by S. L. Giger
‘You might not perchance have any water with you? I miscalculated the route because I usually don’t run around here and I probably won’t come much further with such a dry throat.’ Great, now she thought that I was some charity case. I could have kicked myself for starting with that line. But then I looked back into her eyes and got completely lost in them for a moment.
‘Um, sure.’ She answered and began fumbling in a small bag. But then she hesitated, tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear and had a closer look at me. She did that all so gracefully and made me secretly want to kiss her then and there. Yet, I was still in this awkward situation.
‘I am sorry; I don’t generally throw a complete stranger off guard. I should have brought a bottle. I am Kevin by the way.’ I held out my hand, first she wiped hers off on her blue sweat pants, then gave in to shake it.
‘Hi, it’s okay. It’s just that I haven’t expected anyone to see here. It is so to speak my secrete spot. Not a lot of people run on this trail.’
‘Yeah, it was more as luck would have it that I landed on this route. You go to Freeport High, don’t you? I saw you kicking our girls’ butts two weeks ago. You were great!’
‘Thanks!’ She smiled. ‘So, you were at the race too?’
‘Yes, I have been on the x-country team since I started High School.’
‘It’s my first season, I only always did track in spring but I am actually trying to get this scholarship and to improve my chances I also needed to do x-country this year.’ She turned her gaze to the ground and took a deep breath.
‘Why this sigh?’ I asked. ‘With your ability, you should get this scholarship without any problem.’
Her eyes looked back into mine and holy cow; she couldn’t have opened them more perfectly. It was like in a commercial for mascara but she just did this naturally.
‘That’s exactly the point. It’s all becoming so real, you know?’ She said and started chewing her lower lip.
‘I know what you mean. I’m not so sure what I want yet.’
We stood there for a moment in silence until she started lightly jumping from one foot to the other, remembering that I had interrupted her jog.
‘So, are you still thirsty?’ She waved the bottle in front of me.
‘Yes, please. And would you be so kind to reveal me your name?’
With a bright smile appearing on her face, which showed her flawless white teeth she handed the bottle to me.
‘Reveal me your name, what are you, a poet?’ She chuckled. ‘I am Fiona.’
I felt my blood rush to my head. Somehow my mind didn’t work properly around her and only created weird phrases. I tried to overplay it though. ‘Fiona, a beautiful name. But my little cousin Samantha wouldn’t think it suited you.’
‘Oh and why would your little cousin think that?’
‘Because, Fiona comes from the Gaelic name Fionn which means bright, white and blonde. If you use bright as smart, it might describe a character trait of yours but I don’t know you well enough yet to decide that. Regarding the other words, your hair is brown. And I only know this because one of my cousin’s favorite movies is ‘Shrek’ and there Princess Fiona has reddish hair, which in my cousin’s opinion is the wrong hair color for a princess to have.’
‘Ah, good to know, if I ever meet your cousin I will tell her the truth, that I was much blonder when I was a kid and that my hair simply turned darker and darker over time. The color I have right now is supported by henna by the way.’ And she bestowed another beautiful smile upon me.
I took a sip out of her water bottle. Not that I was dying of thirst, but I had to play the game now. Afterward, I put the lid back on and handed it back to her.
‘Thanks a lot.’
‘No problem. We wouldn’t want you ending up like a dried apricot. For someone with your looks that would be a shame after all.’
If I wasn’t mistaken, she was blushing now.
‘I better start running again.’ She jumped on the spot anew.
No, no, no. What could I do to make her stay? But again, very unlike my usual self, my mind went blank.
She tilted her head to one side. ‘Um okay, see ya.’
I finally awoke from my trance. ‘Would be nice to run into you again sometime.’ I offered.
She laughed softly. ‘Yes, who knows.’ With that, she was off.
And I stood there on the spot, not believing my stupidity. Damned. I kicked some dirt off the trail. I could have asked for her number, but no, I just let her run off. I hadn’t gotten one bit closer to getting to know her. My only solace was that I at least made her smile a few times. That was always a good sign. And the picture of her with this bright smile was the one which wouldn’t go out of my head for the next few weeks.
Chapter 2
‘Ouch!’ Something just hit my head. I looked up and it took me a moment to realize where I was. Latin class, how boring. Mrs. Pollock was scribbling an incomprehensible phrase in gibberish on the blackboard. I must have dozed off again. Since the beginning of the school year, I have been feeling tired all the time. A few weeks ago, I would have made Fiona responsible for that. She was all that was on my mind. As soon as I woke up, when I ate, at school, especially during these interesting Latin lessons, while I did my homework, even in my dreams, all I could think about was her. However, I hadn’t seen her since our encounter in the forest two weeks ago, so I couldn’t just blame her that I fell asleep when I shouldn’t. Perhaps, I was nervous about getting into a college after all and the tiredness was how the stress showed.
But right now I was still sitting in Mrs. Pollock’s class, starring at the hands of time, trying to make them mentally move forward more quickly. When I turned my head to find out who had thrown something at my head from the back of the class, Mike tried to suppress a grin. He put his hands together and tilted his head on them to symbolize that I had been sleeping. When I turned around again, I looked directly into the angrily glaring eyes of Mrs. Pollock.
