Continued Silence

Six : so you stalk me, right?

2nd February, 2010.

She was life itself; wild and free, wonderfully chaotic: a perfectly put together mess.

I woke up that morning to a thin blanket of cold February air. The pleasant smell of hot chocolate was rising up in the air. A perfect Sunday morning. I opened the window and the cold air rushed in. It felt good to be alive. I had always liked winter more than any season. Warm Sundays with hot chocolate inside while the weather freezing outside was magical.
I looked at Grace's house. It was so quiet and still as if nobody lived there. I hadn't talked to her since that party. Although I saw her everyday in school, but I didn't get any chance to talk.

I raced down for an epic breakfast. Everyone was already there. I raised my voice and spoke with enthusiasm,
"Good morning."
They all replied with their mouthfulled. I sat down and joined them. Out of nowhere, my mother asked,
"Daniel, you look so excited today. Anything special?"
I calmy swallowed my French bread and said,
"I have such a wonderful family who is eating this wonderfully warm breakfast while the weather outside is splendid and it's a good day, so there is every possible thing to be excited about."

My dad bursted into a laughter and ran his fingers through my straight brown hair. He said,
"Well, then I must pray that everything remains like this."
Chris joined in and replied,
"It will, forever."
My mum playfully said, while her hair closed in a bun,
"But isn't forever an incorrect concept?"
She was right. Nothing stays forever. I spoke,
"Yes, it is but sometimes forever can be of seconds. But whatever happens tomorrow, we still had today."
Everyone agreed and we all cheered up our mugs. Chris cheered up so hard that half of his hot chocolate spilled on his new sweater that advertised a company I didn't like anymore.
"Oh Goodness." He shouted.
We all laughed. I could see that we were having a great day. I was lucky. I had a family . I again thought of Grace and how her mum wasn't there anymore. I looked at my mum for an infinite forever. She smiled and asked,
"What's wrong, honey?"
"Nothing mum" I replied and added," I just want to let you know I love you so much. I love all of you."
She gave me a warm hug and said,
"I love you too. Now let's eat."
I smiled and continued my welcoming breakfast, while my brother came back and his sweater was again good as new.

I wore my Russian jacket and a pair of long boots and then went outside in the lawn. I sat on my swing that was my favourite spot. I had brought my box of stones and gems with me. I counted them all. I had almost fourteen precious stones. Everyone has a hobby. Mine was music, writing and collecting stones. I wondered what Grace liked to do. I wanted her to tell me everything. Her hidden mystery.

Only if she could look at me the way I did. The way I noticed her small scar on her leg, or her gloomy eyes, her strawberry lipgloss, or the small lines that appeared when she smiled.

As I sat there all by myself, I heard a voice. It was Grace. Both of our homes were just separated by a white fence. A small little separation.
She smiled, looked at me and said,
"What a pleasant weather, isn't it?"

Seriously, I didn't understand the way she acted around me. I mean like in school, mostly we never talked. Of course I had tried to catch her eye, but she was always looking away as if I didn't exist, yet somehow, she had spent best night of the year with me. After that night, I thought maybe we could become friends or speak often but all my hopes were dashed to the ground. I wanted to protest that but it wasn't a good moment, so I replied,
"February mornings are always pleasant."
She smiled and glanced at her watch saying,
"Noon, actually."
"Oh yeah, noon it is."I replied.
It seemed to me that the conversation was over but she opened the gate that was between our lawns and sat right beside me on the other swing.
Grace gestured towards the swing and said,
"You really enjoy sitting here, don't you?"
"Absolutely. The way you enjoy sitting there." I gestured towards the rooftop.
She laughed lightly and mockingly said,
"So you stalk me, right?" 
I felt rather blushy so I said,
"No, not at all."