WANTED: Love of my Life

21. Dating in the dark park

How to wake up at midnight without setting an alarm-clock and consequently waking your parents and starting an inquisition as to why you wanted to wake up at midnight in the first place – that is a conundrum with which, I think, not many teenage girls are faced on the night of their first date.

In the end, I just decided to stay up. Even if I would be dead on my feet when I reached the Golden Gate Park, at least I would be there and not in my bed snoring, and Giacomo could hold me in his arms while I slept. That thought actually did a pretty good job keeping me awake while I lay in the dark, my heart hammering in anticipation. I wished I could have read to distract myself. But my dad frequently had to relieve his overactive bladder in the middle of the night, and if on his way to the bathroom he saw light in my room at this hour, all hell would break loose.

The glowing digits on my clock changed incredibly slow. Slower even than Cathy in a high-prized boutique. Finally, they showed 11:00 pm. Time to consider my next conundrum: How to get out of the house without anybody noticing? My eyes drifted to the window and the fire escape behind it. Sure, I had fantasized often enough about going somewhere without Cathy or my parents or anyone knowing. But fantasizing about something and actually doing it were two very different things – at least for me. I was no Jen. And yet, the fire escape stood there, so tempting...

I jumped up from my bed and winced as my foot landed on a squeaking floorboard. For a few moments I stood there, listening. No sound suggested that I'd woken my parents or, God forbid, my sister. So I grabbed my backpack from the chair it sat on, slung it over my back and opened the window. Luckily, it didn't squeak. My mother, conscientious housewife that she was, had oiled it only yesterday. How nice of you, mom. Thank you so very much.

Before I could think better of it, I slid through the window out onto the fire escape. Shivering, I stood in the dark staring up at the stars.

It was a cold, clear night, cold as they often were here in sunny California. I'd once asked Sandra why that was, and she said it was because there was little vegetation to store the warmth of the sun. Wow. I hadn't known that trees could be so hot. And I still didn't quite believe it. Whatever the reason for the cold was, it wasn't nice. I briefly considered taking a jacket. But they all were one floor down in the big family wardrobe and I didn't want to risk going downstairs. There were a lot more squeaky floorboards around.

Teeth chattering, I crossed my arms in front of my chest, to hold the warmth in. Why couldn't my parents have moved into a new apartment building instead of this old monster with its squeaky floorboards and piece-of-junk elevators? O, what the hell. I would have to reach the Golden Gate Park without a jacket, and without freezing, and without losing my way, and without my parents finding out and grounding me for the next fifty years. No problemo.

I stared at the glowing lights of the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. All I would have to do is walk in that direction, and sooner or later, I would end up in the Golden Gate Park. That didn't sound difficult, did it? Even I should be able to manage walking in a straight line. So why were my knees wobbling?

Probably because it was dark. And I was alone. And I was about to do something that I had never ever done before. Something that might change my life forever. Something stupid. It really would be smarter to turn back, go back into bed and forget all about this guy whose name started with G. All that I knew about him made it clear to me that we two – we weren't meant for each other. He was too old, too foreign, too broke, too everything. And the things I didn't know about him served only to support that fact. I really should turn around now. Immediately.

I started down the stairs. The farther I came, the faster I ran. I had a date! A date with Giacomo!