Staying Sane

Chapter 2 - Staying Diffident

*ring-ring* *ring-ring*

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Says a slightly familiar voice when I pick up my phone.

"Excuse me?" I ask the stranger. "Who is this."

I hear a laugh and then, "How could you have forgotten? Im only your knight in shining armor."

Oh, its him. I was not expecting him to actually call, considering the... condom incident. He probably thinks I sleep around a lot or something, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But why else would he call?

"Well, Im sorry. I never even caught your name anyways,"

"Elliot. And what was your name? I didn't hear it over the overheating engine and hundreds of condoms falling out of your bag,"

I make an unattractive sound to implicate I very much disapprove of what he's saying. "It was not hundreds. It was just about... I dont know, fifty? Sixty? Not hundreds. And I have an extremely good reason for having that many condoms."

I hear a laugh. A long laugh. An annoying, pretty, long laugh.

"Whats so funny?" I ask, nervously laughing. I hate it when people laugh at me. I guess I need to learn to laugh at myself, but what can I say? I get embarrassed easily, which is very obvious so far.

"I just think anyone who has that many condoms obviously has an extremely, extremely good reason for it. And your name?"

"Sage. My name is Sage. "

"Well, Sage. Nice to meet you. Are you still up for coffee? If not thats totally okay, " Elliot says, and I am thankful for the subject change.

Should I go out with him? He seems like somewhat of a smartass, but kind of a nice smartass. I appreciate that he seems to value my words and opinions. But what would I know? Ive only spoken to him twice, and just got his name. But then again, my famous words that usually have me ending up looking ridiculous, why not?

"Okay. Where?" I ask.

"Where would you like? Theres the Hummingbird Cafe, Tea & Treats, Metronome coffee, other coffee shops like that. "

"Hummingbird cafe? Isn't that in Emerton? Thats like twenty thousand years away."

"Well, thats where I assumed you lived. I live there, but if you want o go elsewhere, thats alright, too. And twenty thousand? Where do you live?"

"Eatonville. Only twenty minutes, but still. I can do hummingbird cafe. What time?"

There was a long pause, of what I assume was thinking. I wonder if I can remember how he looked like. You know how you see someone really beautiful and remember them in different ways throughout the days before you see them? Then you see them again, and they look totally different. I wonder if he looks totally different to what I think he looks like in my head right now.

"Is 7:00 tonight alright? I know its somewhat of a school night. Im as suing you're in school. But is 7:00 alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah, 7:00 is perfect. And yes, I am in school. Im a junior-"

"No!, No wait, you can't tell me anything about yourself now! That will ruin it. We must learn about each other tonight. Until then, Sage."

"Until... Until then, I guess?" I say with a laugh.

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Elliot."

*beep-beep-beep*

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Looking in the mirror, I suddenly become very disappointed with myself. My reddish-brown hair is being awkward, my makeup is being dumb, and my outfit looks stupid. Why is it so hard to be happy with the way I look?

I attempt to twirl my hair a little bit to get the waves going, but it feels too frizzy to be let down. My phone buzzes and I see that Elliot is still saying that he's picking my up and that he needs my address, but I kept saying that it would be unnecessary and pointless. But he won with polite arguments, and its hard to be defensive against polite arguments. I text him my number, and he texted back he would be on his way in ten minutes.

I have thirty minutes to fix myself. I apply a thin layer of makeup, highlighting, contouring, and blushing all of my faces bumps and curves. I apply more mascara (I had mascara left over from the school day), and curl my eyelashes. I put on some red lipstick and take in the transformation on my face. Better, but not the best. I dont necessarily like my face in the first place.

I look at my hair again. Its just so unruly. Its big and fluffy and annoying and unattractive. I wish it was smooth and nice, and not so gross. I twirl it through my fingers again and again, desperately trying to make some sort of shape out of it. And of course, like all the other days I try to bother with my hair, I give up.

I take a look at my school clothes and sigh. Getting ready is seriously the worst part of my day. I hate having to pay attention to my body.

I look through my closet and eventually decide on a striped baggy shirt tucked into some black high-waisted skinny jeans. I put on my ankle boots and decide not to take in my appearance, and just head down the stairs to wait for Elliot.

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*Ding-Dong*

And he is here. I grab my phone and my purse and open the door, making a last minute decision to try to put my hair up.

"Hi! Hold on one second, I just need to fix my hair." I rush to the mirror that is hanging on the wall cross the way from the front door.

"Why? You look great. Beautiful, actually. Your hair looks very nice."

I look at him through the mirror and stop my wild attempts at trying to put my hair up. I slowly lower my hands and huff a, "Fine."

"Shall we be going?" Elliot asks, and I look at him. Really look at him. And I was wrong. I remembered him with blue eyes, but he really has green. His nose is harper than I remember and he is much taller than I had imagines. Needless to say, he's more beautiful than I remember. He has a tiny scar on his left cheek, and I so badly want to ask where its from.

"We shall."

And, were off.