"Petah" Pan

It was a crisp winter day here in Boston, Massachusetts. I was wrapped in a coat, a scarf, some gloves, and my favorite wool beanie. My boots on my feet kept my toes warm as I walked down the street. There was left over snow on the ground from when it had snowed about two days prior and I played in it as I walked.

I didn’t really know where I was headed, I had no destination in mind. I was just... walking. I turned at some corners traveling down many blocks, smiling at people and looking in various stores as I passed by. Soon though I came to a park in the middle of the city. I smiled and went straight for the swings.

I brushed some snow off of one and sat down on it. I quickly began to swing as high as I could. I smiled to myself and held on to the cold chains as I swung my legs to make me move faster. As I reached maximum height I laughed and threw my head back occasionally. I knew I looked absolutely ridiculous but I didn’t care, I felt young and happy. I didn’t feel like the twenty year old girl I actually was.

But then, I threw my head back a little too far and my beanie went flying. I watched as the wind caught it and it flew halfway across the park, landing on the snowy ground near a bench. I tried to stop myself as quickly as possible, scraping my boots against the frozen ground. As I ran to catch it the wind caught it once more taking it further down the park path.

I ran after it laughing as I did. This was fun to me and I had no idea why. Then once the gust of wind was over the beanie sat as the feet of a tall stranger. He picked it up and I ran up to him.

“Um, sorry,” I mumbled, slightly out of breath from chasing the hat so far, “That’s mine.”

The boy chuckled and handed me the hat, “Here you are, love.”

I looked up at the boy’s face when I noticed his accent. He had soft, shaggy brown hair that laid over his forehead, his eyes were blue-gray and they sparkled in the sunlight. His hood was up and he was also wearing a gray beanie and after he handed me my hat he shoved his hands in his coat pockets. He also had scarf on and he acted as though he was used to this type of weather. When he spoke he sounded very British and I was intrigued.

“Thanks,” I smiled shyly at him, “I’m Penelope,” I introduced myself, “And you are?”

He looked at me slightly puzzled, “You don’t know who I am?” he asked.

I chortled, “Um, no, am I supposed to?” I said as I shook the dirt off my beanie and put it back on my head.

He looked at me and smiled and said, “Well, no I suppose not. I’m Louis, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he sweetly took my gloved hand and playfully placed a kiss on the back of it.

I laughed, this boy was charming.

“That’s very charming of you Louis,” I joked.

He shrugged, “I’m just a charming lad I guess,” he smiled at me.

His smile was radiant and silly and I knew then that this boy was a lot like me. Childish, playful, and maybe immature sometimes, but fun none-the-less.

“I saw you playing over there earlier. Before your beanie fell off that is,” he spoke to me.

I laughed, “Yeah, I was just having a little fun.”

I looked back up at him and he was staring at the swings as though he would have wanted to join me.

“You wanna come swing with me, Louis?” I offered. I felt that a little company wouldn’t hurt and I could sense he wanted to swing as well.

He glanced down at me trying to act like he didn’t but a smile cracked on his face and he took my hand and dragged me over to where I had been playing once before.

I laughed and sat back down on my swing as he brushed one off for him.

Once we got to swinging pretty well he suggested that we jump off our swings and see who could land the farthest. I’m a very competitive person so when someone sets up a challenge I don’t hesitate to take it.

“You’re on,” I said with confidence.

“Ok then Penelope, you can jump first,” he eyed me. Coincidentally we were swinging in sync at the moment.

I smirked and swung myself as hard as I could. When I decided I was swinging high enough I flung myself off the swing. For the seconds I was flying in the air I enjoyed it immensely. Then I plopped down on the ground on my feet. I turned to see how far I had gone and I noticed how I was a good six feet away from the swings.

“Beat that!” I shouted at Louis.

He grinned a mischievous grin and I stood there with my arms crossed and my boots in the snow.

He swung himself as hard as he could as well and I watched as he shot himself off the swings as I just had. However, he wasn’t as graceful with his landing as I had been. In fact gravity tried to land him where I was standing, causing him to crash into me making me fall on the snowy ground.

I began to laugh uncontrollably at this mishap and he did too. He rolled over next to me and we laid there in the snow laughing our ‘arses’ off.

“That was great!” I said to him, looking at him with a huge smile on my face.

“Wasn’t it!?” he basically agreed. Then he stood up and offered a hand to help me up as well. I took it and he pulled me up.

He laughed and said, “You’ve got a bit of snow on you,” he politely brushed the snow off my shoulders and my hat and I did the same to him.

We smiled and went back on the swings to sit down. Once we did we got to talking and I learned a lot about him. His last name was Tomlinson, he was my age, and he was staying in Boston for his ‘job’. But he acted as though his job wasn’t really a job. He had four best friends staying back at the hotel he was staying at. Which happened to be the biggest and most expensive one in the entire Boston area. I found out he really was from England, a town called Doncaster, where he had a mom and four sisters. He said his parents just recently got divorced and I felt sad for him. And yet this boy seemed so happy.

He also got to know about me. About my last name, Nicks, my age, and what I was doing in Boston. I was in college studying to become an elementary school music teacher. I loved little kids and music and I had decided to pursue a career that incorporated both. He learned that I worked in a local bakery and when I told him that he mentioned that one of his best friends named Harry, also used to work in a bakery. He learned about my family that lived in Westford, Massachusetts, about my little brother and little sister and my mom and dad.

Before we knew it we had been out on that swing set in the middle of town for almost three hours. It had already been early evening when I had showed up here so by the time we realized what time it was, it was already getting dark and my nose was numb.

“Would you care to walk with me, my lady?” Louis asked, standing off his swing and offering me his arm to take.

I laughed, “It would be my pleasure, dear sir,” I faked a British accent, and looped my arm with his.

He chuckled, “That was actually a really good imitation!”

“Well I have been listening to you talk for awhile now,” I smiled back.

We walked down the park path and out onto the street. I noticed that he made sure his hood was up far enough, that his hat was covering his forehead, and he propped his collar up.

“You cold?” I asked, puzzled as to why he decided to cover up so much.

“Um, yeah, a little bit,” he hesitated in his answer and I knew something was up, but I didn’t prod.

Notes