A New York Romance by Abigail Winters Page A

took care of me believed me.”
    “So you did tell them?” she asked.
    “Yes, I did, but then I denied it when I saw the look on their faces. They thought I was so sincere about it that I should go into acting.”
    “Then why did you tell me?” Julie asked.
    “Besides you continuously pestering me about it?” Charlie said jokingly, but it felt mean. “No, I…I don’t know.”
    “I think it’s simply the human in you,” she responded.
    “What do you mean?”
    “We all want someone to share ourselves with. We want to be noticed by at least one other person on this planet in a special way. To be completely accepted by someone, like I was with my father.” She sipped her latté then continued. “Maybe that is what is so wrong with relationships today. People are so busy…you know, they never really look at each other. You accept people for who they are, but I think you want someone to accept you completely for who you are. Perhaps you’re more human than you would like to admit.”
    “Perhaps,” he pondered the possibility for a moment, “but my humanness is only temporary,” he said, seeming to give her his full attention again.
    “So is mine,” she replied. These three words grabbed his attention more than anything else. Suddenly he didn’t feel so different from her, so different from all the people around him in the café who sipped their mochas and latté’s just like him, who were temporarily human, just like him.
    “Do you want to know what human love is like?” Julie asked as if she believed for a moment that he was a god in human form that needed the experience explained to him.
    Charlie looked into the seriousness of her beautiful, green eyes, “Tell me.”
    He listened intently.
    “The most I can say about true love, or at least what I think true love is, is that it happens when you know someone is looking at you and sees all your imperfections as well as your perfections and doesn’t judge you because of them,” she said as she remembered the way her father looked at her. The way the couple in the café looked at each other. “The person just accepts you completely for who you are.” Then she thought of her love relationships, especially Brian, and said, “That’s what happens when two strangers first meet and they feel deeply attracted to each other. They get a glimpse of true love and are flooded with ideas that they cannot live without this person. But slowly they get to know each other. They become aware of the perfections and the imperfections. That’s when they start judging. They discriminate between what they like and dislike about the person. That is when the state of true love stops being true love. They feel love when they see the other person’s perfections, but fall out of love a minute later when they see the things they do not like about them. That’s when the love stops coming out of their heart and they focus on the love that is coming toward them. They begin to feel this person is not giving them what they need, what they want, and is not the right person for them. But they hang onto the relationship because they are afraid to be alone or the relationship has become part of their daily routine. They think this is the best they can do so they stick it out until it becomes unbearable. That is human love, Charlie.”
    “And that is why Air Supply writes sad love songs,” he replied. He sipped his mocha. “Thank you, Juliet,” he added with a quiet sadness.
    “You’re welcome.”
    Their eyes remained locked in a silent stare. They didn’t know how much time had passed, but it was the longest they looked at each other before the feeling of awkwardness set in.

Chapter 11
    When they were finished eating, the waitress brought the bill to the table. Charlie left her a generous tip and the wish for happiness. From there, he and Julie walked aimlessly around the city, more interested in each other than in sightseeing.
    Charlie, feeling relaxed, said, “You were