Ten Years

Chapter Seven

Leïla coughed as she swallowed the ice cube in her fizzy water. "My most embarrassing secret? I'm not telling you that." She put the plastic cup down and crossed her arms unsuccessfully hiding a smile.

Edward's green eyes sparkled with mischief. "Why not?"

Yes, why not. She thought about it for a second. Worst case scenario? He'd think she was peculiar. Maybe laugh at her, joke at her expense. But that didn't bother her. After all, the probability that she'd see him again someday was close to none. And for some reason, the thought made her a little sad.

Leïla turned in her seat and faced him wrinkling her nose. "I talk aloud to things. It could be anything really. My car, my phone, my laptop, my teddy bear, my – "

"Wowowo. Wait a second. A teddy bear? Like an actual stuffed animal?"

Biting on her lip, Leïla smiled. She gave her tray to Edward and stood up. "I'll show you."

Edward put her tray and his in the aisle seat and got up to give her room to pass. She reached the overhead compartment and rummaged through her backpack.

"I would like you to meet Mister Bear," she said presenting Edward with a dishevelled one-eyed teddy bear. She sat back in her seat, one leg under her. "He goes everywhere I go. It's his first time to America too. Isn't this true Mister Bear?"

And she realised she'd done it again. She spoke to her teddy bear as if they were all alone in this world. She spoke to him as she always did ever since she was a little girl. As far as Leïla could remember, Mister Bear was always there. 

When she left home at seventeen to live in a dorm for business school, Mister Bear had been with her. Her roommates had mocked her for it, even her boyfriend of the time had mocked her for it. But she didn't care. Not then. Not now. Her love for Mister Bear was unwavering.

She risked a glance at Edward and braced herself for his mockery. Instead, the air grew thick with tenderness as he reached out and shook the teddy's hand. The moment of tenderness reached inside her, squeezing her heart.

"Nice to meet you. My name is..."

And then he looked at her. "Have you noticed? You don't know my name. And I don't know yours."

"And that's ..." she shrugged, not sure what to say next.

Leïla liked the anonymity, the thrill of speaking to a stranger, to even maybe flirt with him. She knew she had an effect on him. It was obvious in the way he talked and smiled at her. In the way he looked at her. Earlier, when she got up to grab her teddy bear from the overhead compartment, she noticed him closing his eyes as he caught a whiff of her scent. Yes, he liked her.

Keeping their names to themselves put them in a suspended bubble of their own, like a wrinkle in time and space. And for the moment, she liked it that way.

"Should we keep going?" she finally asked. "Not knowing each other's names?

"Alright," he said with a smile.

"Okay, that's settled. Now," she said and turned in her seat towards him. "What's yours? What's your most embarrassing secret? And please," she said, putting her hands in prayer, "don't tell me it's your love of Shakespeare. I'm not buying that."

He chuckled as he passed his hand in his curly hair. "Sharks. Big phobia of sharks. Massive fear. I feel like there are sharks in any mass of water."

"Flash news. That's where they live. In the water." She tapped her feet with his and laughed at her own joke.

Her laugh was infectious, and he joined her. "Whenever I'm in a swimming pool or the sea, the soundtrack for Jaws rings in my head. I can't help it."