Celestial Worlds

Chapter Seventeen

“How was your day, honey?”

    Debby’s in the kitchen finishing off what’s left of her plate. She stands up and dunks her plate on the sink. As if by instinct, my eyes scan for Jonathan, I immediately find him sprawled on the couch eating a tub of ice cream. Then our eyes met, his’ are blank and expressionless, lucid and glass-like. Looking into his bright, almost transparent eyes suddenly feel like I’m looking at air, nothing. They’re empty; compare to Daniel’s which are full and brown, cheery and sympathetic.

    I break our gaze.

    I laugh nervously at Debby, which turns to be a full and genuine laugh. “I did indeed. Thank you for letting me go out today.”

    “You say that like I don’t allow you to go out. Feel free to go out whenever you want. Don’t ask for my permission,” she says, smiling, She grabs for a plate and starts scrubbing and squirting dishwashing soap.

    “I’m going to go sleep now, g’night Debby!” I race up the stairs and hear a faint sound of Debby’s goodnight. I open my bedroom door and plop down on my bed reaching for something but I don’t seem to have it.

    My books.

   My books, I left them with Daniel in his car. I groan and cover my eyes. How am I supposed to sleep now? It’s books, movies or ice cream to help me sleep..

    My tummy grumbles wildly. Ugh, ice cream.

    I can’t go down, not when Jonathan’s downstairs and eating what I’m going to get. And besides, he’s the one who makes the ice creams. I hate me.

    Instead, I just plop down on my stomach, arms and legs outstretched and I pry myself to sleep. I twist and turn for a while but eventually fall asleep.

“Victoria?” knock knock on the door. A woman’s voice is behind my door, quite muffled. It’s Debby’s, I groggily thought. “Victoria, honey, someone’s outside looking for you.” I groan and call an ‘I’m coming!’. Who the hell needs me in this time of the day? Wait, what exactly is the time? I ditch my sundress from yesterday to change into some cotton shorts and a grey hoodie with UCL stitched in big black block letters. I run down slowly and stop mid-step when I see who it is.

     Daniel.

   “Daniel…what are you doing here?” I ask, rubbing my eyes and yawning. My hair’s a bit of a mess, but he doesn’t seem to mind, instead he says, “Oh, I’m terribly sorry if this is a terrible time Victoria. I assume you were…sleeping?” He says bashfully while rubbing the back of his neck.

    I approach his immediately, placing a hand on his. He looks at it and startles but quickly regains composure. “Its fine,” I say, lowering my hand back to my side. And there come the instinct again, I scan for Jonathan and I see him sprawled on the couch again, looking at us blank-faced, like you’re an old guy and you see a snail motionless on the floor. “What time is it?” I ask him absent-mindedly.

    He glances at his watch and says, “Three o’clock in the afternoon.” He pronounces this carefully like he’s waiting me to freak out, he’s smiling, almost supressing a smile. And I’m sure he’s satisfied because I said, “What?” Then he laughs aloud, shoulders shaking. I laugh too, tugging at my hoodie’s sleeve, pulling my hand inside it.

    I take his hand, ashamed that I hope Jonathan’s watching, and we head upstairs. But then he tugs my hand. “I need to get the books in the car. You forgot them,” he says with a smile. Today, his smile isn’t the polite tucked lip smile he was giving me yesterday. He smile at me with teeth, meaningful, like every word in the dictionary is contained in the skin of his lips and the curve of his mouth. Then he says, without shyness like he always implies in his sentences, “Come with me.” He then tugs at my hand and we’re off outside, running and giggling towards the car. He opens the passenger door, letting go of my hand and carries the paper bag with two hands. We walk side by side together and since his hand isn’t available, I grab the hem of his shirt and I drag him with it. We enter my room, keeping the door open, and I sit on the floor. This time, unlike in the bookstore yesterday, he sits beside me, Indian style like me and he scatters the books on the floor in front of us. I can smell him most significantly, he smells of vanilla and shampoo. He smells clean so clean.