After we finish our dream cookies and drinks Sam takes me for a walk around the park. "So, when you look at the world do you see books when you see people?" Sam asks. "Not all the time, some people are harder to write than others. Take that nanny over there, shes tired of raising other peoples kids and not her own, but she does it to get her oldest son through college, or the man sitting on that bench right over there, in the bright red tie." "The business man?" He asks. "Did you notice the time? He should be at work. He has a family but he's to embarrassed to tell them he's lost his job. Or take the little old lady who sits on that park bench feeding the birds. Have you noticed the ring she wears? Her earrings or necklace maybe? They're from Tiffany's. Her coat is old but well cared for and her shoes aren't new but they have also been resoled. She comes here because after her husband died her big house has been far to lonely for her to bear. Have you seen the homeless man down on tenth street? He's a war hero that everyone has forgotten. He helps anyone, anyway he can while he goes without. He's my hero. When my editor drags me from my house I always try to stop and give him something to eat." I tell him as I keep walking and he stops. I turn around.

"You learned all that by just seeing them?" he asks. "Yes, but I don't see their clothes or lifestyles as much as I do their eyes..." I tell him. "The eyes are what tells the stories, not me." I tell him.

He smiles reaching out and taking my hand causing me to stiffen. Sam's phone rings and he checks it. "I have to take this." he says letting go of my hand and answering his phone. I look around the park and at all the people walking around their stories flowing out of them like pages flying in the wind and finally its hit me...

"I'll meet you at the spot where we met next Saturday, I have to go." he says leaning over and kissing my cheek causing a heat to rise from my chest to my face.

"Please show up." he says before rushing off.

I stand there in the middle of the walkway all alone yet again wishing Saturday would be here already. Stop August! Just friends remember? Allergic to the "L" word, REMEMBER?

I shake off the swirling in my head and rush back to my fortress of solitude and into my room where I sit at my desk and start rewriting my next book.

The stories they tell

The many stories behind the eyes I've seen today alone have inspired me. He inspired me...

I'm going to tell the stories no one else has, the stories of the lonely, the stories of the jobless, the stories behind the eyes of the people you meet in the subway. something I have never done and never thought I would until I met Sam.

I spent day and night writing and rewriting ending up with a rough draft that I emailed to Emillia. Which she approved and I kept writing each chapter about someone new and just as much in need of human compassion as the last. I lie at the foot of my bed contemplating life and how in the span of a few days Unicorns have come out of extinction and are now roaming the streets.

All because of a sullied dream cookie...

I turn to my calendar and smile at the huge circle around last Saturday and the equally as large and hard to believe heart around this Saturday. My phone rings and I pick it up not even looking at the caller ID like I usually do. "Hey Auggie." I shutter at the sound of his voice. "Want to go out this Saturday? I have tickets to a movie! It's a classic, I remember how much you liked those." "How did you get this number?" I spit trying to hide the fear I'm feeling that is rushing through me. "Don't you mean how did I get your number and your address?" He asks making the blood drain from my face causing my heart to stop and my spine to tingle. "Funny story that, I was walking along and there you were, like fate, but you were talking to some freak how dare he kiss your cheek, when he left I followed you home. It was a lot easier getting your number this time though, I just had to ask the land lady nicely, told her I was your brother and I had broken my phone and lost your number." He tells me laughing a little. "You dare come near me, my house or anyone around me and I will have you arrested! We have a binding restraining order Rex, end of story, there's nothing else between us." "Not if I have any say in the matter, you are mine Auggie, all mine and you always will be." he hangs up the phone and I throw mine across the room in fury shattering the glass and destroying my phone.

This is why Unicorns are extinct...