Adam's Apple Pie

Six - Second Session

She took another drag from her cigarette and blew smoke towards my direction. "Where do you think I'm from? Or do you think we all look the same?"

My heart raced and the palms of my hands were caked in sweat. My mind struggled to find an answer that would placate the situation so that I didn't even up getting cancelled by the Social Media puritans.

Dr Eve laughed. "I'm just teasing you! It's all right, you're not the first one to ask me that and you won't be the last. Tell the truth, I'm not sure myself. I've been here so long I don't even know my own heritage."

My heart calmed down a bit, but my palms remained sweaty.

We talked for about an hour, during which time I made sure I kept my focus towards Dr Eve's eyes at all times. Each time she breathed in, her chest expanded greatly – almost as if she wanted me to look. But I steeled myself, eating her pie. She had given me a bigger portion this time so I made sure to drag it out a little with each bite. Although that itself was also a challenge. With eat bite, I could feel my stress and anger melting away, until it became more comfortable to look at Dr Eve without trying to hide my gaze.

And it became more comfortable to speak to her about something that had been gnawing away at me since this morning.

"So today, I read in the paper about a girl being murdered," I told Dr Eve.

"Oh, I heard about that as well," Dr Eve said, "how tragic. What was her name again?"

"Charlotte," I replied. "Charlotte Tyler."

Dr Eve stopped mid breath and pulled a newly lit cigarette away, the tips of it stained with her red lipstick. "You knew her, didn't you?"

I thought I'd been a bit more subtle about keeping my feelings for Charlotte in check, but this woman could read me like an open book. I mean, it WAS her job after all, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I nodded my head slightly, unable to bring words to it at first, at least not without another bite of pie. "She was at my school," I replied, pausing for a moment.

"Please go on," Dr Eve said.

I hadn't told anyone this story for years, to be honest I hadn't even thought about it until now. I wouldn't have preferred not to tread this memory again, but somehow I felt compelled. I cleared my throat. "She was the girl everyone dreamed of. The beloved Princess and every boy wanted to be her Prince."

"Including you?" Dr Eve asked.

I avoided answering that at first. "Looking back, there was no way someone like me would ever get a girl like her," I continued. "At my school there were only two types of boys – the sporty tough guys and the geeks. I was the latter. A fat, ugly little git whose only chance of pulling a girl was if she was blind. That didn't stop me from fantasizing though, about me and Charlotte. I was stupid enough to believe I had a chance. But then, I guess we're all stupid at that age. Growing up, I was made to believe that if a man is charming and handsome, he would woo a girl – just like in the old stories. I decided to try my luck and write poetry to her, seeing as that seemed to be all the rage when I was a kid. I would give them to my friend Ricky – who I called Ricky the Porker, on account that he was fat, he offered to sneak them to her. But no matter how many times I wrote, I never got a reply.

"Until one day, Ricky handed me a letter that was from Charlotte. From the moment I opened it, I could smell her sweet perfume on the paper. I couldn't believe my luck; the girl of my dreams was actually writing back to me. She told me that she wanted to meet me, that she was wooed by my amazing poetry. That I was the most romantic person she knew. She asked me to meet her in the alley by school.

"I've been thinking of that day a lot, and I still remember it. My heart beating in my chest, my fingers tingling as I headed into the alley. Ricky offered to keep lookout for me – he seemed more nervous than I was. Then I saw Charlotte, her brown hair resting across her shoulders, looking like a goddess. Her brown eyes turned towards me, making my heart flutter like the wings of a bird. My throat went dry as I lost all my ability to speak and my legs were like jelly as I stumbled towards her. Her beautiful smile drew me in, like bait to a fish. I kept on asking myself how I could have gotten this lucky, but I wasn't going to question it. All I know was that she was there. My Princess.