The Unsolvable Equation

Chapter Twenty-one

“Hey,” Almier said on Friday afternoon. He was wearing a grin that, instead of his usual friendly-cum-nervous expression, radiated pride and joy.

“Well somebody looks excited. What’s up?” Alexia replied, trying to return his joy with her own forced excitement.

“Guess what! I just got my new car. It’s a second handed one, but it’s fixed up pretty well and I’m really proud of the way it’s turned out! In any case, it’s much better than the old one that was practically breaking apart,” He gushed, then, his face suddenly reddened and he glanced at her with the bashful expression of a child looking for candy. “Would you, um, like a ride home?”

Alexia grinned, always glad to spend some alone time with Almier. “I’d love to! Saves me the trouble of walking home, anyway.”

He led her to where his new car was parked, and Alexia expected to see a slightly improved replica of his tiny old station wagon. However, when Almier walked towards a shiny blue vehicle, she had to do a double take to make sure that the good-as-new compact car in front of her really did belong to him. The car was small, but it was polished to perfection and did not have a scratch in sight. It had a bright metallic blue that wasn’t over bright, yet eye catching and gave the car a youthful vibe. Almier glanced sheepishly at her and patted the hood of the vehicle. “Like it?”

“Oh, wow, Almier, I wasn’t expecting it to look so new. The guy who worked on this certainly did a great job!”

Almier looked pleased with himself. ” Actually, I kinda helped out as well. With the dance coming up this weekend, I figured I had to put in some effort if I wanted to be able to dazzle you in time.”

Alexia laughed. “Well you can consider that mission accomplished, in that case!”

Almier opened the door to the passenger’s seat and pretended to bow. “May I?”

“Certainly,” Alexia replied, her grin splitting her face, as she tried to suppress her giggle as Almier led her into the car. “What are we, training for the big pick up?”

Almier got into the driver’s seat and started the engine. “Something like that. Don’t want to be tripping all over my lines right before the dance even starts,” he joked. They drove off and Almier kept her busy by constantly remarking about the silence of the engine and other features of the car. Alexia could sense his excitement, bouncing off the walls of the tiny vehicle, and though she knew next to nothing about automobiles, wasn’t about to dampen his mood.

“Are you excited?” Almier suddenly asked.

“Hmm?”

“About the dance?”

“I’m very excited,” Alexia admitted truthfully. “I’ve never been to the dance with a guy before.” But am I choosing the right one?

“So am I,” Almier’s tone shifted back into something between the lines of excitement and nervousness. “Except believe me when I say that you’ll be better off dancing with a broom.”

Alexia chuckled. “You said it yourself before. We don’t even have to dance, we can just hoard the food and stand around and chit chat! Besides, Natalie and her bunch of followers will be infesting the dance floor and that is certainly not my ideal way to spend a fantastic night out,” Alexia paused, then added just for the fun of it, “With a fantastic boy.”

She watched Almier’s face flood with red and he looked like it was taking every ounce of strength in him to keep from bursting out into a happy dance. She privately liked getting his reaction out of him, as it was one of his quirks that made him endearing to her in the first place. They sat there is silence for a while, listening to the sound of the tyres, or therelackof (Almier’s new car did have some quality), and Alexia could tell Almier was taking the time to regain his composure and formulating a response to a compliment he did not see coming.

“We’re here,” Almier announced, with a tinge of disappointment framing his voice.

“Thanks for the ride,” Alexia grinned and began to make her way out of the car when Almier suddenly exclaimed, “Alexia wait!”

She turned around and saw him fumbling with his hands away and glancing up at her then back down again. “I, um, forgot to give you something.”

Alexia glanced quizzically at him. What possession of hers could he possibly have?”

He reached into his pocket and awkwardly pulled out a bracelet. It wasn’t a very expensive one but it was a touching, sweet gesture nonetheless. My first gift from a guy! My first gift from a guy fueled by romantic notions! Holy crap! Her heart was beating in the way that it did when she thought that he was going to kiss her, and Alexia tried to dig for an appropriate response.

“Oh, oh my goodness, wow, Almier. I don’t really know what to say, I mean, wow, thank you,” a nervous laugh bubbled from her lips and she wanted to slap herself for returning his sincere, heartwarming gift with this fumbly response more suited to Natalie’s caliber.

“I hope you like it,” he said sincerely. “I didn’t know if you were supposed to give your dates gifts like we did in my previous school, but I decided it couldn’t hurt. My sister suggested the bracelet, so if you don’t like it, blame her,” a similar bout of nervous laughter rippled from him.

So they both just sat there, overflowing with emotions and things to say but held back by the boundaries of their nerves and inexperience. Finally, Alexia thanked Almier again, this time with more confidence, and exited the car, saying, “See you soon!”, and the blush re-appeared on his face.

As Alexia was walking back to her house, she saw Caden returning home at the same time, and once again, she was flooded with guilt at her inability to handle people and such social situations.

“Hello,” Caden’s greeting was polite, reserved, as if he were holding back a burning question.

“Hi, Caden.”

“So, Alexia, about the dance,” He began and the stab of guilt was pushed in further.

“Caden, look, I’m really sorry. I’d love to go with you, honest, just that I agreed to Almier already, and well, I’m sorry,” she concluded, unable to bring herself to face the disappointment in his eyes. She wished that they could go back to how they were before, uninterested in each other’s lives, always on the verge of murdering each other.

Caden offered up a small smile that did little to mask his disappointment. “I understand. Have fun!”

“Thanks. I’m sorry,” Alexia mumbled, not knowing what else to say to make her less of an asshole. She hastily rushed back to her house.

“Oh, and Alexia,” Caden called out, causing her to stop in her tracks.

She turned around and he was smirking, or attempting to, at her. She knew it was supposed to appease her and remove her guilt, but it only made her feel worse. “Yes?”

“Nice bracelet.”