by Nelly Asher
***
Strolling slowly, Selena didn't notice the beauty of the neighborhood any more – before here eyes, there was professor's shape in the window opening, the book cover, cops' faces were flashing, a prison gate started looming... The girl shook her head. The day was absolutely awful, but in the end, noone has died, noone was jailed, and anyway, there's no point in thinking about this any longer. She could use some distraction... Maybe it's worth calling that man that wanted to ask her out? They've exchanged their numbers, and the guy has even dropped some messages on her pager, but Silver hasn't replied then. Selena barely knew him, but it's for the best. They'll make some small talk about music, get to know each other a bit. And he won't ask too much questions about what was happening in her life lately.
The girl got to the nearest pay phone and opened her notebook. Under which name did she write his number... Selena could only vaguely recall the guy's face, and his name has slipped her memory completely. Here, it seems to be it. A cell number, so she can be sure that the phone will be picked up by the person she calls. And there will be no need to explain whom she's trying to reach... Hold on a second, since when did she started looking for the silver lining? Could someone else's drama turn you into an optimist? She inserted a card into the phone and dialed.
“Albert? Hi, it's Selena Silver. We spoke about a week ago. Do you remember me?”
“Of course!” young man's voice was full of excitement.
“Do you want to meet today? If you do, drive to the 'Eastern Peak' subway station” the girl said, sparing the foreword. “I'm waiting for you in half an hour at the entrance that's closer to the cinema.”
“I'll gladly be there, but... My work finishes in no less than an hour,” the voice on the other end of the line sounded perplexed. “Maybe let's meet a bit later?”
“Either now or... sometime later,” Selena replied, making it clear that there will be no other time.
“Ok,” Albert said after a moment of pondering. “I'll try to make it.”
“Great. I'll be waiting,” there was no trace of excitement in her voice. “See you,” not waiting for the answer, the girl hanged up.
Silver came up to the subway in about fifteen minutes. Walking on high heels for that long has made her feet ache, but, as ill luck would have it, there were no benches around. Selena decided to take a walk – even though she won't have rest, it still beats waiting in a middle of the street for this guy to show up.
She wandered the nearby streets, examining the shop windows. Suddenly she saw a clock hanging on one of the buildings and realized what time it is already. Selena quickly paced back to the subway. Judging by the expression on Albert's face, he was waiting for ten minutes already – but, noticing the girl, he smiled and approached her.
“Hello, I'm glad to see you! So, where do you want to go? To the movies, maybe?”
“Would you sit through a chick flick with me?” Selena grinned.
“It'll probably be terrible, so I'd rather just watch some horror movie instead,” he also showed his teeth in a smile.
“I've had enough of that already,” the girl muttered under her breath and said out loud: “Let's just go eat somewhere. I've spotted a caffee nearby, seems nice, let's check it out.”
They were walking in silence. Albert tried to catch Silver's glance, but she was looking straight ahead, paying no attention to her companion. Eventually he spoke:
“So, you're a psychologist?”
“I'm studying. Just finished the first year... Oh, here we are,” she directed her steps towards the door of a caffee that had the words 'Good Wood' burned out on its wooden sign.
The interior was true to the name. Chairs were made of stumps, table tops – from tree trunk slices. There were almost no visitors at that hour. When they took a table, a waiter approached and placed menus before them.
“I'll have a cherry alcohol-free cocktail and some light salad,” Selena said without even opening the menu.
“Um... I'll have tha same,” Albert was taken aback a little. He obviously intended to check the list of dishes, but didn't want to make his companion wait. “You're quite a bold girl,” he spoke when the waiter left. Selena realised – it's not about being swift in ordering food, it's about her making a move and inviting him out. But Silver didn't want to expand on this subject.
“Yeah, one can say that,” she took a promotional souvenir out of an ashtray – a small envelope featuring the caffee logo, with a few matches and a sulphur strip. Selena scratched it with a tip of her nail: “Also, I blaze up really fast.”
“You're shining like a real star, that's what I can say,” Albert smiled.
“No,” she took her hands off the table and looked into the man's eyes. “There are people everyone knows. They're bathing in the rays of fame. They live posh lives, or at least scandalous ones. Far from the earthlings, they assemble into canstellations with those of their own kind. They are the stars. And me... I'm just a moon,” she concluded in a tired voice and turned away. It was far from the first time that Selena was giving that speech. It's like every person she met felt obliged to pay some compliment or joke about her name. And most of them were really low on imagination. “You're more beautiful than the Sun”, “You're overshadowing the stars”, “Heavenly body” – the girl knew all those trite expressions by heart, and was sick of them. Silver tried to give that speech as early as possible, to get the question out of the way and spare herself all the banalities about the moon and the stars. It usually worked.
...Selena was slowly sipping her cocktail, almost never letting the straw out of her mouth, so that she won't have to talk. The conversation flagged. Albert was trying to ask something, to tell stories, but the girl's reaction was lukewarm. She was distracted by thoughts about today's events, and she didn't find her companion interesting or attractive in general. Straw pulled the air with an unpleasant squish – there was no cocktail left. With a sigh, Selena took a fork and began picking the salad. Not wanting to meet Albert's look, the girl was examining the contents of the plate. The salad is nice, but right now food just gets stuck in her throat... The fork was also beautiful, with a delicate pattern, and looked almost like an actual silver one.
In some time the conversation ran into a dead end completely. Selena wanted to leave already, but thought that she might use a bathroom first. At that very moment, Albert's cellphone rang – a perfect opportunity.
“Nature calls,” the girl smiled, picked up her purse and headed to the bathroom.
...After washing her hands, Silver went to the exit and stopped for a second. All right, it's time to get this over with... She opened a door with a determined move, not noticing neither the key in the keyhole, nor a faint chuckle in one of the stalls. Selena stepped outside and froze in shock.
She was outdoors. Trees were whispering around; wind was softly blowing her white hair. The girl stood for a while, gazing around, stunned. The lock clicked faintly as the door behind her slowly closed. She looked back and saw a small utulity room, colored green to blend in with the environment. Barely dragging her legs, Silver walked around it and saw a cobbled alley. A bit further it was splitting into a few smaller paths. There was a fountain babbling on a crossroad, water was pouring from the stone flowers on its top.
Selena realized where she is. In less than thirty meters from here there must be statues marking the entrance to Blue Stones park. She made a few steps down the alley and noticed a familiar slender figure from afar. Evanford also saw her and approached. Camera bag was hanging over his shoulder.
“Incredible... I never expected that,” for the first time, respect was heard in young man's voice. “You're right on time.”