Oh no, she was about to have one of her famous fits.
‘Mr. Reynolds!’ She said with her squeaky mouse voice. ‘I didn’t want to wake you up before, but clearly, you were sleeping. And now, instead of being quiet, you distract the class. What do I need to do that you listen to me? It’s about time that you figure out the value of school and Latin. This is the foundation of your future and you should start investing in it right now.’ She was towering in front of my desk, the left hand on her hip and her other hand with a wagging forefinger about two inches away from my face.
‘I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m so tired.’ I rubbed my hands across my face as if to wipe away the last signs of sleep.
‘Perhaps stop playing video games during the night and sleep more. I’d hate to have to send you to the principal if that happens again.’
‘I wasn’t playing games.’ I muttered.
‘What? Sorry, I didn’t hear you.’
‘It won’t happen again.’ I sighed.
She nodded and walked to the front of the classroom to continue her sermon. She actually was quite alright. It wasn’t her fault that I didn’t care about languages too much. Especially Latin, because this language was dead, no matter what certain dusty professors might claim. Yet for college, you have to take a foreign language. As a matter of fact, it is a mystery to me how I ever could have thought that Latin might be interesting. Hearing about ancient Rome is okay but apart from that, I might have been better off with Spanish instead. Whatever, the redemptive ring from the bell finally came and I had survived another lesson. Out of the room, into the usual stream of wandering high school kids. At my locker, there was already a crowd of my friends waiting.
‘Oh Kevin, did Mr. Sandman visit you again?’ That was Josh from my cross country team. Although he did not have the best endurance, with his super long legs he traveled fast. Like news at our school, it seemed.
‘Hey, I need to recharge my batteries from the weekend somewhere.’
I replied.
‘Speaking of weekends, are you coming to the beach this Saturday?’ That was Chloé.
Inwardly I grumbled. Why did she still take every opportunity to figure out what I was doing? We split up months ago in March.
‘Perhaps, Eric and I are going with a few others.’ I said evasively. Perhaps, hah, I thought, of course we would go, that was like the major event of the year in this area. It was a small fair on a weekend in October, down by the beach. There were carrousels, other rides, food stands, shooting galleries, live music and during the day people could participate in several water and beach games. This party was to celebrate the end of summer or the beach season and everyone, even the biggest bookworm, was going to be there.
‘You should meet up with us.’ Chloé pointed to Josh and the others who were standing at the lockers. ‘We grab some dinner together.’
I hesitated.
‘Come on, the more the merrier.’ Josh slapped my back.
‘Alright, I’ll tell Eric.’ I said and then turned away to get my books. Eric and I would have to find a reason to separate from the others after dinner because there was a big chance, that somewhere at the festival, I’d run into Fiona and to have Chloé in tow would drastically lessen my chances of finally getting her number.
Saturday evening arrived and Eric and I headed down to the beach. We must have been crazy to actually think that we could find a free parking spot. The place was packed. Eventually, I found a spot where I could leave my car and we started walking towards the shindig. It was still light outside and you did not even need a jacket on this unusually warm October evening. We met up with our friends from school at The Chilly Dog booth and when everybody was there, we launched into the mass. I took a deep breath to fully savor the sweet smell in the air. It was a mixture of cotton candy, candied apples, and waffles. Of course one could also have hamburgers, pizza and hot dogs. We found a table for our group and the feast could start.
‘Mhh, delicious.’ I said with a full mouth. I had a gyro, it was the only time in the year they sold these Greek wraps around here and I loved them.
‘Imagine eating one of these in Greece, they must be even better there.’ Chloé had somehow found her way to be seated right across from me.
‘That would be amazing. I hope during college I’ll have time to travel there!’ I said.
‘Sorry, for food you have to go to Italy. I could eat pizza every day.’ Eric chipped in.
‘Yes, pizza. Gotta love it.’ Josh took a big bite of his pepperoni slice to mark his words.
Our conversation wandered from European cities to the best party places and then to the teachers who we found most annoying. Consequently, the opportunity didn’t arise for Chloé to start a private talk with me. Moreover, the music was pretty loud, “I love Rock n’ Roll” on full blast.
When it started to get darker, they turned on all the colored lights. That was our signal to now check out the rest of the fun.
‘I promised Lea to meet up with her and her friends at the Ferris Wheel.’ Eric said. ‘You can come too if you want.’
‘Yes, this group here is a bit too big anyway.’
We said goodbye to the others, saying that we’d probably bump into each other again anyway and went towards the Ferris Wheel.
‘I’m glad to get away. Actually, I am on a mission.’ I said to Eric once we were away from the group.
‘Ah yes?’ He asked surprised.
‘Fiona has to be here tonight. I have a good feeling that I finally get to talk to her again.’
‘I didn’t know you could be such a dreamer. 14 years of friendship and suddenly a girl turns you into a different person.’ He grinned. ‘But I’ll help you look for her.’ Of course, I had already described her to him in detail.
