This time, it's different.(Anna)

[Cole Kessler]

Three days ago, Cole's heart was bleeding out. Two days ago, he threw a party to help him get over her and had met a few someone's who'd helped him out with that. Then he met another that night, but this one was different. She had not really been the party-type and so her and Cole had stepped out of his apartment and had a nice talk on the tailgate of his truck.

Now, with news of his parents moving to Pilot Ridge, Cole's life got a bit brighter still. Though they wouldn't be moving until the start of next week. Regardless, Cole's dad had sent him a rather moderate amount of money and told him to go buy whatever he wanted. So, instead of buying food or alcohol or anything for the house he went out and got himself another new set of wheels. This time, however, he'd bought a motorcycle he'd been eyeing for the last week, a 2011 Suzuki GSXR. So, with the weather as nice as it was (thanks to a recent storm that rid the area of humidity) Cole'd gotten dressed and decided to take his new bike out for a ride, but he didn't want to go alone.

He had spoken with some of the girls at school about this new girl, Anna, and found out that she didn't get out much because she was so occupied with school. So, he figured maybe he could get her out and about for the day, maybe go for a swim, but not at the lake. He had somewhere better in mind if the water wasn't too cold. The air was cool enough for him to need a jacket while on the bike, but that was it. He hopped on and headed to the dorms from his apartment. As he pulled up, she was sitting on a nearby bench with her nose in a book. He took his helmet off and ran his hands through his hair, "What's up, beautiful?"

[Anna Pierce]

Two day’s ago, against her will, Anna’s friends had forced her to go to a party that she wanted nothing to do with. She spent a good chunk of the night supporting the wall and watching her friends get plastered. Her friends claimed that she worked to hard, and didn’t socialize enough with her fellow peers. Anna had disagreed with them, but that didn’t help anything. Her friends dragged to this stupid party, but when she got there a guy caught her eye rather quickly. But he seemed to already have a girl, actually two girls. But some how as the night went on she ended up talking to him outside on the tailgate of his truck.

Given what her friends had told her about the guy, Cole, it was surprising to her that they hit it off. He had just got dumped and that party was a get over it party. In other words he was different from Anna. She was worked hard on school and never dated. Not that it mattered, the chances of seeing him again were slim. It wasn’t like he was going to come looking for her. That was a little to “Romance Movie,” for her taste.

As she was thinking about this she was also sitting on a bench outside her building trying to do her language arts home work dressed in clothes mainly designed forcomfort. when she heard the sound of a bike engine and heard a voice saying “Whats up beautiful.”. She looked up to see Cole. She couldn’t help but smile at him. “You know most girls would find the fact that a guy who they only just met knows where they live.” She said shutting her book and walking up to him. “Your lucky i’m a sucker for a awesome bike.” She said.

[Cole Kessler]

Cole smiled as she got up from the bench. He couldn't help but eye her legs for a bit as the jeans she had on hugged her curvature tightly. His smile widened as she commented on the bike he was straddling.

"Thanks," he said with a laugh, "I haven't straddled anything since I left home." He explained. Something clicked in his head and he corrected the awkwardness of the saying, "Uhm, I was a two-time bull riding champion back home. Competed every year, never finished lower than third, won the competition two consecutive years." Cole's mind flashed back to the year previous those wins.

He was fourteen. He and his dad had been practicing for the competiton, his fifth year to enter. The rides were going great, Cole was set to win that year, too. He was focused on his next attempt: the championship ride. The chute opened and the ride was on. That was the last thing Cole remembered. All he knew after that was waking up in the hospital and his dad calming him down. A severe concussion was all he had from that incident; he'd gotten lucky.

Zooming back into reality he realized he hadn't responded to him knowing where she lived, "That's the easy part, sweetheart. I used to live in the dorms." He told her, "Now, my original plan was to ask you if you'd join me for a ride. I gotta break in the new bike somehow. I don't wanna go alone and I figured you'd wanna hang out." He explained, offering her his helmet, "So how 'bout it, Anna? Me, you, the bike and the mountains? Sounds like a nice date to me. I mean, uhm, yeah." He laughed.

[Anna Pierce]

Anna couldn’t help but smile at him with his joke about straddling things. “From what I hear, you have a lot of experience in straddling things.” She said. Yes this was a joke, but it was also her trying to fish information out of him. She smiled at him as he tried to edit himself. “You know I’m agents sensory, you don’t have to censor what you say around me. Its all vary well and proper and gentleman like, but its not necessary. I can take perverted comments and all.” This was all said with that same half smile half smirk she always had on her face when she was flirting. Which meant that today and two days ago were the first times they had cropped up.

She tried to read his face as he talked. Things weren't matching up. Not on his face, but what she was told about him and how he was acting. The way her friends made it sound he was the next Hugh Hefner or something, yet here he was stumbling over what he was saying talking to her. It was just her, nothing special really. Just geeky brainy book nerd who apparently spent way to much time studying.

