Every day, I waited for the phone call from Dawn to come. She would call and ask me to go out with her. It would set things in motion to meet Aleah. During that time, visited the food cart and practiced flying on the broom. It’s a lot harder than it looks.
Finally, the phone rang but it wasn’t Dawn. It was my father asking if I would go with him to the Talent Show. I start to say yes, then I hesitate. It’s different, not the same, but the timing is right. Why was it Dad, though, and not my sister? Ripples and changes. Can I risk it?
And then I think of Dad and how little time on earth he actually has. I have a chance to spend more time with him. I decide to say yes, and go with him to the the Talent Show.
I arrived that night to a huge and shocking surprise. Aleah was among the crowd gathered for the talent show!
Aleah! I had been dying to see her again – to be near her again! And as luck would have it, today was also Love Day. I excitedly rushed over to introduce myself and blurted out – well, I can’t remember what it was but she did not seem impressed. In fact, she walked away from me.
The rest of the night went kind of like that. I got called first to sing for the Talent Show. Aleah was among those who gathered to listen to me. She seemed to like it, so I took my chances talking to her again. She smiled and laughed at my jokes.
I flirted a little, and risked giving her a rose. After all, it was Love Day.
She raised the rose to her face, took a deep smell, and then lowered it.
“It’s sweet,” she said, and my heart soared. “But I just met you and quite frankly, you’re coming on way too strong.
She walked off and my hear plummetted. I took solace at the bar where Violet Beaudelaire was enjoying her 21st birthday. She looked pretty, as she had before, but man! I was so not going down that route again, either.
The night ended as a bust.
On the flip side, I was finally excepted into the Conservation Program. I was so excited to get started – anything to take my mind off the crushing rejection I’d suffered.
Sulani!
At one point in my life, this was my dream. Now, I’m here as a researcher, and I can’t go to the beaches. Just take samples and pictures from a distance. It’s kind of a bummer, but the sunshine is amazing! Someday… I’m going to bring my family here, once I get them back, that is.
And //sigh// that is a long way in coming if I cannot somehow make things work with Aleah. How can I tell her that she is supposed to be my wife? That we’re supposed to be married and have kids? The way things stand now, she’d think I’m a creeper.
A crazy creeper. I don’t want to be that, ever, in her eyes. I just don’t know how to make ‘us’ happen now that it hasn’t happened the way it did before.