Your Mark on Me

Chapter 5: Invitation

It was a semi-detached townhouse in Columbia Heights, on a quiet street branching out from New Hampshire Avenue. An apple tree shaded the small portion of lawn at the front, two shrubs of rose verbena in ceramic containers flanking the front door. At the sight of the black car parked on the gravel driveway, my nervousness reached a whole new level: he was at home.

I walked up the few steps to the entrance and reached towards the doorbell, my finger hovering above it, lingering for a long time until I became disgusted at my own inability to act, so I took in a deep breath and pressed it. A muffled "ding-dong" reached my ears from behind the door. For a few long seconds, I just stood there, waiting anxiously, listening out for any noise or shuffle that would signal that anyone was in.

A faint thump dramatically accelerated my heart rate.

He was coming. Or someone was, anyway. What was I going to say? What was I even doing there? Maybe there was still time to run away, maybe...

Too late. With a high-pitched squeak the door opened, and the man-in-a-suit was right there in front of me, except he wasn't wearing a suit now, but a dark robe with a V-cut low enough that I could see the faint dark shade of the hair on his chest. My boldness vanished instantly. I just stared at him, and he stared back at me in confusion and disbelief for a few long seconds, before finally saying:

"Piano girl? What are you doing here?"

"Well, uh, hi. I wanted to thank you... for the tickets. And I was wondering if..."

I paused, unsure of how to word it. For once in my life, I'd been spontaneous, and dear God, was I regretting it. He looked at me patiently, still blocking the doorframe, waiting for me to continue. I swallowed, painfully aware of the silence, wondering how much longer I could keep not saying anything before he'd lose his patience.

"... if you made any plans for the evening? Because it was such short notice... I couldn't find anyone to go with... and I didn't want the other ticket to go to waste, so... here, you can have it back."

I fumbled through the purse, found one of the tickets and held it towards him.

He gave a slight smile. "You didn't have to go through the trouble."

I was tempted to leave it at that and turn around, but I knew I would have hated myself for it later. My fist clenched so hard that my nails painfully dug into the flesh of my palm, I forced myself to say it.

"I was thinking we could go together. It only seems fair since I haven't got anyone else to go with and they were your tickets in the first place."

There was a long silence. He looked at me attentively, as if trying to figure me out or maybe thinking up an excuse. I held my breath, anxious for the verdict. Eventually, he gestured towards his clothes: "I'm not really ready to go".

"I can wait." I put on my best puppy eyes while looking up to him.

"I don't know. I've got... some things to do."

He wasn't even making an effort to come up with a decent excuse. My morale had completely deflated, but in a burst of inspiration, I played the birthday card.

"It's okay if you're busy, I can go on my own. I mean, I already knew I'd be alone on my birthday, at least now I have something nice to do in the evening. So thank you."

I made as if I was about to leave.

"Wait."

He sighed, conflicting emotions on his face. "I'll come. I guess you're right, it would be a waste if I didn't. I'll need to quickly change though, so come in."