She Was The 0.007%

Days until surgery: 9

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Tonight was a night that was meant be completely free of the worries that have been continuously crashing through my mind for the past few weeks. I stood in front of the mirror and saw how much of a hot mess I appeared to be. There were hooded dark circles underneath my eyes as a result of my mid-afternoon nap that I had taken to relieve myself of the week's exhaustion. I can NOT meet up with Tyler at ice skating looking like this, I thought to myself. I whirled around and faced my messy pit of a room and attempted to come up with an outfit idea that would suit the evening's events. As I dug through the piles of clean and dirty laundry that seemed to swallow my room, my eyes settled on a pair of black leggings and a mud brown knit top with lace detailing on the bottom.

I quickly changed into my outfit and looked at my large stereo to check the time. 6:30, that's plenty of time. I made my way into the bathroom across the hall and decided where to begin. After turning on the flat iron, I began to run the brush through my bunches of stringy dark hair until it was acceptably soft and silky and began to straighten the thin strands. My makeup had to be subtle but have a bit of an edge to it which led me to decide upon a gold smokey eye. I fluffed up my hair and rushed downstairs, slipped on a pair of mismatched fuzzy socks, grabbed my black boots, threw on my green army jacket, grabbed my wallet and ran out the door as my dad began to honk the horn of the car, my cue telling me that we needed to be leaving.

As I quickly hopped into the passenger seat of the minivan, my dad began to question my appearance. "Uh, seeing someone special tonight?"

    "Oh, um uh," I managed to stutter out. "Well, there's this guy Tyler that I'm meeting up with at the rink."

    "Do I know Tyler?" He asked in response.

    "I've mentioned him once or twice, I think. He plays guitar in his band, The Accusations." At this point, I was crossing my fingers hoping that my dad was still going to let me go skating tonight.

    "Ah, yeah. That kid. From what you've said, he sounds like a pretty good guy." So far so good. My dad turned the key in the ignition and the sound of the engine turning over vibrated throughout the car, helping the tension between my father and I relax a bit.

    "He really is a good kid, at least from what I know," I stated, adding a nervous chuckle with that last comment in an attempt to add some humor to the situation.

    "Well, that's good to hear," my father added, followed by a smile. He pulled the car out of the driveway and began to drive in the direction of the ice rink.

    During the car ride there, we mostly made small talk about the week's event and how school has been going lately. Time flew by, and before I knew it, we had stopped in front of the curb so that my dad would let me out of the car. We said our goodbyes and I stepped onto the sidewalk. Deep breaths, I told myself. It's not a date, it's just two friends hanging out. I slowly made my way up the concrete steps that joined with glass doors leading into the lobby of the ice rink. Opening the doors, I made my way inside.

    I quickly paid my fee for entry and skate rental, then stepped into the lobby. Tyler was sitting at one of the tables that were scattered amongst the crowded area. He was staring down at his phone, appearing bored as ever, and then looked up. It was almost as if the world went into slow motion. Tyler raised his gaze away from his phone and his almond shaped, dark eyes met my stare. His olive complexion appeared to be perfect in the lighting of the lobby, and when he saw how flustered I had become, the corner of his mouth went up ever so slightly, creating a small smirk. While I stood there looking at this boy who made my knees weak, I ran my fingers through my scalp and shot him a grin, biting my lip as I attempted to cover up how nervous I truly was at that moment.