“Where the hell is he?”

I impatiently checked my phone for the hundredth time, to see how many minutes late my cousin was. It was 1:45, his flight landed forty-five minutes ago, but I saw no sign of him. I made my way through the crowd and searched the hoards of people in the airport to see if I could recognize anyone, but no luck.

At this point, I had texted and called his phone at least a dozen times and I swore that if I hadn’t seen him in the next 5 minutes, I was going to leave. It wasn’t like I wanted to see him anyway, I was being forced to do this as it is. He flies from Hong Kong every summer to come and stay for two weeks. The problem is that none of our family ever wants to tolerate him and his wild antics. So since we are relatively close in age, my parents always order me to “entertain our guest.”

1:49. One more minute and I can tell them that I waited an-

“Henry!” a distant voice shouted.

Mentally, I was telling myself I didn’t hear it, but physically I knew I did. The voice, now louder, called my name out again. It was moving in closer.

“Yo! Henry!”

, it’s him.

I slowly turned around and did my best to crack a smile. That entire attempt swiftly ended when I saw how many bags of luggage he was carrying with him.

“Where we-...whoa, what is all this? You’re only here for two weeks Chen, not a year.” I said as I stared at him in disbelief.

He playfully slapped my shoulder and smirked.

“I missed you too. Sorry, I got held up in customs, but hey let’s hit a McDonal-”

I lost track of what he was saying. I was too busy staring at the four giant suitcases in front of me and trying to figure out how I was going to fit all his in my car.

This was going to be the longest two weeks of my life.

 - - - -

I winced as I watched him shove French fries into his mouth like it was his last meal.

“Chen, do you have an ounce of decency?” I asked.

He stopped chewing for a moment, glanced up at me and resumed eating.

“You know, every time I visit, I hold on to the small amount of hope that maybe you would have lightened up since the last time I saw you and every time you never fail to prove me wrong.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What are you talking about?” I asked.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. Take the giant stick out of your and live a little.” he said as he tossed his last fry into his mouth and took a sip of his drink.

“You’re in your prime Henry, you can’t be the good student who stays in and studies on weekends forever.”

I just stared at him incredulously.

“You’re kidding me, right?” I answered flatly. “You live your life like some kind of wannabe frat boy, who never actually got into college and you’re accusing me of being uptight because I have goals?”

He shook his head as he balled up his trash to throw away.

“Just saying.” he said.

“Yeah, whatever.” I countered.

Annoyed, I grabbed my trash and slid out of the booth. When I stood up to turn around, I bumped directly into someone causing all the food on their tray to spill all over the floor.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry” I quickly bent down to help pick up the spilled items and I could hear Chen giggling behind me, mumbling “Smooth Henry, real smooth.”

In the effort to ignore him, I realized the last 30 seconds had happened so fast and I was so embarrassed for making a scene in a McDonald’s, I hadn’t even saw who I bumped into. 


As I placed napkins over the spilled soda, I took a few seconds to observe the stranger. 



It was a girl. She was focused on the mess below us so I couldn’t get a good view of her face but honestly the first thing I did notice was her perfume. It was weird, because even though it had been so long since I had dated, with school as my constant alibi for my lack of interaction with women, this was the first time in a long time that a girl, yet a girl’s scent, evoked my attention.

She smelled really good.

“I’m really sorry, I can buy-” and I don’t remember what I may have said after that because during my sea of apologies she looked up, we met each other’s glance and it was like boom.

Goes the dynamite ... in my heart that is. Corny, I know, but that’s the only way I could really describe that very moment.

Man, she was gorgeous.

She gave me a soft smile and I saw a dimple appear on her left cheek and I swore I could’ve melted into a puddle on that disgusting floor.

“It’s okay, I really shouldn’t of been eating this crap anyway.” she replied in a sticky sweet voice.



We both went to reach for the last bit of trash and as her fingers lightly brushed mine, a small sharp pop could be heard as our touch had generated an electric shock. I felt my entire face become hot. She quickly retracted her hand and casted me a shy smile this time before standing back up to throw away the mess.

By this point, I was completely enamored. Her scent lingered under my nose as she walked away and my eyes were locked on the swaying of her hips as she moved. It all was having a gravitational pull on my heart.

I always thought the idea of love at first sight was ridiculous, but here I was experiencing it and as I was slowly coming down from my high, I wandered back into real time to see Chen staring at me with a stupid grin on his face.



“Damn, talk about sprung.”