She contemplated his offer for a moment before speaking. “You know, you have quite a reputation around the school. Quiet a few of my friends warned me about you. You should know i’m not like those two girls you had at the party.” She said as she mounted the bike. “I’m not a rebound, nor will I ever be.” She felt she needed to make this clear before they did anything even remotely resembling a date. He wanted him to know she wasn’t a “good girl gone bad,” and this wasn’t grease. You took her as a nerd or you left her as one.

[Cole Kessler]

"I have a rep?" Cole asked, the puzzled look on his face said it all. The two girls at the party had brought him to a grand total of three girls. Three grils that he had slept with in the whole time he'd been in Pilot Ridge, "And here I was thinking I was keeping a low profile." He said with a laugh, "I don't straddle things, by the way." He said with a wink.

He looked at her, "I know you can. You took in plenty when you were at my party." Cole explained, "It's the way I am though. I'm courteous and polite no matter what my girl tells me." He laughed and thought for a moment, "I'm a little more country than that, sweetheart." He rubbed the back of his neck as he realized he'd just called her his girl. Hopefully she missed that part.

"I don't expect you to be the rebound, Anna." Cole said firmly, "Alex and Heather, those two girls at the party, they were the rebound. If I wanted you to be the rebound, I wouldn't be here right now." He explained to the beautiful young woman as she mounted the bike behind him., "What I see before me is much more than a rebound. What I see is a amazing, beautiful woman giving the me the honor and pleasure of her company on a leisurely ride through the mountains."

[Anna Pierce]

"You can't exactly sleep with two girls in one night and then flirt with a third girl with out getting a rep." Anna said. Her voice wasn't condescending, it wasn't even sarcastic. It seemed more like she was just pointing out a fact, as if she just said 'the sky is blue.' She really didn't care about what he did before they talked. The fact that he was here did in fact prove to her that he wasn't some womanizer. That and the fact that he was a good old southern boy at heart gave him extra brownie points. So she was ok with taking the helmet from him, she just hoped he knew what he had signed up for.

"Your girl?" Anna said as she wrapped her arms around him. with a voice that suggested she wasn't exactly upset with his choice of words. Why should she be? He seemed like a nice enough guy. She especially liked the little speech he gave her. It showed that he did care a lot about her, and what she thought she was getting into.

She smiled. "You know you really do sound like a romance novel when you talk." She said in a flirty way as she scooted closer to him on the bike. "Why don't we start that mountain ride then?"

[Cole Kessler]

Cole smiled as she told him exactly what he'd done to get said reputation. He figured word would get around but he didn't know some people would take it in and develope a negative opinion of him. It wasn't like he wanted anything like that, though a negative reputation did sometimes have its advantages. That wasn't Cole though. He lived his life by 'winging it' everday.

He dropped his head with a sigh. She had heard his words referring to her and pointed it out. Though she didn't sound upset, Cole smiled a bit and spoke, "Whoops," he laughed, "did I call you my girl? Sorry, must've been the anticipation." He said, looking back over his shoulder with a beaming smile.

"If you're ready, we can. Hold on." He said as he started the bike back up and revved it a couple of times. He was glad she'd joined him and he wanted to make the most of it. As her grip around him tightened, he let off the brake and popped the bike into gear and sped off.

Ten Minutes Later

Traffic had been moderate but a quick moving pace and smaller vehicle allowed them to reach the mountain range quickly. He steadied the pace of the bike at forty-five-miles-per-hour and took in the scenery. He'd not been up here since the night he met Sam and raced the boy down the mountain. He could see the rooftops of the school off in the distance. Between that, though, was nothing but green forestry and hills. They continued on through the drive, keeping the same pace and taking in the sights.

[Anna Pierce]

Anna inhaled deeply. "Wow." she said looking at the roof tops of the school. "It's nice up here." She said resting her head on Cole's back. She liked doing this with him. In fact for the first time in a while she felt completely at peace. She wished she could stay like this forever. She couldn't help but smile like a stupid little kid. She didn't like people, she personally thought humans had a tendency to be cruel. But she didn't get that feeling from Cole. She felt like she was meant to be here, on this bike, arms wrapped around cole, wishing that this moment could never end.

Anna's mind flashed back to a day not to long ago. Her sister had been dumped because her boyfriend found out about Anna being a freak. Anna watched as her sister cried, and swore to herself that would never be her. But even as she thought that she pushed it away. She was happy now, and she wanted to stay that way. "So is this what you do with all girls? Take them on rides through the mountains or only the ones who punch your ex?" She asked with a smile though he couldn't see it, but he probably could hear it in her voice.

[Cole Kessler]

Cole waited to answer her question until they pulled off the road. He was completely content with this moment. Her head rested between his shoulder blades, her arms wrapped tightly around his waist, his smile beaming in the sun. Right now, he felt like he could lift the world on his shoulders and carry it for a while.

He waited until the next scenic pull-off to slow down and park the bike for a while. He knew where they were, it was just a short hike into the woods across the road from the ridge. As he put the flipped the kickstand down he leaned up slowly. "Honestly, I've only been up here with one girl and that was in the dark and she hated it." He explained.

"I met one of my best friends that night and raced him down this mountain drive." Cole smiled, "That was fun." He said with a laugh. I have someplace I wanna show you if you'd like, Anna."

