The Dream Date

The bright afternoon sun glowed of pale orange and red. The soft rays stretched out over the land. Each tall lush, green tree and the tiniest flower caught the sun's calming rays, illuminating their beauty to the rest of the world.

A cool early autumn breeze rippled over the wondrous land, rapping up against the tinted clear pane windows of the houses that lay in small, neat rows, lining the edge of the thick forest sea. The town was quite small, but very pleasant and prosperous. It was home to several people, where people got along with just about everyone. It was the little village of Shrevetown. Everyone was so kind each other for once you knew one person; you knew everyone. There were no secrets in this town for trust was their most important virtue, and one letter was not about to tear apart this life lasting friendship.

Earlier that day, a young woman had received a mysterious letter in the mail, addressed solely to her. Casscia Murray. She had not been this surprised and excited since the day she found out her cousin had given birth to her new nephew. It all started about a month ago, a small group from the town had been selected to represent their village, and set out to the city of Purdueville. A special concert was being performed by several famous bands and singers.

(Flashback)

Amongst the screaming and excited shouts of the colossal hot, sweating crowd, the young raven haired woman stood only a few rows from the center of the tall stage, in silence with her hands cupping over her ears hard enough to block out the incessant screaming, but loose enough to still hear the songs being sung by the equally young soloist, who sang a melody the could reach into the very heart of anyone who hears his song. Casscia felt so content to just listening to the talented and beautiful that she didn't realize that she was staring directly into his deep forest green eyes. That is until he caught her off guard when she noticed he was staring back from beneath thick waves of rich chocolate brown hair, perfectly framing his cute heart-shaped face. In fact, he had been looking at her through out the entire concert.

As the concert ended and raucous and unruly crowd began to disperse, Casscia and her friends also started to leave for home; however, before she could take one step out from the front double glass doors of the lobby, a short young girl covered from head to foot in a black leather trench coat, with only hints of strands of long brown hair peeked from the coat and came around her shoulders, came running up to the raven haired woman and asked in soft yet high-pitched voice, making her sound as if she was no more than ten years old. "Are you Casscia Murray?" Casscia, stunned in surprise at how the girl knew her name, could only nod her head in affirmation. The girl, still breathing heavily in her chest from her run, sighed deeply in relief and pulled out a folded piece of paper and pushed it into Casscia's right hand. Still confused a little, Casscia hesitantly opened the note and read the words silently with her girlfriends peeking over both her shoulders.

'From the moment I stepped out on the stage to sing, all I could see was you. You have entranced my very soul. Won't you please tell me your name? I must see you again.'

By this time, all the girls were giddy with laughter and whispers, while Casscia was busy pondering what to do and noticed the short girl was still standing in front of her. The girl noticed the woman's staring and replied quietly, "I am told I am to wait until I receive a reply, please." Casscia reread the note over and over again in her mind several times, until a purple fuzzy pen appeared in her line of vision from behind her. She turned and saw she had the full support of all the girls. Smiling, she took the pen and turned the paper over and laid it across her black leather shoulder bag, and there appeared her name as well as her phone number and address, how did that get on there Casscia thought to herself as she handed the paper back to the girl, who accepted it and with a bow of her head she turned around disappearing around corner hallway. From that day on it was all any of the girls in the village could talk about, and the letter Casscia received a month later only heightened the excitement.

(End Flashback)

Casscia stood in her room in front of her full length mirror, making sure nothing was out of place. She wore tight black Chinese-style wrap around top, with a silver lining around the edges. The long skirt was also black with a silver lining but also a slit opened on the side coming up just an inch past her knee, and silver embroidered design of a dragon flying upward, curving its way around her lower body. A sparkled silken silver sash was wrapped around her waist and the two extra long ends came up around her arms acting as a shawl. She was so excited and yet so nervous even if with all the compliments and support she received. As she came down stairs, Casscia looked up at the clock on oak mantle above the electric dark unlit fireplace. It was ten minutes until the letter had said he would arrive, so she decided to relax, sat down upon the loveseat leather sofa and flipped through the TV channels, just to kill some time.

