Oh
I have seen you here before

I look for you every time I walk through the door

Walking through the entrance he dusts off the resemblance of snow that rested on his coat as he passes the regulars that sit along the bar night after night. If he didn't get his life
together, that was going to be him. Alone at a bar, sipping on whiskey, singing
his couple of songs, and wishing he would have just taken the leap.

He nods at the security at the door as his eyes wandered through the open space. It would only take a few seconds but he would find the one particular person he was looking for. The one person that was sure to be here, but he had to find her, he had to see her radiating smile. And in the darkness of the club, he saw her standing with the normal group of
friends, smiling from ear to ear as she spoke to them. Her long locks cascading
down her back.  He stood for a second and watched the way her hand brushed her hair out of her eyes as she listened intently to her friends gush about their happy relationships, their upcoming holiday plans, and their anticipation for all the things they both dreaded. Her
simple movements made his mind scatter with thoughts. He watched as her finger,
lingering around the edge of the cup in her hand. The distant look in her eyes made him want her in his presence even more.

We talk all the time

And sometimes I am cool

I'm scared if I give it a shot, I'd look like a fool

He wasn't sure why he didn't just speak to her or why he didn't just walk across that bar and tell her exactly what he was thinking. He had known her for what felt like forever. They were friends. They had the same group of friends. She was always here on the nights
he would sing, she was one of his greatest supporters. Sure he had done some minor flirting with her in hopes she would get the hint. But she wasn't that kind of girl. She didn't need the grand gesture, she didn't need an over the top elaborate anything, she was just one of the girls that needed to be approached and spoken to. That was the problem. Lately the moment he was in her presence he would get nervous, his hands would start to tremble, and his words would never come out clear. He knew what those butterflies were for in his stomach but he was playing it off as it was nothing. Even when she would flirt
back with him, he played it cool.

She was what he wanted, to spend every waking moment of his entire existence in her presence, he wanted to spend the holidays with her wrapped up in his arms. He wanted her to be the one he brought home to Christmas dinner to meet his parents. She was the one he wanted to be wrapped around, breathing in her scent as the morning sun began to rise. She was the one he wanted to ring in the new year with, walk through the spring
breeze.

Instead of walking over to her and expressing everything he really wanted, he was kicking himself he climbed the back stairs of the stage and placed his guitar down on the stand. He took a deep breath and placed his hand on the microphone to introduce himself to the
room that awaited him. If anything, this place was his saving grace. Being on that stage, for even the short amount of time he was, that was his sanity. He had been away from the stage for so long that when he was approached about singing a small set every other week he declined. He didn't think he could draw in a crowd anymore. It took her convincing him that he would not only be able to succeed, he would follow through.

He adjusted his beanie that rested atop his head, a nervous habit. He began to sing a song that he wrote for her, only she was unaware that it was for her. It was his most honest song to date, yet it was the one song he has never admitted who it was about.

Oh
I, I know you know this song

I still kept the faith one day you'll be singing along

I pray that one day that you might understand

So we could go out sometime

Hand in hand

As his small set finished he climbed off stage and headed straight for the bar. He needed a drink more than ever. He had convinced himself that if he gave it a shot, he would look like
the fool when she rejected him.

But with her standing across the room, he couldn't take it anymore. She was dressed to perfection, as always. She knew what she looked good in and she wore it well. Her jeans fit every curve of her body. Her neckline was never too low, revealing just the perfect
amount of cleavage. She left things to the imagination, which many didn't in a bar.

They were friends. He didn't want to ruin what they did have. She was his music critic. His muse. In a group of friends as close as they were, starting and ending a relationship could ruin everything. It could tear apart life has they knew it.

He wanted to have her next to him. He wanted her to fill the space between them.  As she turned back and looked at him again, he smiled at her, nodding his head for her to come over to him, and she did just that. She started her walk across the bar and the nerves were getting the best of him.

It's now or never. He thought to himself.

She was everything he had ever wanted.

She stepped in front of him, closer than he thought she would ever get to him. She smiled at him and that smile warmed his heart and calmed his nerves. "I thought you were ignoring me tonight." She whispered into his ear. Her words bounced off his neck, forcing every piece of hair to stand up. His eyelashes fluttered as her words ran back through his
thoughts.

"You just seemed to be enjoying yourself over there... I didn't want to bother you."

