I Saw Her

Chapter 6

Go straight, turn left after the bakery, then turn right after the red lamp-post, and I should be at the bookstore.

I attempted to recall the directions that she had told me yesterday. Couldn't she just have given me her address? Besides the fact that these directions were vague, finding the bookstore proved to be very tough for directionally challenged me.

After walking past the same bakery thrice, I finally found the right street that her bookstore was at. It was a rather small and cozy bookstore at the end of the street, much smaller in size compared to the other various clothing stores and restaurants on the same street.

I paced up and down in front of the bookstore, not knowing what to do.

Shit, it's still 9.30am. Am I too early? Should I just wait out here till 10? Am I wearing appropriately?

This morning, I had trouble choosing what to wear for the very first time. Normally, I just chose any random piece of clothing and headed to the park. No one noticed me, much less my clothing anyway.

I didn't want to give her a worse impression of me, since what I wore to the park yesterday was atrociously ugly. I picked out a pair of jeans and a long sleeved grey shirt, which looked quite alright to me. What the heck, who am I kidding? I have terrible fashion sense.

"Hey! You there! You're Amelia's friend?" a voice pulled me out from my sea of thoughts.

I looked around, to find a man with pink hair waving at me. He had a rugged face that slightly intimidated me. I glanced behind me, then back to him, then behind again. I pointed at myself and asked, "M...me?".

He walked towards me and slung his arm around my shoulders. Grinning, he said, "Yeah, you! You must be Amelia's friend. She described you as being quite slow and oblivious, which by the way, you really are. Come inside!"

Before I could even say anything, he dragged me into the bookstore. As I entered the bookstore, I was met with bookshelves of an impressive array of books. How exactly did these bookshelves fit into this tiny store? The number of books seemed endless, with each column of bookshelves categorised from fiction books to encyclopedias.

A woman was at the counter. She looked exactly like an older Amelia, from her eyes to her hair colour. She beamed at me and said, "Forgive my husband's rough antics. I'm Mrs Grace, Amelia's mother."

Oh, that explained it. The resemblance was uncanny. Amelia looked exactly like her mother.

Mr Grace finally let go of me, leaving me coughing and choking. He then slapped me on the back, hard, as he guffawed loudly. "I didn't expect you to be such a pipsqueak. Amelia didn't describe you as being so weak!" he said. Mrs Grace then added, "Amelia was talking on and on about how she made a friend named Roman yesterday. She hasn't seemed this excited before!".

"Jeez, Mom and Dad, stop embarrassing me" Amelia complained as she suddenly walked out from the door at the counter. Despite wearing a simple pink shirt and short pants, she still looked very pretty.

She grabbed my hand and led me through the door at the counter, with indistinct cheering and encouragements from her parents who were still at the store. I think they were getting the wrong message. Amelia took no notice of this though.

Her parents were really nice. Her Dad, even though he was quite rough, surely had good intentions. Her Mom, was an angel who looked extremely nice and caring. They were as cheerful as Amelia so I suppose that's where she got her bubbly personality from.

As I was led through the door, I entered a whole different world behind the bookstore. There were about three rooms, a living room, and a kitchen, which I then realised that it was her house.

There weren't many people who lived in these type of houses anymore, with a store in front and their house behind. Nowadays, many people preferred to live in bigger, more modern apartments.

We stopped in front of a room and she smiled, saying, "Let me show you more of my other drawings". I guessed that it was her room. I gulped nervously. I had never been in a girl's room.

Up to this point, I realised that I was still holding her hand. I let go quickly and awkwardly cleared my throat. "Alright, let's see it," I replied. I entered and I was greeted by a dresser, a bed and the numerous drawings on the walls.

I was literally surrounded by drawings. I couldn't see any sign of the walls. I just saw paper. These drawings were equally as beautiful as the one she had shown me. There were sketches of animals, plants, people, landscapes and many more.

I recognised some though, such as a sketch of the bookstore, so carefully and intricately drawn such that every detail of the bookstore was included. It was simply amazing and I was in awe of its glory.

She nudged me playfully and asked, "So how are they?", to which I answered, "Absolutely amazing".

Obviously pleased with my comment, she happily said, "I spent a lot of time on them. I can almost consider them my children!". We just stared at the drawings, creating this comfortable silence for about a good minute.

She suddenly clapped her hands, which startled me. "I have something else to show you!" she said excitely. Grabbing my hand again, she quickly led me out of the house and the bookstore. As I rushed out, I thanked her parents and said goodbye to them. In response, her Dad whistled and slapped me on the back again.

Ow, I think something broke.

As we walked out of the bookstore, the sun's rays temporarily blinded me. As my eyes readjusted to the brightness, I looked at Amelia's back. She was shorter than me, and her back was naturally smaller than mine, but now, her back somehow looked a thousand times bigger than mine.

Her courage and happiness was endless.

This girl considered me a friend after we met for the first time. This girl showed me her precious drawings even when we had just met. This girl, Amelia, had no idea of how much she was going to change my life.