Possibilities

The air itself seemed to be lighter than usual as their laughter filled the nearly empty café. The few remaining customers were too preoccupied in their own daily schedules to notice the potentially amazing partnership that was blossoming in front of them. At a table near the back, resting against a window, sat two unlikely acquaintances. One of which was a girl with light brown hair tied up loosely and a lighthearted smile gracing her eighteen year old, fair-skinned face. Opposite her sat a man of the same age with a similar skin-tone and piercing green eyes that shone with mirth. Long forgotten coffees and pastries lay on their generic light blue table. A loud laugh erupted from the man as response to one of the girl’s witty quips.

“I can honestly say that I’ve never heard that one before,” the man muttered, amazed at his companion’s personality. The girl smiled and tried to hide the blush that came from his blatant appreciation of her mind. She was not one to speak her mind, so it was unusual for her to receive this kind of reaction from someone.  

“Try this one: Call my name, and I no longer exist. What am I?” the girl asked with a look of curiosity in her eyes. She was interested to see if he knew the answer to such a classic riddle. Her inquisitiveness was not peaked because the riddle was so complex that only geniuses and the like could decipher it. No, she had in fact first come across the aforementioned puzzle on a Popsicle stick. She was keen to discover his answer simply because she wanted to learn more about him, to see if he truly was as wonderful as she had observed him to be so far. To her, the true test of a person’s mind came from their ability to think beyond the “box” and use their creativity. As a result, before anyone could be considered worth knowing, they had to pass her test. This man sitting across from her was on his last question.

“It’s silence. As soon as you say it, you’re creating noise. The silence no longer exists.” A smile passed over the girl’s face as she experienced the excitement of a finding an acceptable companion. This man had passed her test, with flying colors.

The man saw the approval glimmer in the girl’s eyes and felt a sense of triumph overcome him. He could see that she was hesitant about speaking with him. She was always a quiet student, slow to put faith in someone. He had wanted to get to know her, to break down her walls if only to have a decent conversation. Dull conversations about information that he had heard once or twice already were quickly becoming tiresome. He was in search of someone that he could talk to without feeling the need to claw his eyes out from boredom. When he noticed this intelligent wallflower, he knew she was a diamond, slightly in the rough. He knew she wasn’t used to people wanting to hear her out. He did want to hear her, though. She spoke with such conviction and passion about her interests and such contempt about those things that she disapproved of. This girl was someone that he could talk to for hours on end.

Yes, the air had felt lighter, and, yes, it was hardly a monumental event. But, to these two acquaintances-becoming-friends, this was a day when new doors opened. New opportunities came knocking. New possibilities arose. A friendship had formed in that café. True, it took plenty of monotonous conversations with other much less interesting people and the desire to find a person of limitless imagination that exceeded all standards, but these two had formed that friendship. It was something that neither would ever regret.  

Note: Just a short and sweet story that I thought up one day. I really did first discover that riddle on a Popsicle stick.

Read. Comment. Vote. Make a new friend. Tell a riddle. 

Thanks.

~Madeleine