When we spotted Lea, Eric gave her a long kiss, one of the kind that I had to suppress rolling my eyes at them. Her friends giggled.
Usually, I did not feel like the fifth wheel when we hung out together. They were not one of these couples who always were all over each other but had a pretty relaxed, amicable relationship.
Lea introduced me to Barbara and Carol and then the girls wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel.
‘Thanks, I’ll pass on that.’ I waved with my hands. First of all, I think this is something for lovers and second it was the most boring ride on the fair grounds.
‘Why, you don’t want to leave me alone with three girls, do you?’ Eric made big eyes at me.
‘Ah, you’ll enjoy being the only man at the hen party.’ I grinned. ‘I’ll get us a “Stella’s best milkshake” in the meantime.’ Stella was being modest in saying that those were only her best milkshakes. I would say they were the most delicious ones in the world!
‘Yes, that’s a great idea.’ Barbara giggled again. She seemed to find everything we said hilarious. ‘Plus, only 4 people fit into one cabin anyway.’
‘Okay. I’ll have strawberry.’ Eric shrugged.
The others placed their orders and I walked to the end of the waiting line. There I had time enough to observe the place more closely. And when my eyes drifted by the stand where you could sign up for the sporty activities for the tournaments the next day, my heart skipped a few beats. There, only a few feet away she was, in a red summer dress. At the first moment, I did not even recognize her because she was wearing her hair open for a change. In addition, the red dress accentuated her female side a little more. But it was definitely her, only that she looked even more stunning.
Right next to her though, just my luck, her boyfriend, who else?
The queue for the milk shakes appeared not to have moved at all during the last few minutes. Therefore, I started walking towards them. When I got closer, I could overhear their conversation.
‘Common Ryan, it will be fun!’
‘You call that fun?! That’s a girls’ sport. And what’s supposed to be fun about running around on the hot sand and getting your feet burned?’
In a raised voice she answered: ‘You won’t get your feet burned because the sun is not very strong anymore this time of the year. I’d really like to play volleyball tomorrow.’
‘Chill baby, why don’t you play with your girlfriends?’ He said that in this patronizing voice that I would have liked to smack him one.
‘It’s a couple’s tournament, Ryan, I need a male partner!’
‘What, are you so conservative? The game should be open to gay couples as well.’
She breathed out and pressed her lips together.
‘I guess it is but that’s not the point! This game could be something we could do together.’
‘We are here together now, what more do you want?’
Then, she stared at him in disbelieve.
‘Hey Fiona, I did not expect to see you here.’ I stepped in as I saw my chance.
‘Oh, hi, um, Kevin, right?’
‘Correct. So, which game are you thinking of participating in?’
‘Well, I wanted to sign up for the volleyball couple tournament.’ She said.
‘Awesome, beach volleyball is fun. The atmosphere of the ocean makes everything enjoyable.’ I said and pointed around us at the festival.
Fiona looked at her boyfriend and said more to him than to me, ‘Yes that’s what I said.’
‘But it’s Sunday. The day of rest. We’re already so active during the week.’ Ryan explained himself.
‘Well, I’d kind of like to participate in that tournament but unfortunately, I don’t have a partner at all.’ I frowned. ‘If you really want to play and he doesn’t, why don’t we build a team?’ I offered.
Ryan’s eyes narrowed and he appeared to be weighing if that would be invading his territory or if I’d be doing him a favor.
‘That’s not really what this tournament is for but I guess the organizers wouldn’t care.’ Fiona said. ‘Ryan, you really don’t want to play?’ She asked him again.
‘Rather not. But I can give you a massage in the
evening, in case you are sore from the games.’ He pulled her towards him and massaged her right shoulder with one hand.
She breathed out. ‘Okay then. Let’s sign up, Kevin.’
‘Sure.’ I tried to say that as cool and composed as possible while inwardly doing flips and Macarenas.
Hence, that was settled. Fiona and I agreed to meet at the registration booth at 10 o’clock the next morning. While they walked away I heard her say that she wanted to go home soon, she was not in the mood for seeing all these young couples in love on the rides and at the shooting galleries anymore. Well, I did not complain. What an idiot this Ryan was.
I turned my vision towards the Ferris Wheel, trying to make out where Eric, Lea and the girlies were. They would probably be around soon. I detected them on the last quarter of the circle, so I still had some time to come up with a good explanation why I could not manage to buy milkshakes.
I placed myself at the end of the line once more.
‘Wow, you managed to get far.’ Eric commented once they found me.
‘I ran into someone.’ I nodded with a meaningful look.
‘Must be someone special if it distracts you so much that it keeps you from buying milkshakes.’ He understood that I didn’t want to discuss anything personal in front of the girls.
‘Might be.’ I said and then added, ‘and how was the nerve wrecking ride high above town?’
‘Beautiful. We saw a million lights from the top.’ Lea said.
When we finally got the milkshakes, we strolled through the stands a little longer but I took my leave pretty soon.
