Exile

River Park Confessional // Part One

In any other circumstances, I'd happily welcome a jog down the River Park trail with Emily. But after my rooftop meeting with Alex last night, and the fact that she wants to meet up at seven in the morning, I'm a little reluctant to do so. My eyes are red and puffy from crying, and memories of our almost-kiss won't stop haunting me. I may miss my bestie, but the desire to be alone is strong.

Luckily for Emily, I'm much more reluctant to say 'no' to her, incurring her almost ungodly wrath.

Thank goodness Andrew can handle his future wife, because no one else, save for her parents, really can.

It's eight-thirty in the morning, and the temperature is a respectable seventy degrees. The weatherman predicts it will top out at eighty, but you never know with the Chicago. The breezes are cool and refreshing. It's still pretty early, so only the walkers, the joggers, and the elderly married couples are on the trail now. I can see the Foster Bank sign standing proudly in the distance. Every so often I hear the CTA buses passing by, en route to the nearby bus garage, the Brown line, or the Blue line, depending on the route.

This is my home, my lovely home.

"Isn't this awesome?" Emily asks in stilted speech. "I know we usually go to the lakefront, but I wanted to down this trail today."

"This is great." Apparently, I'm not in as good as shape as I'd like think I am. I feel like my lungs are on fire. "Besides…I…don't think I can jog along the lakefront anymore. I'm out of practice."

"Don't you run in Vancouver? We always used to run together."

"Ah…not really." After last night's confessional with Alex, I'm not so keen on talking about it anymore. "I still go to the gym for Zumba Fitness, though."

"Yeah, but that's different. You don't get the commune with nature, the wind in your hair, and the clarity of thoughts you get when you jog."

"No, but I've got a wicked core and some wicked sweet dance moves, some of which I'm sure I'll show off at your wedding."

"Hey, hey, hey, no one outdoes me on the dance floor, you got that? It's my wedding day, all eyes are on me!" Somehow, she manages to pout. "Andrew and I have been taken lessons at this dance studio downtown. We want to wow everyone for our first dance."

"And by 'we', you mean 'you'?" Now, I manage smirk.

"No, I mean 'we'. Andrew wants to make it special, too. I just happened to be the one to suggest dance lessons."

"Uh-huh." She isn't fooling anyway. The mischievous twinkle in her eye busts her. "Anyway, what kind of dance will you guys be doing?"

"We're doing two songs from the movie 'Funny Face'. You know that movie with Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn, the one in which she actually sings?"

"Yeah, I know that movie." Seriously, what self-respecting style maven doesn't know what movie? When I was a little girl, I wanted to be Audrey Hepburn in that wedding dress. "Aww, that's so cute!"

"Isn't it, though? We're doing a kind of a quickstep-slash-Charleston to the main song 'Funny Face' and an elegant waltz for the song 'S Wonderful'. It's going to be so awesome."

"I'm sure it will be." I want to tell her that the world's number one Ice Dance team – Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir – basically did the same thing this season, but I think better of it. No need to open that can of worms. "I can't wait to see it."

"I can't wait to dance it! We're putting the finishing touches on it now. I've instructed the videographer to film it like a classic fifties movie. The photographer better take a bunch of photos."