You are the romance

It was late afternoon in California, and I’d just driven 40 minutes from my friend’s apartment in Hollywood to Santa Monica Beach for a date. I was nervous; I’d never dated an American boy before, but I was in town for a few weeks, and he was my type, so I said yes to grabbing authentic Mexican tacos and then watching the sunset on the beach. ‘This is so LA-coded,’ I thought, the type of date a London girl has only ever seen on TV. I parked up my Jeep rental and walked over to meet the six-foot-four, wavy blonde-haired, blue-eyed Cali boy.

He came wearing an old t-shirt, a backpack, and banged-up trainers, exactly what I expected from dating someone like him, completely different to the London boy aesthetic I was used to, and I liked it. I was so nervous as we sat opposite each other; his blue eyes pierced my brown ones, his tanned arms covered in blonde hair were shining in the sun, and he had the most endearing smile. He ordered for us, as tacos aren’t something I’d usually get, and we sat and spoke about our lives. There was something so romantic about sitting opposite someone who lives on the other side of the world, telling them all the little details about your life, and watching them become more and more intrigued in real time. It felt intimate, real. We sat and spoke for hours. I tried to eat as much of the taco as possible, but I was way to nervous and distracted watching him messily eat his, staining the corner of his mouth and fingers with each bite, and interrupting himself with, “This is so good, you should have a bite”.

Sitting across from each other, the light breeze hitting us as the hot day began to cool, the Mexican band starting to play live music, it felt like I was on a movie set, like how can a girl from London be sat in Santa Monica with this handsome man? But I was.

“You’re so beautiful” he said, “I’ve never been on a date with a woman like you before, I was shocked that you said yes, honestly”, he continued. And I could tell by his tone, the way he looked at me with such gratitude for my time, that he was being authentic. That he was genuinely, a lovely guy.

He got the cheque, and we made our way towards the Venice canals, several mini stretches of water surrounded by huge houses. He stopped and held my bag to get pictures of me; we brushed each other’s hands, then held it, then brushed it again. We stopped to watch people walk by, and others rode on their boats, and I remember thinking, please just kiss me already; this is the perfect place for it. But he just looked into my eyes, leaned in, and kissed my cheek. I remember thinking how bad I didn’t want the date to end. That I could replay this day over and over again.

After a few hours, I began to notice the little things about him. The way he smiled with the left side of his mouth before fully committing, the way he liked to touch things he walked by. I remember thinking, ‘This is a date I’ll never forget’. Eventually we made our way down to Venice Beach, and picked a cute spot near the water to watch the sunset. He opened his packback and pulled out all of the essentials we needed; he packed us both a towel, snacks, and water. ‘How thoughtful,’ I thought as we sat on the towels and he fed me grapes.

We were sat there for hours, so long that the breeze from the ocean damped my fresh blow-out and forced my curls to show. I started to shiver in my dress, and he took out a hoodie from his backpack that he brought just in case I got cold. Shades of pink, blue, and orange lit the sky, and we couldn’t stop repeating how magical the night felt. He wouldn’t stop complimenting me and looking into my eyes, and then, finally, he kissed me.

Suddenly, it felt like my favourite band was playing in my ears, like no one else was on that beach, and the sunset was a paid actor. Eventually, we left the beach and made our way back to my rental car, where we sat and people-watched in this fancy little neighbourhood, talking about our future, and placing each other in small parts. “I’ll be back in LA soon,” I promised. “Well, I’m coming to Europe soon too, to see my family; London isn’t that far away,” he reassured. But deep down we knew that it was highly likely that, despite how magnetic our connection felt and how intense our chemistry was, this could be the last time we saw each other, but that didn’t stop us from hoping.

While it’s so rare to meet someone and click so well, to have such a romantic first date, one that you will remember for the rest of your life, it’s not impossible. This was a very real experience, like the way you randomly get a free coffee one day at a cafe, or when all the traffic lights turn green while you’re driving somewhere in a rush. It was a right time, right place kind of thing, and when you have that in you, that level of love and romance to give, it’s only a matter of time before it finds you again.

Even if that is never something you’ve experienced before.

If you have the capacity for epic romance, it also has the capacity for you.

And almost one year on, my friends still ask me about the LA guy; they still mention all the little details and how epic and exciting it sounded to them. And it felt that way for me too. It was the type of connection that would still give you butterflies when you remember it on a random Sunday, and he was the type of date you’d think of when you’re feeling a little lonely on a Friday night.

But as someone who naturally romanticises life (I am a romance writer after all), I also need to remind myself that a lot of these epic romances I have are also because of me, because I see the details in people, I notice the small things, and read into moments before they get a chance to mean something. And that’s not a bad thing, because in doing that, these experiences are very real. And I know that I have the capacity for an epic love.

So I share this story say, that you are the romance. This experience was so special because I noticed all the small things. And that you have the power to do the same in the right circumstance, with the right person. You are that thing that makes the connections you have feel epic, you make it profound. And it’s something that can be recreated when the time, and the place is aligned.

Thank you for reading. I have more on this story so if you’d like a second part of this article let me know!