This probably doesn't need to be said because I'm sure no one will either read or want to steal this, but if you do want it...IT'S MINE. I SPENT FIVE DAYS WRITING THIS AND BY GOLLY, IF YOU TRY TO TAKE IT I WILL BEAT YOU.
Have a nice day. :)
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The next time I saw her was a few days later, at the local coffee shop I worked at. She didn’t order anything, but she still wasn’t kicked out like loiterers would be usually. She made her way around the room, talking to everyone. At first, everyone was put off by her. No one really strikes up with conversations with strangers anymore, right? But then they’d be charmed by her voice, her attitude, her stars. She’d smile and talk with her hands, drawing them in. It was magic. They loved to talk with her and were sad to see her go talk to someone else. Her ability to try a conversation alone stunned me and I think I almost got fired that day because I’d spent so much time watching her.
After I got back to my room, I proceeded to ignore my stupid roommate and think about her. What she looked like, those stars, and what she’d asked me. What had she meant? I had to figure it out. Collapsing back unto my bed, I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep, those stars the last thing I thought of.
The answer came to me while I was walking to work an afternoon about two weeks later. It really hadn’t been a secrety-secret of an answer, but it had still eluded me well. I bit my lip and checked the time on my phone. I didn’t have time to go find her now—it was way too close to the start of my shift—but I still wanted to see her. The good worker in me won out, though, and I put finding her off for another day.
I saw her the next day at lunch and about bowled her over. She was walking over to an empty table in the corner, something a little more antisocial than I would have thought for her. She recognized me straight away, which saved an awkward explanation from me.
“Hey!” she said. “You’re the one that helped me the other day. Thanks!”
I smiled at her a little weirdly. “It was actually a couple of weeks ago, but yeah.”
“Was it?” she asked, tilting her head to one side. “Oh, yeah, it was, wasn’t it? Silly me; I’m terrible at keeping time.” She shrugged and smiled, sitting down at the table. I sat next to her, wondering if I should have asked first.
“So, um, uh,” I started, stuttering more than I would have liked, “you asked me a question then. Remember?” She nodded and raised an expectant eyebrow as she bit into her sandwich. “Well, uh…I…I think I understand it now.”
She swallowed and grinned widely, showing all her little white teeth.
“Really? Great! Then what’re you doing here?”
Her eagerness made me pause. What if I had it wrong again? Would she patiently tell me no and correct me? Would she leave me to try again? Or would she get frustrated with me and yell? The latter seemed unlikely, but what did I know? Not her name, that’s what.
It’s right, I told myself. It is.
“I’m here to learn,” I said, “I’m here to get a degree so I can get a good job…” …she looked at me, waiting for more… “…um, and to have fun…” …she waved her hand a little, go on, her eyes said… “…and…and…” …I felt my face grow warm… “…I’m here to find love.”
Her hands came together in a loud, exuberant “ah HA!” of a clap.
“Yes! There you go!” she exclaimed, drawing the attention of nearby tables. “That’s the kind of answer I was looking for!” She calmed almost instantly, planting her elbows firmly on the table and resting her head in her hands. Looking at me with a dreamy smile, she sighed and softly said: “Ah, love.”
The way she said it, you’d think she was an old woman talking to an adolescent. She had to be younger than me, though, so that didn’t make sense. Then again, few things made sense with her.
Then a simple question I should have asked her ages ago popped into my head.
“Hey, uh…what’s your name?”
She lifted her head, looking bewildered, like she’d forgotten about that common exchange, too. Then she smiled and said: “I’m Sandra. And you are?”
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