At the Peak of Dawn

The Date

It was around four in the afternoon when Abel got back to his room. He had gone to lunch and sat with some friends and ended up talking for three hours. As he walked in he glanced at his calendar to double check and make sure he had no programming to attend to. Seeing none he relaxed, thankful that he could have the rest of the afternoon to himself. That meant he could take a nap. He quickly changed his clothes, turned off the lights and got into bed. He remembered his date with Cindy the next day and fell asleep trying to think if he had met her before.

When Abel's eyes seemed to open again, his room was very bright. It's too bright to be nine o'clock, he thought. He glanced at the digital clock on the small table by his bed and his eyes widened in horror. It was ten thirteen.

Hurriedly, he threw his covers off of him and jumped out of bed, stubbing his left pinkie toe in the process. Hopping on his right foot, he howled in pain, knowing he'd have a bruise the next morning. As he rushed to find a presentable shirt to wear, he grabbed his favorite green sweater, threw it over a white button-up shirt with dark jeans and Sperrys and dashed out the door.

Abel sprinted to the coffee shop and all but burst through the door, quickly scanning the room for a girl in a yellow cardigan. He found one in the back corner or the shop, with a cup of something steamy, reading a book, her hair falling slightly in front of her.

"Wow," he breathed gently. She was beautiful. She had brown hair with natural lighter brown highlights in the sunlight streaming from the windows around her. Her white lacy dress, light brown woven belt, pale yellow cardigan and matching flats complemented her tanned skin color. When she glanced at her watch, Abel snapped out of his trance and hesitantly headed towards her.

"Hi, um, it's Cindy, right?" he said sheepishly.

Cindy lifted her head to see him.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," Abel gushed. "I just fell asleep yesterday and my alarm didn't go off and I'm just really sorry." Abel was blushing as he rambled and by the end he was about as red as a tomato. He watched Cindy's face, trying to read her gaze. She cocked her head to the side as if trying to see him in different angles. A light smile slowly progressed on her lips as she studied him, making him blush more.

"Um, can I sit down?" he stammered.

"Huh?" she said distracted. "Uh, yeah, sure. Sit." Now it was her turn to get red. Abel thought she looked cute when embarrassed. He pulled out a chair and sat down, noticing how thick her book was in the process.

"You like to read?" he offered to kill the awkward silence.

"Yeah, it's my favorite thing to do. Well, besides singing," she replied.

"Really" Me too! I love singing!" he excitedly.

"I know. I've seen you lead out in song service for vespers before. You're in University Singers too, right?" she asked knowingly.

"Yeah, three years in a row. So you come to vespers? I knew I'd seen you somewhere. Funny how we've never actually met before this."

"I know. I feel like we probably would've hit it off pretty well," she said with a small smile.

Abel raised his eyebrow at what Cindy had just said.

"You think so? Do you think we're hitting it off pretty well right now?" he asked, curious as to how she'd answer.

"Well, yeah, but it'd probably be better if you came on time," she replied with the same small smile. Abel blushed.

"Stupid alarm," he said, more to himself than to her. "So anyway, if you like singing so much how come you're not in Singers?"

"We, my family and I, moved here the end of September, so by then it was too late to audition," she said disappointed.

"Oh, okay. Where did you move from?"

"Houston. We lived there for about ten years until Dad got a job managing the ABC store around the corner. It worked out pretty well since I wanted to come here for my sophomore year of college anyway."

"Oh, I live about an hour and a half away from Houston, in Criscott."

"Really?" she said excited. "My grandma used to live there. My siblings and I loved going to her house every weekend. Summer was the best. We would stay with her during the week and she always had cookies and cream flavored ice cream to we eat because she knew it was our favorite. She was the best," she finished with a sad expression on her face.

"Was?" Abel questioned.

"Was, " Cindy sighed. "She died this past summer."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Might I ask how?"

"Breast cancer. She fought it for about a year and half. I was with her most of the time since I'm the oldest grandchild and no one else had the time to take care of her." Cindy started to get tears in her eyes. "I held her when she died. She knew it was her time and even to last visit she still had cookies and cream for me. She was so thoughtful and sweet." Cindy paused, remembering her grandmother, and then wiped her tears. "I'm sorry. This isn't really a topic for a first date, huh?" she apologized.

"No, not exactly," Abel chuckled softly, "but it's alright. I lost my mother to breast cancer when I was fifteen. It was hard for a while. I was really close to her."

As Cindy and Abel sat remembering their lost loved ones, they thought about each other too. They never had someone else outside their families who truly understood. They spent the rest of the day drinking hot chocolate and talking, getting to know each other. Abel was surprised to find that Cindy, unlike all the other girls Symphony set him up with, actually had a lot in common with him. When Abel finally went back to his room at six that evening, he sent a special prayer to God.

"You found her, God. She'd the one, I just know it. Thank You so much. I love You. Amen."