Maybe we should not kiss and be so snuggly. What if I give you a souvenir in form of a cold?" "I'm fine. Don't worry. I have good immunity." "Ok, if you say so. I don't want to harm you," she talked through her stuffy nose and smiled slightly ashamed.

His fingers curled around hers and he observed: "You're cold." "Can I sit in your lap? Maybe your body's warmth can help me…?" He smiled and she silently looked at him. "What?" he curiously asked. "You're so handsome and you don't even know it!" "I'm not handsome!" he protested smiling amused. "Yes, you are!" she said and started making out with him. People passed beside them, it was getting dark outside, yet nothing else mattered. It was just her, him, his, and her hands and lust burning up their bodies as their souls united leaving their bodies hungry for more.

Sometimes we get into fast rides, thinking we can control what is going to happen next. The truth is we are fooling ourselves, yet we can't stop, because finding something you've been waiting for for years especially after you thought you'd never find it is hard to let go of. And then when you finally are in front of it, no matter how rational you try to be, how detached people may view you the contained powder keg explodes. Some define passion as a strong and barely controllable emotion. I define it as madness in front of the unknown and choosing to be vulnerable despite knowing that sooner or later an end might come and choosing to look emotions in the face and embrace them instead of overthinking, over calculating and questioning the logical pieces of evidence because there is something deep inside aching for the closeness with that person and for the first time in your life even though people disappointed you the longing to be with that person is bigger than the fear that they may abandon you just like every other normal mortal should the odds not be in your favor.