The Stranger I Met

The Wilmores

* Picture of Tristen*

I was five minutes away from my home. Today was a bit better at the Vernacular. I asked Jason to give me the ticket booth rather than any of the food stalls. The small glass cubicle seemed safer and kept me away from soda cans , popcorn buckets and more importantly, Jason. Gosh , how could someone look so amazing in a stupid uniform. It was getting difficult each day to keep myself away from him. Molly was pretty much my only motivation.

I parked my car in the garage and head towards the main gate. Tyler would be here in 30 minutes to take me to the rehearsals.

" Mom, I am home." I call out to my mother while closing the main door. I almost make a run towards my room through the living room when I stop dead in my tracks. I see the man whom every single one of my nerves hate. Everything about him ticks me off in ways I can't express. Tristen Wilmore , who is now sitting on my couch in my living room drinking coffee from one of my crockeries.

He looks up from my mug." Hello, Auro-" . Before he can finish, Alison, his mother comes running towards me from the kitchen." Oh my god! Ro-Ro." She shrieks and covers her mouth with both her hands. She looks at me up and down and suddenly fills the distance between us and gives me her bear hug." Look at you. All grown up." She takes a step back and holds me by my shoulders. Her blonde hair is all over her face because of all the freakish excitement." Hey Alison. You might wanna get your face waxed. This look doesn't suit you." She laughs and removes her hair from her face." You look just like your mother when she was in high school."

" Well what should I say, she gifted me some of her genes. By the way, what is with the name Ro-Ro? You never called me that before." She shrugs at my question." I heard Molly call you that last time, and it kind of stuck with me."

Another voice interrupts our small festivity. " According to me, Ro-Ro is far better than your last nick name "Aura-Dora""

I turn around to see Naisha standing with her hands folded and her left side supported by the wall." Hey." I almost dance towards her. We hug tightly. I was beyond happy to see her. She is Alison's youngest daughter and is my age.

The Wilmores and us usually meet during summers for around 30 days. Sometimes we go to their place in Manhattan and sometimes they would come visit us. Alison and my mom were high school confidants and were lucky enough to get the same college. They had decided to stay in touch no matter what. Alison and Mr Wilmore were college sweethearts and my mother met my dad on her first field trip by her company after college and they both had instantly fallen for each other. But my dad and Mr Wilmore were always at loggerheads with each other, major reasons why mom and Alison could not keep to their promise of being in touch. I never blamed Mr Wilmore for hating my dad, who doesn't.

Still being the best friends they were, after having kids , both women decided to fulfill their plans. While their respective husbands were gone on their respective stupid business trips, we all had our friendly reunions.

When I first met Naisha, I instantly had a liking towards her which lead to our great friendship. Alison always loved me like her own daughter, giving me brainless nicknames just like Naisha, whose latest one was "Shu- Bu". It almost gave me laughter fits when I heard Alison call her that.

And then there's her evil twin, who actually is 2 years older to us. He has always ignored both of us and even when he would talk, he made it feel as if he was doing us some kind of community service. I still remember when we had gone to meet them in the summer when I was 12. He tried to grope me in my bedroom but Naisha came in and saw the heinous attempts of her brother and slapped him. I have loathed his existence since .

~~~•

" There is nothing better in this whole world than your cookies, Meredith." Naisha says looking at my mom. All of us were sitting at the dinning table enjoying my mom's special peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies." Thank you sweety." Alison picks up her fourth or fifth cookie." Put a hold on it Ali, I don't want to spend tonight holding your hair while you let your glands out." My mom takes away Alison's cookie." Hey!" She wails. Naisha and I start laughing , almost choking on our own cookies.

Amidst all this gleeful environment, I had completely forgotten the presence of the evil. Tristen was sitting at the end of the table, engrossed in his phone." Tristy, " Alison puts her cookie down and frowns at him." How many times have I told you, no electronics on the table." He looks up at her, turning his face into one of his favourite sour expressions. " And how many times have I told you not to call me Tristy." I even hate his husky voice. Suddenly his phone buzzes. He picks up the call and leaves the table. I could feel the room getting brighter as he departs. That beelzebub carried his darkness every where with him.

I turn towards Naisha." So , to what do I owe this pleasure before summer?" Her left eyebrow shoots up and she gives me one of her winsome grins.

" You are going to love the reason for us being here ."

" Oh!" I exclaim." Do tell." I pick up another warm cookie from the tray." Well as you know, Tristen has finished his first year."

" Wait, stop, take a break." I stammer waving my hands in all directions." You know, anything related with Tristen is not something I'd even like, let alone love." She makes a grumpy face." Will you let me finish." I slump my shoulders in defeat." Good, as Tristen has finished his first year, I have decided-" she takes a deep breath. " An ear throbbing, town shaking, earth exploding PARTY!!!!" She screams the last word. Even Alison stops her conversation and looks at us." Seems like she told you the reason we are here so early."

" Well" Naisha continues, " my sweet mother here didn't let me throw a party when my mongrel brother got in the college."

" Naisha! Don't talk about your brother like that." Alison says in shock." Whatever " Naisha jerks her hand dismissing Alison." This time, I forced her to let me throw a party. And you don't need to worry about anything." She whispers to me." Tristen won't honour us with his presence. He never comes to any of my parties. Probably lurks around with his pack of mongrels. It is just going to be your people, my people and tons of booze." She winks at me. I grin at the idea of hosting another party with Naisha.

Tristen enters the living room, as ignorant as ever." There is some guy with weird hair and an ugly Mustang outside."

" Shit," I say and turn towards my mom." I completely forgot about Tyler." I get up from my chair in a hustle." I'll be back in an hour or two." My mom nods at me, smiling. I give Naisha a small peck on the cheek and dash towards the door.

" Who the hell was that guy?" Tyler asks me as I sit in the passenger seat." Nobody worth wasting my conversation on."

" Well then I can put high bets on him being Tristen." I roll my eyes." Please, let's just go."

~~~•

" Perfect as usual Aurora." Mrs Hall says after our rehearsal." Let's do it again from the top."

" Umm , Mrs Hall." I interrupt," I have to be somewhere. Can we do this tomorrow?"I ask a bit timidly ." Of course my dear. Whatever you say. I was anyway going to call you both tomorrow."

" And why is that?" Tyler asks putting on his jacket." You know, for the kissing part. I want to see that you both are over the awkward phase. I don't want any of that on stage." Tyler and I exchange a look of guilt. Mrs Hall catches it and puts her scripts down to look at us." Don't tell me." She sighs." What's with the hesitation. It's just a normal kiss. You know how desperately I want this scene to be perfect and you are stalling the most imp-"

" Don't worry Mrs Hall. We both will be ready by tomorrow." Tyler assures her." That's better." We leave the theatre before she can force us to practice it in front of her.

Thank you everyone for reading so far. The twists have just begun. New chapter coming soon.😘