Holding back

Mysterious Words

"Isn't this pizza delicious?" I exclaimed, trying to start a conversation.

"Yes." She replied quietly, tucking into the pizza too. Honestly, I was just glad to see her actually eating something, rather than her just moving it around her plate like she does at home.

"So, do you have any plans for tomorrow?" I asked. I kind of hoped she would say something like 'yeah I'm going back to the studio.'

"No." She murmured as she picked at her pizza. Just as I'd thought.

"How about you?" She added.

"I have the day off tomorrow, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do."

She looked back down at her plate and continued to nibble at her pizza. "Maybe we could... Do something together? You know, because neither of us are doing anything."

She stopped eating her pizza and looked up at me. "... I don't know" she replied.

I nodded to show that I understood and put my head down and started eating my pizza.

I looked back up to see her staring over at the play area across from us. I wasn't sure what she was looking at and before I had chance to ask, she was walking over to the play area. I just sat back and watched as she did the most un-selfless act I'd ever witnessed. There was a child, a little girl, she was sat on the floor near the entrance, she looked sad. Angie carefully sat beside her and whispered something in her ear. I don't know what she said, but the little girls face lit up, and to my amazement, so did Angie's. For the first time, I saw a genuine smile appear on her face. Before she got back up, she reached into her bag and pulled something out, I don't know what as she was too far away, but whatever it was, she gave it to the little girl before getting back up and coming back over to the table.

My heart melted at the scene, Angie looked like she was actually back. She looked happy.

"What was all that about?" I asked with a sense of curiosity in my voice.

"I know that girl." She replied. She picked up a chip and started to eat it, I sat waiting for a minute for a real explanation.

"She's the little sister to one of the boys at the studio. I met her at a production night once, she came to watch. She would come to the studio every Friday while her mum worked late and I used to entertain her."

I was amazed at the amount of words actually coming out of her mouth.

"Is she alright?" I asked.

"She's the only girl out of all 5 children and she gets left out sometimes. Whenever I saw her at the studio I would say the same thing to her, it always cheered her up." Angie gave me a sad smile and again, I thought I saw a tear. But before I could see for sure, she slowly lowered her.

"What do you say to her?" I wasn't being nosey. I really wanted to know, because it really cheered this little girl up.

"It's a secret." She replied mysteriously.

I sat back in my chair in awe. Angie never failed to surprise me. I liked it. Looking back over to the little girl, I could see a missive grin upon her face as she played with the other children in the play area. I was amazed at how fast her mood changed. But that's what little girls do. Vilu would be sad one minute, and laughing the next!

We ate the rest of the pizza in silence until we were both full.

"Are you ready to go?" I smiled.

"Can we just make one more quick stop?" She aksed.

"Sure!" I replied. I was in shock. Normally she would have ran to the car, ignored me all the way there, and then run up to her room.

"Thank you." She said with a half smile. It was like she didn't know whether she wanted to smile or not.

"So where do you want to go?"

"The bookstore. I...lost the book you gave me..." She lied. I could tell she was lying, plus I'd seen the book.

"Right." I smiled, trying to pretend that I didn't know the truth.

She "lost" the book.