I shot him a warning look “not to start” and quickly denied his clearly true assumptions.

“What are you talking about? I was just helping her clean up, it was my fault anyway.” I mumbled.

“Yeah, that’s why your still wiping up a dry floor right?”



And like a fool, there I was, practically buffing a dirty McDonald’s floor.



Embarrassed, I quickly stood up, threw away the napkins and headed for the exit.


 “Hey, you’re just gonna let her go? You’re not gonna talk to her?!” he hastily whispered behind me.



I paused for a moment and looked back at my cousin and back at her. She was placing her coat on, ready to leave out the other exit doors. As much as I wanted to talk to her, I couldn't. Confrontation on all levels was not my strongpoint, but instead the excuse I told myself was that I refused to let Chen be involved whatsoever with the just about nonexistent love life I had. The way he was, he would try to take credit for it later. 



So I let it go.

“She’s just a girl, Chen.” I knew that was a lie the minute it slipped out my mouth. 



He let out a laugh in disbelief and began to walk past me to leave.


“You’re such an idiot.”



I sighed.



Yeah, I am.

- - - -

The entire ride home, Chen scolded me like a child, for not “having the balls” to speak to her, but I was still occasionally drifting back to dreamland as he ranted on and on. That entire experience was new to me and I somehow unexpectedly ended up liking it aaand like a dummy I let it slip away.



It almost felt surreal, like it was too good to be true. For those few moments, where she had my total attention and I would’ve been lucky to have maybe a fraction of hers, it felt like time stopped and the only energy in that room was the one between me and her.



Maybe that tiny jolt of electricity we both produced should’ve been my sign to make my move, but as per usual Henry, I didn’t even get her name.



I sighed in frustration and wanted to slam my head repeatedly against the steering wheel. Chen had not stopped talking either and I just wanted to throw him out the car by now.

“Are you listening? Hey! Henry, look man, we gotta tea-”



“Chen, please shut up.”

- - -
“Man, can we go out or something? What do you do for fun out here? Are there any parties? Clubs? Anything? I’d take a rodeo at this point”



Chen was leaning against my doorway frame with an ever so “stressful” expression of boredom written all over his demeanor.

“I have to study.” I said.

He snorted obnoxiously.

“You have got to be kidding me. You didn’t just say that did you? Is this a hidden camera?” He began to search around my room like a lunatic for any type of evidence.

“No, I’m not kidding.”



“Dude, it IS the summer!” he yelled.

“That doesn’t matter Chen!” I retorted. “I can’t wait till the night before to study for the exam that says whether I get into med school or not!”

He threw his hands in the air and sighed in exasperation.



“You can at least take a break while I’m here. I didn’t come here to rot away with you in this house. Come on, cut that out and get ready. We’re going out tonight.”



I ignored him and continued to read my medical text book.



Moments later, I jumped as I heard him throw one of my books at the wall “Now!”



I’m going to kill him before he can even be here for two weeks.

- - -

“Chen, what the hell is this place. A rave?”

“It’s a night club Henry. Do you know what that is?” he replied sarcastically as we walked up towards the entrance of the club to get in line.

As we were about to make our way inside, I practically stopped dead in my tracks because a familiar smell made it’s way to my senses. I knew exactly what it was. Put me in a room full of garbage and I’d still be able to pick out that scent anywhere. It was the smell of her perfume. The girl from McDonald’s. Was she here? I could feel myself getting unnecessarily nervous and excited all at the same time.



“Henry!” Chen called after me from the entrance of the club. I bounced back to reality and hurried inside.

- - -

“Here. Have a drink.”



He handed me a shot of dark liquor, of what I guessed to be whiskey, judging by the smell. I didn’t drink often. Actually I rarely did drink. Mostly because my tolerance was that of a teenage girl, but I attempted to down the shot and much to my cousin’s dismay, I felt my gag reflexes kicking in the minute the liquor stung the back of my throat.

“Like a pro!” Chen said patronizingly.

I finished the rest of the shot and motioned towards the bathroom. I could hear my cousin his teeth at me as I walked away. When I finally made it through the, what seemed like thousands of people, to get to the bathroom, it happened once more.



That amazing scent resurfaced.

The aroma alerted my entire being and like a dog, I instinctively wanted to sniff it out until I found out what it was. I had to stop myself for a second, because I was positive I was looking like a complete creep. I was literally being the guy that snoops around the women’s bathroom. I must’ve gone crazy. Any woman could have the same perfume as her, so why was I being so irrational inside of a nightclub full of women?

