The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

"People who meet in airports are seventy-two percent more likely to fall for each other than people who meet anywhere else.....Did you know that people who meet at least three different times within a twenty-four hour period are ninety-eight percent more likely to meet again?"

-Oliver, from  The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight



So I just finished reading The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith and I adored it! I highly recommend it for any teen/young adult female who loves cute love stories. Not your typical romance novel, but one that could actually happen in real life. This novel actually reminded me of my own "love"at first sight, ironically also with a British Bloke, and on a trip.

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It was the summer after my first year of high school. I was going to be 16. My family had a cruise planned as our annual family vacation. My parents chose a short one, five days and four nights, since none of us had been on a cruise before and we weren't sure if we had "sea legs". (I definitely didn't, seeing as I was sick most of the trip) We were sailing out of Florida to the Bahamas.

The ship sat in Port Canaveral for a few hours before we were to set out to sea. We arrived early, had our bags brought to our rooms and unpacked before exploring the ship.

My dad and brother had walked ahead, I was lagging behind a bit with my mom. So far I hadn't seen anyone around my age and was quickly doubting the trip. Then from where we were, on a floor that overlooked the main entrance of the ship, I saw a boy. He had long dark hair and looked to be around my age, and my type. Sort of punk rocker looking, with dark fitted jeans and a band t-shirt on. He happened to look up at the exact moment I was looking at him. We made eye contact, and I'm pretty sure I didn't smile and just looked away as if I hadn't been staring awkwardly. When I looked again, he and his family were gone.

Later that night, I was going to go to this "teen club" on the ship while my younger brother was off at some supervised kids thing on the pool deck and my parents were grabbing drinks at one of the bars. I didn't even get in the door, the music was some awful rap stuff and I was in no way going to be surrounded by a bunch of wangsters. I had enough of those at school to deal with. Plus I was a little nervous being the only white girl in sight, especially of the punk/freak persuasion. I didn't wanna get tormented while on vacation. So I walked away and took a seat on a set of stairs. I sat for a bit, wondering where I could wander off to until it was time to check in with my parents. As I got up and began to walk I was ambushed!

This tall, slim, dark, figure had grabbed me and spun me round. I got dizzy and thought I was dreaming. "I've been looking all over for you!" said this enthusiastic voice in a British accent.
When he finally stopped spinning me and held me out at arms reach, I realized it was the boy I saw earlier in the day. "Me? How could you look for someone you don't even know?" I replied. "Ah typical American....well I saw you earlier, and thought I had to meet you" he said. I think I mustered some sort of 'hmph' or 'huh' in reply. We made our introductions, and then wandered the ship together. At some point later in the night, we were outside and staring out at the ocean all around us. The thing I won't forget most, is the moon. It was a huge full moon, and it was red! Which only happens during particular eclipses. It was beautiful, I've never seen one before, and I haven't seen one since. He kissed me while we were looking at the moon. It was sweet and straight out of a book or movie. I won't forget it.

We spent the entire trip inseparable, except when it was dinner or family time. I even began picking up on his accent. He was a vacation fling. We exchanged emails/screennames/myspace info before saying goodbye. We at least managed to get one photo together, before parting ways.

We stayed in touch immediately after the cruise, mostly through email. Then we stopped talking for a while, and we haven't seen each other since, except through pictures on Myspace and Facebook. Thanks to Facebook we're still able to communicate, even though we haven't, but it's good to know we can. Especially after our brief, special connection. Our own "love" at first sight.