She stepped closer, closing in the space between them, her legs were separated by his legs. "Josh..." She leaned in, pressing her hands on his chest, looking him directly into his eye. "Always interrupt me..."  

His eyelashes began to flutter;those butterflies were running rampant through his body. He tilted his head to the side and looked deep into her eyes. The reaction on his face was a clear sign that he didn't expect this from her, at all.

"I want you to take me to dinner, and I want you to take me back to your place."

He titled his head, listening to her words. He was surprised that she felt the same way.  Smiling he delivered slightly confused, "Right now?"

"I could settle with you just taking me to your place right now..."

He pulled her even closer, wrapping his arm around the small of her back, "I'm not interested in a one night stand with you... I wanna walk with you, hand-in-hand. I wanna spend my every moment..."

She cut him off, "I want that..."

He lowered his head, smiling from ear to ear. He had hoped for this moment, never thinking it would actually happen.

"I just..." She began to whisper in his ear. "I don't want to wait any longer..."

He was taken back by her sudden forwardness, "Right now? You wanna get out of here right now?"

"Yes. Let's go."

He looked at her funny, "You realize its Christmas Eve, right?"

She coyly smiled at him. "The only gift I wanna unwrap is you..."  Their focus became just on each other. They couldn't stop looking at each other. A way they had seen each other for so long didn't exist anymore. This was their new normal.

"Serenity!!" Her friends called from across the bar. "SERENITY!!"

Her head slowly turned to them with a smile on her face as they pointed up in the air. She turned to look to see what they were pointing at and all she could see were lights flashing around her. She didn't know what they were talking about. She shrugged her shoulders
at them not understanding.

"Mistletoe." They screamed just as the music dimmed down.

At that same moment Josh and Serenity looked directly up above their heads and there it was that green poisonous leaf. They looked at each other and smiled as they leaned in and
softy placed their lips on each others. His hand went to the side of her face, pulling her into his space. She gazed into his eyes as if it was the first time she had ever looked into his ocean blue eyes. With his hand wrapped around her jawline line, he deepened the kiss from a simple mistletoe kiss to a passionate first kiss.

Parting from each other's lips was like disconnecting the electricity that lit the Christmas tree in New York City. They stood looking at each other, smiling. It was that feeling they knew they would feel if they let themselves go there.

He looked around at their friends, who were all staring at them. "We're never getting out of here without them knowing."

She leaned up on her tipping toes, cupping her hands over his face, pressing her lips gently on his. "I want them to know." She dropped down off her tippy toes, popped her hip at him and headed straight for the crowd of friends that was still staring them down.

She heard her friends whispering. "It's about damn time."

They had wanted more, but didn't want to ruin anything they did already have. Not only would they have suffered from a sticky situation, friendships could have fallen apart, it was almost too much to risk... almost.

She said her goodbyes quickly, and reached out for him to take her hand.

Hand and hand they made their way through the large club and found his Jeep that awaited them in. In the dark parking lot he saw beauty in her eyes that he had never seen before, a beauty that was interested in him. She leaned up against the door as he pressed closer
to her. His hand gently caressed the side of her face, the snowing falling down around them. "You are unbelievably gorgeous." The second he delivered his words to her, their lips were attached. A slow passionate embrace made them want more.

"Let's take the jeep down there..." She pointed in the direction of a dark windy road.

"Serenity..." he released her, gently keeping his grip around her waist. " I want to savor every minute of you." He opened the door for her and she climbed in. "I'm taking you back to my place and we are going to do this right..."

The short drive to Josh's place was full of tender moments of their hands simply resting upon each others. He was that guy that holds open doors for women. She was the girl that deeply wanted a guy to do that for her. As the door glides open to his front door he felt a
sense that this is exactly how he was supposed to feel.

Happy.

Instead of a need to hurry to the bedroom, they found that comfort in each other. There was no need for a rush of anything. It was the first moments of the rest of their lives.

With the lights reflecting off of the tree in her eyes he hands her a plastic case that he had been holding onto and wanted to give it to her when the moment was perfect. And the moment couldn't be any more perfect.

Looking down at the case, wrapped under a single red ribbon, the photo was an image he had taken of her in years past. It was an image of the back of her head, slightly turned were she could see someone out of the corner of her eye and a smile planted on her face.  Almost like she was waiting for him to come to her then, why it took him so long he would never know. She popped open the case and found a compact disc with black letters printed for her to see.

He places his hand on her chin and lifts her face back up to his view. "All I know is... You got to me."