I didn't believe I loved my date who I was meeting for the first time, yet. But, I did believe that I was in love with the idea of love, and with the idea of walking with my hands held. This is why I proposed to meet here, at Clayton Vale, a place that was close to my idealistic heart.

 

I agree, the place is rather an unconventional place to choose when it comes to dating. But, somehow, I could always picture the very best of me in places like Clayton Vale where you don't need to shun the voices of the city with your headphones, where you can walk at your own pace and nobody is rushing in an inexistent competition. Clayton Vale has the melancholic ring to it that is almost in tune with your solitary spirit. That is until you visit this place with a potentially special someone and when you do, the mood of the place turns vivid. The green becomes greener, the paths seem widened to host your presence, and the water appears to be clearer. Happy or sad, Clayton Vale reads what you are going through and mirrors it all in its silent form.

I did not think about how I felt until I walked with my date through the gates of Clayton Vale. There was some small talk about our works and our ideas of what work we thought we liked, and I realized it felt nice. Far from the rush hour that was now honking constantly in the city, we were here, where we didn't have to scream "what?" for a decade to understand what each of us was saying. It was also a plus point that my date was a walker like me because Clayton Vale did have a huge platter to serve and I was pretty used to the walking exercise.

Watching the Sunset

I am a person made of cliches, I admit. And as banal as it sounds, I do enjoy watching the sunset, alone and with someone whose company I cherish.

The sunset is rather quick in Clayton Vale. It took barely a few minutes for the orange sky to turn purple and pink. Darkness was enveloping and yet, I hadn't felt this light in a long time. I asked if he was tired already and was selfishly happy when he wasn't. I couldn't imagine being with someone who didn't like to walk. Walking, to me, was therapeutic in every way. The freshness of the air, the smell of the trees and the soil, and the wind rustling through the leaves are not something I can find sitting inside the walls. I liked that there was someone who felt the same way in a world of Netflix and chill.

The End

A mile and a half later of non-stop chatting about irrelevant topics, coyly hiding the silly embarrassing details of my life, and animated talks about food and cooking, we realized we were, in fact, hungry. The sun had already dipped itself underneath the cloudy waves. My date asked if I was hungry and I agreed to join him for dinner. In an alternate world, this would be counted as the second date.