SHE WINS...

He sat on the train questioning what he was doing, as if he really didn't know. He was making that all too familiar mistake again, his favorite mistake. He was on his way to see her. It had been some time since he’d last seen her, and the last encounter had not gone the way he had hoped. The irony of the Drake lyrics being hummed in his ear, "redemption's on your mind when you think about me", were all too haunting. True she was his favorite mistake, but perhaps, just perhaps, he was hers. A mistake they both would continually make until they got it right or finally gave up. He got off the train to the breezy chill of a spring afternoon by the beach. The air was filled with the voices of friends and family and lovers walking around. People smiling and laughing as if this one day, everyone got to be happy and perhaps he would too. He made his way through the crowds of people growing more nervous with every step closer towards their meeting point. "Be cool", he told himself, trying desperately to steady his heartbeat. As he reached the atrium of the promenade the crowd seemed to divide like the pinnacle seen of a romantic comedy we've all seen too many times. And as cliché as that moment is, so was this, because when he saw her, and she saw him, everything stopped. All the history, all the hurt, all the broken promises and empty gestures seemed to fade away, and everything good that they used to represent resurfaced. She hugged him, holding on far too long… Long enough that he could feel her heartbeat and count the rhythms. Oh how good she felt in his arms, head on his shoulder. Flashbacks of lazy Sunday afternoons and leftover Chinese food flooded his mind. They walked through the cloud covered lanes of the promenade in a comfortable daze, speaking only when needed, but more so enjoying the silence. Silence is funny that way, always finding a way to speak. Coffee cups in one hand they strolled along the park taking time to take pictures of the pier from a distance. He was careful to give her her space to enjoy it, admiring how beautiful she was against the backdrop of the ocean. This is where all his dreams of her lead to, but never knowing how to get there. As they crossed the bridge to step onto the sand he gave her his hand to hold for balance, she took it, and never let go. They walked in the sand holding hands letting their toes sink playfully with each step walking right up into the ocean. They stood there, quietly, not wanting to say the wrong thing. Far too many times he said the wrong thing. So he said nothing, he just stood behind her, wrapped his arms around her and held her close. He wanted to fight off that feeling, he wanted to fight off any thought of letting her back in, that this could possibly be anything more than this moment, and this moment alone, but as the sound of the waves grew louder, so did her power. He was still hers, hers to will and command. He wasn't angered by this; it was the exact thing he knew would happen when he boarded the train…that she would win. She always wins.