The Moon Is Beautiful

Chapter 7

I ran.

The moment I realized who it was, without even looking up at him, I ran away. If he yelled after me, I didn’t hear him. I was too busy trying to get away from him and make sure that he wouldn’t be able to find me. When I finally come to a stop, I’m left breathless and I quickly realize that I unknowingly and unintentionally ran out of the entire university, and then about a block further.

Falling backwards, I find myself leaning against the back of a bench with my eyes closed and my heart racing. It takes a few long moments before my heart rate becomes steady and returns to its normal speed. When I open my eyes, the first thing I see is the blue sky with barely a cloud in sight.

I can barely believe what just happened. I can barely believe how something like this could have happened. For two whole years, I didn’t see him, but now suddenly, I’ve encountered him twice in two days. The universe must really be set on causing my downfall.

Sighing, I kick my legs in the air in frustration. Why him, and why now? I was doing just fine with my life. I had great friends. I enjoyed my major. I had even gone on a blind date last week. That blind date…how did it go again?

Oh, yes. I remember.

Eliza talked me into wearing a little black dress that night since the guy and I were going for drinks at a bar and although the dress made me feel exposed in so many ways, I went out wearing it. The guy was cute, with doe brown eyes and a dimpled smile. We hit it off almost immediately.

“So, Rose, what do you do for a living?” he asked, taking a sip of his beer.

“I’m studying. Art,” I answered, swirling my straw around in my drink. “You?”

“I’m a telemarketer.” he answered. Telemarketer, I thought. The moment he mentioned the word telemarketer, I thought of those annoying people that calls you non-stop and harasses you over the phone to buy whatever it is they are selling.

“I know what you’re thinking. Telemarketing is a lot of work. We deal with difficult customers all the time. Telemarketers themselves are a lot of work. I would know. If we don’t do well, we become so desperate to sell something to the point that the customers threaten to call the police and open a case on harassment against us. It’s kind of embarrassing to talk about it.” he said with a laugh.

“Has that ever happened to you?” I asked.

“More times than I’d like to admit,” he admitted. “I don’t know how it works at other telemarketing companies, but at the one I’m working at, we work on commission. It’s sort of like a piece-meal job. The more products you sell over the phone, the more you get paid. And if you don’t make any sales, you don’t get paid, so…sometimes the thought of not getting paid after spending my entire day at work trying to sell things makes me a little desperate.”

“It sounds hard.”

“It is. Many people hate telemarketers and see us as nuisances, but they forget that we are people too. We are people with feelings and who also need to make a living. They forget that we make a living through those phone calls that everyone declines.” he said, looking solemn all of a sudden. I understood him and his reasoning, because he was right. They are people too, a fact that those being called seem to forget way too often, and I’m ashamed to admit that I am one of them.

Whenever a telemarketer called me, I would either decline or end up yelling at the person at the end of the call if I answered, and I never once thought about how the person on the other end of the line felt.

“Honestly…I hate telemarketers,” I found myself admitting. “I find them annoying and unnecessary. I feel like life would be so much easier if I didn’t need to look out for telemarketers all the time. I once even missed an important call from a lecturer because I thought it was a telemarketer spam calling me. So I don’t like them, and if you were ever to call me, I would probably yell at you.”

There was a moment of silence after I spoke, before he burst out laughing, confusing me.

“Why are you laughing?” I questioned, not understanding how anything that I had just said was funny.

“You’re just so honest. It’s a little brutal, I admit, but I admire it. You are entitled to your own thoughts and opinions and I’m not here to try and change your view on telemarketers.” he said, regaining his composure.

A few moments of silence passed by before I spoke again.

“This is weird,” I blurted out and when he looked confused by my words, I added on. “This is supposed to be a date, but all we’ve spoken about so far is telemarketing. Doesn’t feel like a date to me.”

“Then…what should we do for it to feel like a date to you?” he questioned, leaning forward slightly. It was an action that I didn’t fail to miss, even though I could see that he was trying to be subtle about it.

“Hmm…” I hummed in reply. “Not sure.”

“Well, how about we make out in the alley at the back of the bar? That will surely add some romantic spice to our night.” he suggested and all I could think about was how he said ‘romantic spice’. What was that supposed to mean?

"I'd rather not." I said, shifting uncomfortably in my seat. He looked disappointed, a tiny frown creasing his face but he didn't protest. Instead, he just took one huge gulp of his beer, finishing it off.

"That's disappointing. You looked like a girl who likes experimenting." he shamelessly said, causing my eyes to widen in shock.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I snapped, feeling offended by his unfiltered remark. He merely smiled and before I could even control myself, I was splashing my drink in his face, soaking him in it.

I shake my head, not wanting to think about that terrible first blind date. It made me want to avoid blind dates as you never know what kind of psycho you may meet. He seemed like such a nice person at the beginning, but the moment I rejected his advances, he became ugly and insulted me.

The mere thought of that night makes me shudder.

"Rose?" I hear a familiar voice call out. I open my eyes and they immediately meet Eliza’s. She hovers over me slightly, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

It's only when I sit up properly that I see three other people with her, Alyssa, Flynn, surprisingly, and another person whom I cannot see properly because he's standing behind the two of them.

"Nothing. I was just on my way home and decided to take a little break," I say with a light laugh, hoping that she buys it because I know that it doesn't actually make sense. I really don't want to have to explain everything to her, and if I'm forced to, I don't know how I'll be able to keep that guy out of the story. "You?"

"We're just on our way to have lunch together." she says and I nod. "Oh right. You know Raine, right?"

"Who?" I dumbly ask, for some reason not having a clue even though I'm pretty sure she mentioned him before.

"Raine, come here," she says, gesturing for the person behind Flynn and Alyssa to come over to her. "This is Raine. You two danced together Friday night."

I look up, and when my eyes meet his, I freeze. He stands innocently beside Eliza, smiling at me in the same way he did before.

How can this be? Why is he here? Why did it have to be him?

"Hi." he greets, his smile as mischievous as ever. My heart plummets to my chest as I stare at him with wide eyes. It's him. It's really him.

My darkest secret.