I stressfully ran my hands over my face and decided to just walk away altogether.

When I tried to make my way back over to the bar, towards Chen, I ended up getting pushed further into the crowded dance floor. I accidentally backed into a waitress, who was holding a tray of drinks in her hand. Of course, I caused her to spill the drinks all over the ground and when I knelt down to try to help clean it up, I felt my feet quickly slide from underneath me and I flew backwards with a heavy thud when I felt my head connect to the hard floor.



Everything suddenly became blurry. I saw the crowd of people around me slowly back away. I made out what looked to be the waitress I collided into, above me. She was saying something I couldn’t make out, but there was that smell again. God, does every woman have this perfume? As she grabbed my hand, I felt it again. That little electrical shock. I was too out of it to register what was happening at that very moment and I just last remember seeing Chen standing above me calling me a “complete embarrassment” or something to that effect.


Eventually my vision went from fuzzy, to grey and then faded to black.
....
...
..
.

As I placed napkins over the spilled soda, I took a few seconds to observe the stranger.



It was a girl. She was focused on the mess below us so I couldn’t get a good view of her face but honestly the first thing I did notice was her perfume. It was weird, because even though it had been so long since I had dated, with school as my constant alibi, this was the first time in a long time that a girl, yet a girl’s scent, evoked my attention.

She smelled really good.

“I’m really sorry, I can buy-” and I don’t remember what I may have said after that because during my sea of apologies she looked up, we met each other’s glance and it was like boom.

Goes the dynamite ... in my heart that is. Corny, I know, but that’s the only way I could really describe that very moment. Man, she was gorgeous.

She gave me a soft smile and I saw a dimple appear on her left cheek and I swore I could’ve melted into a puddle on that disgusting floor.

“It’s okay, I really shouldn’t of been eating this crap anyway.” she replied in a sticky sweet voice.



We both went to reach for the last bit of trash and as her fingers lightly brushed mine, a small sharp pop could be heard as our touch had generated an electric shock. I felt my entire face become hot. She quickly retracted her hand and casted me a shy smile this time before standing back up to throw away the mess.

By this point, I was completely enamored. Her scent lingered under my nose as she walked away and my eyes were locked on the swaying of her hips as she moved. It all was having a gravitational pull on my heart.

I always thought the idea of love at first sight was ridiculous, but here I was experiencing it and as I was slowly coming down from my high, I wandered back into real time to see Chen staring at me with a stupid grin on his face.


“Damn, talk about sprung.”

I shot him a warning look “not to start” and quickly denied his clearly true assumptions.

“What are you talking about? I was just helping her clean up, it was my fault anyway.” I mumbled.

“Yeah, that’s why your still wiping up a dry floor right?”



And like a fool, there I was, practically buffing a dirty McDonald’s floor.



Embarrassed, I quickly stood up, threw away the napkins and headed for the exit.

“Hey, you’re just gonna let her go? You’re not gonna talk to her?!” he hastily whispered behind me.



I paused for a moment and looked back at my cousin and back at her. She was placing her coat on, ready to leave out the other exit doors. As much as I wanted to talk to her, I couldn't. Confrontation on all levels was not my strongpoint, but instead, the excuse I told myself was that I refused to let Chen be involved whatsoever with the just about nonexistent love life I had. The way he was, he would try to take credit for it later.



But feeling completely out of my element, I slowly walked towards her, questioning to myself what I was even doing.

It felt like my heart was furiously beating inside my throat. When I tried to speak, my words intially came out like a croak because my mouth had instantly become so dry.

Turn around, Henry.

I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and ignored my conscious for probably the first time ever.



“Um, ... excuse me?” I said quietly.



Her head slowly turned towards my direction and she stared at me slightly confused.

“If I could ... I’d like to make this all up to you. You know ... maybe buy you a real dinner, since neither of us should probably be eating this crap.” I said in an unsure manner.

She didn't answer right away and suddenly it was awkward. I could feel regret washing all over my body. I rubbed my sweaty palms on my pants as discretely as I could and tried to come up with a way to get myself out of this situation.

Just kidding!
Nevermind.
I'm sorry to bother you.

But there was that dimple again along with a gentle smile in reply.

It was all the confirmation I needed.

I waved goodbye and saved her number as I walked back towards Chen.



“Wow.” he said.

“Wow, what?”

“Nothing ... just didn’t think you had it in you.” he replied as he patted my shoulder and walked out.

I was smug.



"Me either.


"