the various chances

chapter thirteen

Lily

Sunday afternoon rolled by and I had cleaned the room and arranged my things. The whole morning had me tired due to all that dusting and cleaning. Sammy and Emma were out on a shopping date so I had all the space for me in the apartment. I was tired yet couldn't have an afternoon nap. To have some refreshment I went to the kitchen and made myself a cup of chamomile tea. Sammy had an awesome collection of variety of teas- chamomile, lavender, peppermint, hibiscus, lemon, green, cinnamon and what not.

Looking at the wall clock I realize about the 1 hour I still had before Ian can show up. After the cup of tea I make my way to my room, fish out a pink cardigan and dark blue jeans and head out for the shower. In all honesty I had first done the cleaning and was pending with shower so one could say I was stinking like some rotting fish.

Showering and drying later, I was ready all dressed up.

The whirl of emotions inside me was making me feel oddly strange. It felt a little weird going out to have fun after so many years and on addition with some guy. To be honest I don't even remember the last time I went out and had some fun. Though the offer when came from Ian sounded tempting. Lest one can decide whether I had actual fun or not after the day at the fair.

The doorbell rings. I check myself in the mirror of the dresser once and hop out to open the door. Ian was standing there with what looked like 4-5 red roses nicely wrapped with a cute pink bow. He smiles. "hey, come on in", I say and gesture him to get inside. "these are for you, Roses for Lily", he says with a cheeky grin. I smile at the poor joke, take those roses from his extended hand.

He settles down on the couch after which I head inside the kitchen, place the flowers in the vase kept on the dining table. With a glass of water I walk back to Ian, hand him the glass and say, "I kept those roses in vase" -he nods- "would you like something?" He gulps down the contents of the glass and sighs, "no need, I think we should get going or else we won't be exploring more."

I nod and tell him that I'll get my footwear. He gets up and makes his way to the door. After making a small run to my room, I grab my shoes and get beside him. We make our way down to the parking, get in his car and head out to the fair.

While the ride continues he asks me about my life. Honestly that was the thing I always avoid when talking to someone knew or even people I used to know or I know. It just a little painful to open up to someone it's just not my thing. I'd rather bottle it all up rather than allowing myself to be vulnerable because the last time I did I almost lost my life.

I spin and twist my answers and direct his questions to him. His answers were more precise and detailed, mine were vague and lousy plus I just didn't want to answer those. Thankfully enough the ride ended before he could press more about my family because the talk was getting uncomfortable for me.

After parking, we grab our tickets and head in. it was full of colours and life. Families, kids, couples- it felt like half of the city were here to spend their Sunday evening. The colours were in all shades of a colour palate- blue, pink, green, yellow, white and what not.

Dads holding on the younger kid while mom handles the elder one, an elder couple holding hotdog in one hand and walking hand-in-hand with the other one, a kid throwing fits for ice-cream and his mom telling him about how he had enough, a mom holding her little girl while she shakes hands with a teddy bear, a man helping his son who was aiming at some object in front of it, a grandpa yelling for other family members to speed up and the grandma telling him to calm down, a big brother holding hands with his little sister while she eats her ice-cream cone, a little boy who just entered with his mom beside us cheering about the excitement of being at the fair and so on.