“But what does it mean?” Ginny asks, frustrated.
She’s just spent the last few minutes illustrating how wide her eyes can open with every revelation about who Peter is, and that theoretically, he doesn’t recognize me. I make her swear never to tell my parents about this, and to really play dumb around Peter. The minutest slip of the tongue could tip him off, and the entire house of cards I’ve been building would tumble down.
“The ‘Yes’ is his answer to all the questions in Sia’s song, the one I told him to check out! ‘I’m in here, can anybody see me? Can anybody help?... Can you hear my call? Are you coming to get me now?’ …”
“Oh!” and her lips stay shaped into an ‘o’, “…Wow!”
“Y-yeah!” I say in a very Californian-cheerleader sort of way.
“And he’ll be here four days earlier?... Huh!... There’s a good moth,” she winks.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning the right thing would have been to keep you waiting, but he obviously couldn’t stay away now, could he?” she concludes, smugly.
“Oh yeah, I bet he wants more of my bandaged water-balloon goodness,” I snort in my best impression of hospital-sexy.
She should really stop giving me false hopes though… Last time he was here, he looked anything but eager to be back. I still can’t figure out what happened! One minute we’re talking music and of “a place for people like us”, and the next, his face falls and his shell is once again hermetically sealed around him. Did I do anything wrong? All it took is for him to look me straight in the eye… Supposing he really did recognize me, then why the violently negative reaction? Was I right not to tell him who I was after all? And now he seems eager to be back?... This is so confusing!
“Don’t worry Lil’, you’re already starting to look like yourself again, I can see it… almost,” she reassures me. But her words cause nothing but panic: it suddenly feels like my defenses are falling; if knowing who I am makes him run, then what will I do when I can no longer hide it?!
This limbo state between eagerness and panic festers inside me till Monday morning, then manages to double when the needle hits five and he’s still nowhere to be seen. Good thing my parents aren’t here! Erik would have definitely noticed the anxiety… I convinced him to take the keys from Ginny and go get some sleep at the apartment; and Odelia has a gallery opening night, so I know she won’t be back for hours. Only Ginny knows Peter’s coming, so she’s loyally patrolling the hallways for a sign of him.
Six. I check the post-it again. It really does say Monday. Where is he?!
Seven… I hate him. Seriously.
Eight. Visiting hours are probably over.
I toy with the idea of telling Ginny never to let him into my room again, but I know I would kill her if she actually followed that to the letter…
“Heads up,” she suddenly whispers through the chink of the door, “Legolas is in the premises! Time for me to… ‘bow’out,” she teases. And that does it for me. The Molotov mix of anxiety, relief, and Ginny’s geeky humor, pushes me over the edge… and the nurses at the end of the hall hear my laughing hysterics.
A minute later, he appears at the door, and just stands there, with a comically raised eyebrow. “Glad to see you’re in good spirits!” he blurts out, faking offense at being laughed at. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I say, wiping the last few tears, “come in, please!” I offer, pointing to the chair. You’re late, Legolas!
YOU ARE READING
The Girl Who Shook The Skies
FantasíaNothing could have prepared me for this... He was just a stranger on a train, who left a heartstoppingly beautiful drawing behind; a perfect drawing of ME. I don't know how exactly, but I should have realized such accuracy was not... of this world.