[Anna Pierce]

Anna looked at the scenery. It felt like she was in a different world. The light came threw the trees in the most amazing way, and the slight breeze was like a fairy tale world. She looked at Cole, blond hair blowing in the wind and smiled. Truly smiled. Not a smirk, no sense of sarcasm, just pure happiness. Her eyes sparkled like a five year old in a candy store. "Who could hate it up here. Its beautiful." She said. She looked up at the sky.

"You must be able to see all the stairs here at night." She looked back at cole as he said he wanted to take her some where else. She felt touched that he took her hear. It was with out a doubt the sweetest thing a guy had done for her. Mind you not a lot of guys payed attention to her, but still.

"Lead on, captain my captain." She said referencing on of her favorite poems. She put out her hand for him to take to lead her. It was amazing how quickly she came to trust him, her, a girl who hardly trusted any one. But she felt she could trust him.

[Cole Kessler]

"Whitman? Nice choice of line, sweetheart." Cole said as he took her hand and headed into the woods. He checked his watch to makes sure the time was right for it. Then, he double-checked the sun's angle as it started resting on the horizon. Hopefully conditions were right for what he wanted to show her. A few small, light clouds floated overhead, but they wouldn't be too much of a problem.

About three minutes of Cole hopping over rocks and helping her do the same and they'd reached it. A small openign in the forestry with a few flat-topped rocks for them to sit on. He hopped up on one and pulled her up to sit next to him. The sun was just almost behind the horizon, darkness creeping forward above them. It was already starting and as the dark took up more of the sky, Cole pointed it out.

A meteor shower was scheduled for tonight, peaking right about now. It was something Cole'd always loved to watch as they streaked across the sky for he and the girl next to him. Before he relaxed he took a moment to look at her. A beauty that quite possibly, to him, was undescribable, "This is something I've never shared with anyone before." He said as he laid back onto the rock, leaving his feet dangling over its edge.

[Anna Pierce]

As Anna fallowed him she wondered where he was leading her. It was getting dark and she didn't want to get lost. But all those thoughts left her head as she looked up and saw what Cole had lead her too. It was amazing.

Back home when she was little, before everything went to hell in a hand basket, her and her siblings had all built a fort in a tree so they could watch the meteor shower. The fort fell as non of them really knew how to build a fort. But before she had fallen out of the tree and cut open her hand, she had sat in wonder at the lights in the sky. They were so beautiful.

Right here, right now, she could have been that six year old again as she sat next to Cole. The lights falling from the sky lit her hair and eyes, and the look on her face was of pure wonder. "Oh my God." She said quietly. After a few minuets she rested her head on Coles shoulder. "This is amazing." She said.

[Cole Kessler]

Cole smiled as she laid back next to him, her head on his shoulder. He brought his arm around and gently gripped her shoulder, "These things always calmed me down when I was younger. I could be having the worst day ever and see a shooting star and everything goes away." Cole smiled as he turned his attention to her.

Cole smiled as her face just lit up with each streak across the sky. He was completely mesmerized by her eyes, her lips, her entire face and body just entranced him. She made him forget about everything in the rest of the world. He wanted to say something, but all he had were chessy lines. What else could he say to her?

He hoped she hadn't noticed him staring at her, but then spoke, "I'm looking at something more amazing than anything on the earth and in the sky combined." He said. Not out pof instinct of chessiness, but honesty and feeling. Something about her made him want to say it. Something no other girl had even done to him before.

[Anna Pierce]

Anna felt his arm around her shoulder and felt her stomach do a weired…floppy thing. She liked this a lot. And yet again she felt the need to pray that this moment would never end.It was like a picture perfect moment. This was amazing and for the first time she got why her sister always was obsessed with having a boyfriend.

"Last time I saw one of these I fell out of the tree fort me and my siblings had bilt." She said with a little laugh. "I have to say I prefure this arrangement." She wondered if he felt the same way. Like some how she was five years old again and the world was simple.

"Something more amazing than anything on earth and in the sky combined." She looked at him as he said that, and as cheesy as that line was, it got her. She looked for words to discribe what she was feeling. Eventually she just put her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around him, "This, is the sweetest moment of my life. Thank you." She managed to say.

[Cole Kessler]

Cole rested his chin atop her head. "I think I would prefer this, too." He laughed through his teeth, stuck together in a smile that couldn't leave his face even if he wanted it to. With her, he felt renewed, alive, fulfilled. Something inside him clicked on again, something he'd not felt in a long time. Something that hadn't lived in him for so long he'd forgotten how it felt.

He wasn't sure what it was, but he knew it made him feel like he used to growing up. He hadn't a care in the world as long as she was happy. Somehow, she'd rejuvenated the old him that had been dead to the world for so long. Not even Taeyeon had brought this upon him, but for the first time since before Lerna, Cole knew where he was, who he was, and where he wanted to be.

He wanted to be with Anna, he was with Anna, and he was hers. A smug look sat on his face, one unseen for so long. "I'm glad you allowed me to be part of it, Anna." He said looking down at her. Her lips beckoned him, but he resisted it. Instead, he placed a finger and pushed her face up so their eyes met. He wanted her to see what he wanted and know if she wanted it too.