MY HEALING SOULMATE

A SWEET REUNION

It's almost been a week since Granny introduced me to Dream Journaling and I haven't done anything about it. The incident appears in my dreams on the most random days. I've tried to write something but most of the time I've ended up blanking out and the other time all I wrote is:

My parents' loss has made me broken and miserable

I think that's progress for me.

I haven't spoken to Aiden much ever since that talk we had. I usually leave for school earlier than him so I don't run into him. Nor have I on the way home. We are in the same AP Psychology and Social Science class so I do see him but we hardly talk to each other there. Maybe he's been avoiding me. After telling me about his sister, I guess he needed some space.

I've spent all week completing all the assignments teachers have started loading us up with along with revising material for upcoming tests and exams. I've barely been out of the house other than the coffee date I had with Mia. We have a project as well which will be done by 3 people in Psychology. I really hope I get good partners – someone who will contribute and not let me do everything.

But the weekend was here so I decided to relax myself a little bit. After working all morning, I decided to call it a day. Me and Granny spent all evening watching Gilmore Girls and playing UNO. I won 2 rounds and she won 1. Just as I thought I was winning, she put a +4 Wild Card. Damn the wild card.

After dinner, granny went to sleep pretty early but I was not in the mood to. I wanted to go out somewhere. There's an ice-cream place nearby so I decided to go there. However, I didn't feel like going alone and I felt it might be a little late to call Mia since she didn't live that close to me. After contemplating for 15 mins, I decided to text Aiden. I hadn't spoken to him in quite a while which I didn't really like. I was hesitant because what if he was avoiding me? Am I not just being clingy then? But what if he isn't? What if we just didn't have much opportunity to talk? He did willingly share his past with me and he knows mine too. He was the one who offered to be friends as well. You know what, I'm texting him. He can say no if he wants to. My overthinking will really be the end of me someday.

Me: Hey Aiden

Aiden: Hey Erin. What's up?

Me: Nothing, kinda bored. You?

Aiden: Yeah, me too.

My fingers hesitantly hovered over the keyboard for a few seconds before typing

Me: I was planning on going out for some ice-cream. Wanna join?

Me: I mean, if you want to. You can always say no if you're not in the mood. Seriously, it's not a problem.

Aiden: Missing me already?

I rolled my eyes. This guy man...

Me: You wish. I was just offering you company because you said you're bored.

Aiden: Sure, you were

Me: I'm leaving in 5. Are you coming?

Aiden: Yes ma'am

"So, what did you do all day?" I asked as we both walked towards the ice-cream shop.

"Nothing much. Caught up on assignments and then worked on some of my paintings."

"That's cool, what are you working on?"

"It's an impressionism. It's a painting of a girl at a bookstore. I found it on Pinterest and decided to try it out."

"Wow, that's really cool. Can I see it once you're done? If you're okay with it, I mean. If you're a private person, that's totally fine, I –"

"Relax Erin." He said with a small laugh. "You don't have to keep saying that every time. I wouldn't say no to you."

My heart skipped a beat. What did he mean by he wouldn't say no to me?

We had reached the ice-cream place by then. I ordered a Chocolate ice cream with rainbow sprinkles and he went for Vanilla with ranbow sprinkles. I feel like rainbow sprinkles goes with everything. Both of us ate in silence letting the ice-cream melt into our mouths.

He broke the silence after sometime.

"What's your favourite memory with Granny?"

"Mine? Hmm... Let me think." I said thoughtfully.

"Ooh, there's this one. When I was around 7, I tried painting with my granny for the first time. We decided to do finger painting. She was the one who actually did it. I just spilt paint all over myself and on my hair. After a long time, I managed to do something, but it was more of a scribbled mess. She had to scoop me away from the paint because of the mess I made and give me a bath." I said reminiscing fondly and laughing.

"Yep, that's definitely my favourite one. There's a photo of me with paint all over me in granny's photo albums. What is your favourite memory at her?"

He gave me a big smile. It lit up his entire face. At first, there was a subtle shift in the muscles around his eyes, a gentle crinkling which showed that there was genuine joy bubbling within him. Then, his lips curve upwards, transforming his face into a portrait of warmth and happiness. For some reason, I felt like I wanted to be the only person he smiled at like that.

Wow, I sound so poetic.

The fact he actually loved granny as much as I did and genuinely enjoyed talking to me and asking me about her lit up my heart. I felt a fondness for him that I had never felt before.

"Mine is actually quite funny. I was 10 and Cassie was 4. We had come to study with granny one weekend. Our mom was not in town. Granny gave me a work problem with something like, Aiden bought 5 kg of strawberry ice-cream, 2 of vanilla and 3 of Butterscotch... something like that. She forgot to put the horizontal line across t, so I read it as Bullerscotch Ice-cream. For some reason, even after reading it, it didn't strike me that that it was Butterscotch ice-cream and I kept reading it as Bullerscotch again and again. I mean, even Cassie understood it. I remember the two of them laughing about it all evening. They never stopped teasing me about it. Granny still does." He said with a reminiscing smile.

I started laughing. "Bullerscotch, no wonder they laughed at you. I mean you didn't even realize after you read it."

"Not you too." He said with a dramatic sigh.

"You know, I'm surprised. I've been granny's neighbour ever since I was born. How come we've never met?" he asked.

"Well, it was mostly granny who came to visit us at home. I've been here only a few times during Christmas vacations. I guess you weren't there at home that time."

"Yeah, we usually celebrated Christmas at my aunt's place."

"Hmm. Oh damn, it's already 9:30. I didn't realise it became that late. Come on, we better get going."

It was a quiet journey on the way home. I was glad to have him by my side. Just walking with him by my side made me feel at peace. It was strange how much I enjoyed spending time with him even though I had met him not too long ago. Talking to him about my parents and knowing that he actually knew what I felt hurt my heart but made me feel lighter too. I don't know what any of this means, right now, I'm just trying to take a day at a time and keep moving ahead.

A little long chapter for y'all this time :)      Please do vote and comment.