Struck Hard

Chapter 1: Lost In Him

In the year 2008, two crazy kids disappeared into a secluded meadow where the midnight breeze teased at the nerves barely heard over the rumbling of the truck’s engine. A blanket of stars overhead covered the blackened, yet mysterious sky as the temperature dropped drastically as time went on, causing them to push closer against each other in the cold metal bed of the truck. The young man drove a 1967 Delmonico red Chevy classic sidestep. It belonged to his dad. It carried a 350 V-8 crate engine with a 350 turbo automatic transmission with Headman Headers running through the dual exhaust system. You’d be surprised by all the places they traveled to in that truck.

The dusty brown-haired cowboy equipped with a sideways crooked grin and a country beauty queen who was way too naive for her good. They knew they loved each other, but were too young to even know what love was. She thought her world revolved around him and that the small town they lived in was just too big for where her heart wanted to go.

In the small town of Wallis, Texas, Gracelynne sat in the bed of the boy’s truck losing herself as she always did while she and prince charming looked up at the sky, seeing a whole new universe; a universe of wide-open spaces like the ones they always dreamed about. It had a story to tell for itself, but where were those stories destined to take them? The world they lived in was filled with all kinds of directions and places that you could go, but off in the distance, the only thing audible enough to hear over the roar of that boy’s truck was the train that passed through the country occasionally ensembled with the rippling of the water coming off the lake and the wind that brushed over the field becoming more present during the night. “I wished it would never end.” Gracelynne thought as she tilted her head down staring at their hands as she felt him pull her closer to him.

“I only wanted her to kiss me like I was her darkest night full of stars that refused to shine bright. I wanted to be her everything, her lifeline, her rodeo, her wild night, and her calm. I wanted her to find everything in what this could turn out to be,” that cowboy thought to himself, feeling Grace’s presence next to him.

A million nerves were enlightened throughout the night and that boy knew from then on that the beautiful girl next to him would come first and last to him. A dark-headed brunette beauty with her warm breath teasing his senses through his cotton shirt. She had become his home, his foundation, his wild tailgate party night; she was where his addiction started.

“Please, don’t let these moments come to an end. I need you and I know you need me too", she thought, hoping she didn't accidentally say them out loud. She didn’t want to wake up from this dream. She watched that boy unlock his heart, and she watched as he slowly took flight for her. His western wings were a sight to be seen. She was his weakness. There was only one little problem; they weren’t together. They weren’t a couple.

Young teens are so quick to fall in love, unaware of where true love can go, there was a little bit of a devil and a wild side to that heart-stricken love bug that bit those two that night, maybe just maybe, who knew what was to become of them. Would they become an item? Are they willing to chase their desires for each other, allowing things to go further? How much of this world that they were living in would they mount and conquer? Who were they to love one another?

The wild cowboy and the free wildflower, under that midnight and vast starry sky, were hopeless teenagers, struck hard, dying for themselves, and living for each other. The only thing holding her to the ground and up from falling further was his chest and that rare beauty of a truck. There were so many more adventures left for them to discover in that ranch field, two teenagers leaving footprints upon each other's souls that night. With a cold meadow, soul, and a full tank of gas, the two fell asleep out in the open under that majestic midnight sky. They were struck hard, but gentle. A truck full of wonder and possibilities, the wildflower captivated that teenage and wild-at-heart cowboy because the greatest thing in the world is having feelings and falling for someone you never would've ever thought you had a chance with.