Before she knew it, Casscia could hear the "ooh"s and "aww"s and gasps of shock and surprise coming from her front lawn. Running to the nearest front window, she pulled back the white trimmed lace curtain. At the end of the cobblestone walkway that led to her front door, sat a bright slick silver 2005 Dodge Viper. Realizing he had arrived, Casscia grabbed her black silver sequined sparkled hand bag and nearly sprinted to the front door. She calmed herself down enough as she turned the handle and stepped outside, eyes meeting the pale orange sun that was directly over the horizon. There he stood, leaning against the hood of the Viper, clad in long tight black slacks that fit him like a second skin. Contrary to that he wore a loose white silk button-down dress shirt, with the two top buttons undone, blowing slightly in the fresh breeze. His brown hair was combed back into a ponytail, which brushed his shoulders, but still left a few strands falling into view of his dark emerald green almond-shaped eyes. To top it off, in his left hand he held a single red rose, the reddest one Casscia had ever seen in the world. He held the flower to his nose, sniffed it a few times and looked up to see the object of his affections had arrived. He got from his resting place and casually walked over to the raven haired beauty. Gently, he took her left hand in his right, and kissed it very gentleman like. He looked up again and into her eyes and held up the rose.

"Please accept this in token as my appreciation to you, beautiful flower, though nothing in the world could compare to your beauty."

Casscia flushed, not knowing what to say took the flower from him and broke off half the long fresh green stem, and replaced it in the corner pocket of his shirt. "Now you can share some of that beauty," then leaning over to whisper she continued, "Not that you need it." They both smiled; glad they accepted each other's gifts.

Then, he held out his arm and she placed her hand on his forearm, and he led her down the path and to the awaiting convertible. He held open the passenger door and she climbed in, while he walked around back and jumped over the closed door and into his seat on the driver's side. With the brisk cool wind rushing through the young couple's hair, the car revved and zoomed off down the black paved road.

After an hour of driving, listening to music from several radio stations, they soon stopped in front of a large building that looked to be an old abandoned dance hall, but renovated and fixed up like it was brand new. Casscia was admiring the exquisite detail done to the building, like was built in the Victorian Era, that was until he reached out and offered to help her out of the car. Graciously she accepted it and together they walked through the front doors, and nearly immediately they were seated at a semi-circle booth table.

Another hour and half past and they had finished their dinner, and Casscia was going to suggest paying for the check, until music began to play; a soft steady tune. Then he stood from his seat and offered his hand to her once again. "May I have this dance, sweet angel?" Not able to refuse him any longer, she took his hand and he led her to the center of the smooth wooden dance floor. The tall windows at the far end of the room reflected the full moon perfectly on the couple's faces as they danced. Both were so lost in each other's gaze that they didn't notice anyone else begin to dance around them. All they could see was white clouds below their feet; the room had completely vanished. Unfortunately, the song ended and brought the star entranced couple back to reality.

Just then, from outside the clock tower was striking count, saying that it was midnight. He and Casscia stood to leave, but before Casscia could get out her wallet, he handed over his credit card. After getting it back and putting it in his back pocket, he took Casscia by the hand and walked her outside into the fresh cool night air. Eventually, as they talked some more, they came to park entrance, where children usually played in the day time. The couple continued down the dirt path; the bright stars twinkled in the night sky. By the time they reach the entrance of the park again, neither one wanted to say goodbye or goodnight. Both never wanted this night to end. They turned to each other; the bright moon reflected in their eyes, illuminated both even more. He then cautiously took her left in both his own afraid he would drop it, and in a near whisper he asked his final question. "Casscia, may I…" but he couldn't complete the statement, but Casscia knew what he meant and answered with a confident smile, "Yes."

Both leaned in until their mouths met in an innocent, passionate kiss. His strong arms encircled her in a comforting embrace, as her own arms traveled up his broad shoulders and enclosed gently around his neck. The moon had come into position of the couple and its rays shown down surrounding only the two star entranced lovers.

/ding ding ding/

Casscia awoke the next morning to the sound of her own alarm clock and reached over to shut it off, then fell back down onto her soft pillow sighing thinking it was just a dream; however, something startled her by poking her in the head. As her hand came up to brush it away, the object fell down in front of her. It was a red, red rose. Clutching it between her fingers, Casscia laid down again with a smile on her face. He is no dream.