An Endless Serenade

Elliot [Part One]

            ⠀"It's okay, I get told I talk too much all the time," she responded, holding up her hands and waving them.

            ⠀I nodded and continued to stare at my phone. Maybe that would be the end of the conversation.

            ⠀"Are you waiting for your girlfriend to call?"

Girlfriend? I turned back to the girl— Callie, I think she said— and felt my face grow hot before I could control it. "It's not..."

            ⠀Her features became knowing and she grinned at me. "I know that look. You're in l-o-v-e love."

            ⠀Love? How did she know? Was I that obvious? Just by looking at my phone?

            ⠀"Ah, I'm so jealous! I want to be in love," she sighed wistfully. "What's your girl like? Is she tall? Sporty? Is she buff?"

            ⠀I almost snorted. Allie wasn't any of those things. Sporty was the last thing that came to mind.

            ⠀"She's definitely cute. You look the type to date really pretty girls," Callie observed, eyeing me up and down. "Do you have a picture of her? I bet you have tons."

            ⠀"She's not my girlfriend," I said, uncomfortable with all the questions. And now that she'd mentioned it, I realized I barely had any pictures of Allie. I didn't even think I had one with both of us together. Paul was the one with lots of them, most likely.

            ⠀Callie paused for a moment. "Ah, unrequited love."

            ⠀Did this girl not know what was accepted as a social norm? I stared at her in disbelief. If I thought Allie was bad, then this girl could rival her. Why would anyone trying to randomly start a conversation about love of all things?

            ⠀"I'm also familiar with that," she told me, even though I didn't ask. "You can't really help what your heart wants. Or what someone else's heart wants."

            ⠀I understood that now.

⠀"But you must really love that girl, if so."

            ⠀I gave her a doubtful look. What did she know about anything? "Why do you think that?"

            ⠀"Because if you love someone while knowing they will never love you back, then it must be real love. Why else would you put yourself through that pain?"

             ⠀Her unexpectedly profound words caught me off guard and I felt that awful, squeezing sensation again. Yes, it was real love. I never thought I would fall in love, but I had. Just not with the right person and definitely not at the right time.

            ⠀Callie reached out and patted my knee. "There's a bright side to it."

            ⠀A bright side to it? A bright side to seeing the person you love loving someone else? "What?"

            ⠀"You still have all that love and some day you will meet someone who truly deserves that love and when you give it to them, you'll be glad you didn't waste it on something that might not have meant to be," she told me, nodding her head confidently.

            ⠀There was only so much sappy stuff I could take before it got to me. So while her words did soothe my heart some, I also felt a little gross. "You're weird."

            ⠀"I get that a lot," she told me, shrugging.

⠀"Are you going to talk the whole flight?"

            ⠀"Do you want me to talk the whole flight?"

            ⠀To give her an answer to her question, I angled my body away from her. I didn't want her reading my soul or whatever she was doing the whole time.

⠀A few minutes later the captain announced that we would be taking off and the flight attendants played the instructional video and then ordered us to switch our phones to airplane mode. I hesitated only for a moment before switching it. Allie wasn't going to text me.

⠀The plane started to move and suddenly I felt a claw-like grip on my hand. I jerked it back, glaring at Callie, who had her eyes screwed shut. Was she that scared? I figured she hadn't meant to grab my hand, so I didn't say anything. Her jaw was clenched and she looked like she was trying to keep her breathing calm. I thought I was nervous, but she looked way worse than me.

⠀Who cares? I thought, but I felt a weird nagging feeling. If Allie were here, she'd be trying to comfort that girl in any way she could. Obviously she was having a tough time. But it wasn't my problem. But...

⠀"You should chew some gum," I told her once the initial change of momentum was over.

⠀My voice caused her to jump and her eyes shot open. "What?"

⠀I dug into my backpack and pulled out a pack of gum and handed her a piece. "Chew this. Your ears won't pop as bad."

⠀"Oh, thanks," she responded and took a piece. "Is this your way of telling me my breath stinks?"

⠀I immediately felt my face get hot. "No."

⠀She grinned and popped the gum into her mouth. "I'm just kidding."

⠀I scowled at her, which just made her grin wider. I didn't understand. Why didn't she leave me alone like most people? I didn't exactly have the friendliest face around.

⠀"What's your name, anyway?" she tried.

⠀I debated not telling her.

⠀"Come onnnn," she urged. "If you don't tell me I'll just look at your pass or luggage tag."

⠀"It's Elliot," I said, hoping it would shut her up. Even her voice sounded like Allie's voice.

⠀She kind of pulled back a little and then smiled wryly to herself. "Of course."

⠀"Huh?"

⠀"No, nothing! Nice to meet you, Elliot."

⠀I kind of expected her to call me Eli. When she didn't, I felt slightly annoyed. Which annoyed me even more. Why did I want her to call me Eli? Because she was reminding me of Allie? That just made it worse. I had to get away from this girl.

⠀"Where are you headed all alone, anyway?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

⠀Maybe if I didn't answer her she'd get the hint. But I was stuck with her for the whole flight. It might get awkward. "Studying abroad," I muttered eventually.

⠀"Me too," she said happily. "I'm studying music though."

⠀I blinked. A sinking feeling appeared in my gut.

⠀"I got an e-mail from one of the school's in Paris saying they had some opening spots for some students to come for the summer and of course I said yes!" she went on, confirming my fears.

⠀Suddenly I realized my fate had been decided. I was doomed to live a life of being around girls like Allie.

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You guys said you wanted Elliot to have a love story and I decided to give you guys one! A short one. Maybe five parts? Allie will make an appearance again too :D