Chronicles of Love and Other Stuffs

It Was There, It Wasn't There

Leisure times have never failed to satisfy Gabie with enough wild dreams and outrageous thoughts about Dylan Ford, her long-time quarterback crush and current classmate. But at least for her she calls it leisure, although the real term for it was way too far beyond it.

When in the middle of the class, she always busies her mind with those same mind-numbing thoughts and ingenious tales of her only obsession, Dylan. It had become her usual routine for five weeks in a row now. It might seem weird of her for that, fantasizing hysterically and non-stop about him. But she takes no notice of those characters who try to intervene and spoil her cloud of thoughts. She always don't take those clowns who force an entry through her fence of daydreaming into account. That's her. Or more like...that had become of her.

But her story starts one, fresh Monday morning right when every freshmen students all over town should grab their backpacks so as for the very first blast of the day. Gabie's day-start was the drill of being off to school even when seven-thirty haven't ticked yet. But she had set off in a futile rush to catch up the Most Punctual Award that she had been dreaming of. So off she skidded through various streets and roads up until she had finally settled herself on her own seat in her room. She had succeeded being the first student to show up. But it had cost her huffs and puffs and breathless gasps.

She watched as the clock ticked by so damn lightning fast. She sat erect on her arm-chair. She was waiting for something. Something that she had been anticipating to happen any minute soon after. Something she had been waiting to happen for the past few days. For the past few weeks rather.

So with sweaty palms and trembling fingers, she tried to steady herself on her seat but failed to do so. The shaking anxiety that had been lurking over her head had failed to lend her enough reassurance and ease. Time flew in a complete rapidity that she had failed to notice how long she had been trying to brace herself over fifteen minutes later. Her neck had been stiff for minutes and her arms and legs were numb enough she couldn't make another faulty move or else she'd just screw herself up. She mentally begged to the Sovereignty to hasten the flow of the time even more so she could get the next thing to happen over with already.

And almost as quickly as the first bead of sweat fell down from over her forehead, the sound of approaching footsteps rumbled within earshot. The first few echoes and thuds of the forthcoming footsteps caused Gabie's heart to jump. Her heartbeats raced within herself and she tried to choke in all her uneasiness and nerves. But instead, they formed a big bulge along her throat. It had made things even worse, though. But she took a hold of herself and braced all her muscles and nerves, trying to gulp in all the troubles within.

What she had been anticipating to happen...was the arrival of her very own long-time, football-star fascination. Of course, that was Dylan. And she was as certain as her prediction that she'd fail Algebra next quarter that it was him that was walking along the hallway outside the room. She was certain enough because her instincts had told her that. And she had trusted her instincts for thirteen long years now. Something from the back of her head told her that it was Dylan Ford that was walking outside. And nothing more.

So she set herself up. She gathered all her strengths together and retouched herself. She stroked her ponytail that fell down her shoulder in definite curls. She dabbed a pea-sized blob of gloss on her lips and smacked them once for a more desirable effect. She flattened and leveled the few crumples and folds on her blouse and skirt. She stroked her hair once more and fished a Fiction book from inside her bag so she could act as if she was utterly concentrated on reading it. Although her eyes just scanned the illustrations of few random pages.

She crossed her legs in front of her in a vain hope that it might make her look comfortable.

And no sooner had she done that than when the door eased open in a soft, easy creak that awakened all her nerves back. She urged herself not to look up no matter what, or else the next thing she'd regret would be doing it. But when she herself couldn't fight the urge to look up to the new-comer, she lifted her head up in a split second.

"Good morning..." said a manly voice which crackled in a deep, rich bass that tickled her ears like feathers. It took her a moment to pick through the tension and find the right words to utter. "Uh, where are the others...?" he said when she felt like showing no interest for any response.

But she settled for saying, "Uh... there are no others. It's just you... and me."

She hoped that does not sound romantic. And he seemed not noticing it. Or did he just neglect the emotion within that.

He walked in.

She made the slip-up of staring at his direction.

His eyes met hers. And that thump came from within her chest. Sweat popped out of Gabie's forehead. Her feet were damp with sweat that was brought by the tenseness.

"Say, we've been classmates for almost a month now. And I don't know your name yet. Could you introduce yourself, please...?"

That jolted up her heartbeat a substantial and hefty gash. She stared at his face for a while.

Next moment, the corners of his mouth lifted to put on a friendly smile.

"Nevermind..." he said when she held back a hint of reaction. "You can continue reading. If I have..."

"My name's Gabriela Lyss," she cut in immediately. "They call me Gabie."

The approval was clear in his eyes as he sat on his chair on the far corner. "That's a nice name..." he put on a remark. He rolled the name on his tongue for a long while.

The next minutes passed by in silence and stillness.

But then, Gabie felt the apt decision to talk to him.

"Hey, Dylan..." she called out. She tried to sound confident and assured pronouncing his name although she felt nothing like it.

"It's a good thing you knew me at all..." he said, flashing a smile. "What is it...?"

She was going to say something awkward next so she took a grip of herself and gazed at his direction. Her heartbeat raced and went wild when she opened her mouth to speak. This is it, her mind convinced her. She readied all the next few words she's going to blurt out any sooner. Whatever his reaction would be, she won't care. She's just going to say something she had been keeping and that's it. She won't buy any worse crap after.

So without much further commotion and ruckus within herself, she unfastened her lips and said in a soft and quiet manner, "Would it be alright if I admit I had a crush on you...ever since? I mean...I'm not saying that you should...um, how do I say this, uh..."

She halted.

Because the first question had no sooner left her mouth than he stood to walk towards her direction. And in a split second of uncertainty, she stiffened on her arm-chair. She regretted asking him that in the first place. She shouldn't have done that. But who knows what his reaction would be?

He was walking in long, quick strides that he reached her seat in three seconds' time. His face displayed a knowing smile. Gabie didn't know what to do. He was just too captivating for her to seize herself. She tried to find the right words and the exact reaction to produce in a single stack. She was too pent up with the emotions that messed around her head to smile about something. She was too flabbergasted to say much of anything. The muscles that bordered her jaw began to stir up. She was too congested with too much emotion to react.

So when there was nothing else left to do, she closed her eyes and prayed that this wasn't something like reality. That those were just fragments of her imaginations and fantasies.

And everything fell off to an utter silence. It seemed as if the world had just stopped spinning and that everything around her was swallowed along with the abrupt halt of time.

She opened her eyes deliberately.

There was silence.

And she was in a different place.

Inside her room.

Looking at her mirror.

So everything was really just fragments of her imaginations...

She grabbed her backpack and dashed through the door. She's fifteen minutes late again...

~END~

How's that?