Invisible String

Chapter 3

I walked back into the house, as the door opened, with Gigi stepping out of it. "hey!" she said brightly, and was looking out, trying to spot him. "I thought id come say hi," She explained. "Oh, yeah, erm," I turned and looked around where she was looking. "yeah, he just left, unlucky." She shrugged. "Oh. Okay." either she didn't think much of it or didn't want to say anything. But I still felt a bit guilty. "look, he's kind of shy." She guffawed. Not in a passive-aggressive way, just surprised. "You, with a shy guy?" I nodded. I laughed uneasily. "I know, right?" she smiled, and her eyes were wide. "So?" She pushed. "How was it? I'm dying to hear everything." This would be a bit tricky, I thought, as she pushed open the door and we stepped off of the little cobblestone path that led from the gate through the front yard to the porch. "Well, it was great." Whether or not I was going to specify who he was, I didn't leave out any of the enthusiasm as I would've had had she known his name. I recounted the evening with excitement, remembering every brush of hand and gazing look in his eyes. She looked at me dreamily and then laughed, and I could tell she was imagining it as I was, as I told it. "Wow. wow. I can't believe you. that's, like, a date." I squealed. "do you think so?" I scrunched up my nose and smiled, and she did the same. "mhm." We both laughed, and then she hugged me. "I'm so happy for you. Your first date!" I rolled my eyes at how condescending that sounded, but I know she didn't mean it. "I am 20, it was about time," I said. Gigi had already had four boyfriends or girlfriends by the time she was 17. I was definitely the late bloomer out of the pair of us. But I smiled, because my heart was glowing, and I was still riding the high of the butterflies and excitement of the evening. Gigi got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen across the hall. "Are you hungry?" she called, as I sat with my legs tucked beneath me on the couch, looking at a freckle on my knee, touching it idly, my mind on nothing in particular, just living in this content moment. I looked over at her, and she was staring at me, smirking knowingly, and I laughed and said, "no, we ate there." She brought back a sparkling water to me with a piece of toast anyways, and I ate it. We went to the backyard and sat on the porch overlooking the fields. The crickets chirped away, and I curled up beside Gigi, as she lit up her pipe and smoked. The smell made me nostalgic and she blew a bit of smoke in my face and laughed, at how pleased I looked. She knew I liked it when she did that. We sat in silence for a bit, and listened to the silence. she played with my hair, and we began talking about nothing in particular. She yawned after a bit, and kissed my forehead, telling me she was going to bed. I nodded and continued to lie down, curled on my side, replacing her lap with a pillow, and stared up at the sky, so serene and beautiful. I replayed the scenes from the night in my head and caught myself smiling. Again, I marvelled at life. Could this truly be happening? Again, a part of my mind reminded myself that I shouldn't get too far ahead, and to not have too high of expectations. it was the same part of my head that wondered if, maybe, he saw it totally differently than I did. What if, he simply saw it as two people, two friends talking. That was okay, too. I hoped he felt chemistry like I did. he looked at me, though, as if there may have been something more. I looked at him the same way. I didn't want to think about the future, however, or question my thoughts, or think about my doubts. Now, I wanted to just remember his eyes, his smile... 

As I slipped into my bed sometime later, my legs against the cool sheets in silk shorts and a tank top, the balcony door open letting the sound of the crickets in the distance in, I dozed off, with a smile still on my lips. 

I woke up the following morning to the hot sun coming in through the glass door of the balcony. I was hot and a bit sweaty, and my sheets were tangled on my body, so I got myself out of bed and closed the door, plugging in the fan instead. I sat there for a second, letting my face get cooled by the cold air. I walked back to my bed and climbed in, not even bothering to pull the sheets back, instead just laying there, sprawled on the sheets and looking up at the ceiling. The previous night flooded back into my memory, and I smiled, burying my face into my pillow and squealing. I rolled over on my back, and thought about my dreams. I didn't remember much, though I usually do; just a forest, some bare feet, hands being held in the finger intertwining way...grass... I checked the time on my phone: 8:30. I heard birds chirping outside, and that was the only sound, otherwise, it was quiet out. I found myself unable to fall back asleep, so I put on my audiobook.  I was lulled to sleep by the familiar sound of the narrator and story, absentmindedly wondering if one day someone will read to me until I sleep.