Aliona

The encounter

An hour later she was in the kitchen having cereal when her phone buzzed.

Have to run an errand; are you free to escort me?            Mable

Sure, where do you want to meet?                                          Aliona

At mine in ten?                                                                                  Mable

Mable and Aliona had been friends since grade two and had done everything together since.Two hours later the girls were getting tired and decided to stop by their favorite slushy shop. Today it seemed fuller than normal as the midday heat was forcing more and more people seemed to need to have something cool to refresh them. Once they got to the counter Mable ordered a cream soda and Aliona ordered a berry slushy. When the girls go their slushies they headed over to their favorite table in the veranda. They had picked this sport because of the advantage of being able to watch to passersby to pass time and criticize outfits, couples and hairstyles for fun. As they walked over to the table Aliona's phone began to ring. Reaching into her handbag she tried to locate her phone having to first pass through a sea of lip-gloss, hand sanitizer, sunglasses and her wallet.

" I seriously need to get organized" she mumbled to herself when she finally found her phone. It was her Mom, " Hi, mom."

" Hi Dear, I was just calling to tell you........ found ......ersity in the the south that of...."

"mom , I cant hear you well the line is breaking up" Aliona said as she signaled to Mable that she was headed outside. Mable replied with a frown but signaled five minutes. Aliona smiled back and walked out the shop.

"Mom can you hear me?" she said to her phone. "Mom, hello?" she partly shouted before the line cut. "oh well, I'll just send her a text to repeat it" she mumbled to herself.

After she put the phone back into her bag she turned around to go and sit with Mable when she walked right into someone emptying half of her slushy on both of them. Looking up she found herself staring into a tall tan sandy blonde with aqua eyes. A few seconds later she realized that she was staring at him and he started to smile. Aliona shook her head to try and get her brain to wake up.

"Hi, I am so sorry i-" she said

"Don't be." The stranger said raising a hand," I should have looked where I was going" he said in a deep rich voice that sounded heavily accented. "but look let me replace that?"

Smiling back at him Aliona had a yes please halfway out of her mouth when she heard Mable calling her from behind him, "Maybe next time?" she said to the stranger and walked past him.

" Hey, wait," he called back after her." What's your name?"

"Aliona." She called back over her shoulder

"Until next time, Aliona Brumble." He said and turned to walk away. Aliona stopped when she realized that he had said her last name without telling him. Turning around to ask him how he knew all she found was a cheer squad walking into the Shop.

"Earth to Onya!?" Mable shouted to Aliona in the car on the way back Home.

"Huh?" Aliona replied looking back into the car. "Sorry Mae what did you say again?"

"What's up with you? You're acting all weird and distant this afternoon? I mean I have had to keep repeating what I am saying to you and.."

"I'm okay Mae" Aliona said butting in to what would have been some over exaggerated account of this afternoon. Mable had set up the whole afternoon and had wanted to get Aliona out of the house so that she could set her up on a double date with two guys she had met earlier that week. Aliona had only realized that once she returned to the table and found the two dates on their table with a very cheeky faced Mea.