The high school student gazed forlornly out the café’s wide window as she could not fathom why such a bright, cheery day could not quell her despondent mind. The buzz of pure happiness could be heard all around her, yet she could not throw herself into the same zeal for the holidays as she would have liked to. For some absurd reason, the girl still had hopes that this Christmas would be unlike all the others, but every time even an inkling of the thought would enter her mind, she would immediately squash it. The girl became angry with herself that she would even allow such a treacherous thought to trespass the barriers she had learned to formulate over the years.
However, the thoughts easily slipped back into her mind the second her phone rang with the caller I.D. she hoped it would be.
“Hello?” The teenager asked, praying that the longing did not appear in her voice as much as she assumed.
The mature feminine voice that sounded through the speaker had the girl’s hope spark to even higher levels than before. “Hello, honey. How are you today?”
The girl’s ignorance clearly showed as she answered back with great alacrity, absently crossing her fingers. She did not even notice the lack of her name in her mother’s words, too excited for it to completely register. In her mind, her name simply did not matter anymore. “I’m great, Mom. And you?”
“Oh, it’s been great, hon. Your dad and I are definitely getting somewhere, and I think we made a big investment with this wonderful restaurant we found.” Her mother said it with so much pride it seemed as if it made her heart swell.
“That’s awesome, Mom,” The girl replied, simply ecstatic that she could talk to her mother after so long.
“It really is. Of course we don’t necessarily need to invest in another business, but it’s always great to expand,” She said with a hint of arrogance.
“So, you and Dad are still coming home for Christmas next week, right?” The youthful daughter could not help but ask. The sudden hesitation from her mother’s end and a sigh following right after immediately made her stomach drop in despair. Without realizing, a lone tear marked its path down the girl’s cheek and dropped onto her jeans, creating a growing smudge.
“I’m sorry, honey. . . I don’t think Dad and I can make it out in time. We just have too much work to go through that will delay us until after Christmas. I’m so sorry, I wish we could be there,” The older woman apologized with a limited amount of guilt and sympathy.
“It’s fine,” The girl dismissed nonchalantly, but little did her mother know that just the slight hesitation tore her apart inside. With a few more words exchanged, the girl hung up and nearly chucked her phone across the small café. Why did I expect anything? She thought to herself quizzically.
Because she allowed that inane hope to swell, she set herself up for immediate disappointment. The girl had thrown the warning signs out the window and childishly let the expectations to take over. She reprimanded herself for the next ten minutes, and with each passing minute the feeling of utter failure increased ten-fold. The teenager felt that somehow she had become a failure to her parents, which caused them to purposely go on extended business trips that did not have time frames. She could not tell a person the last time she had spoken face-to-face with either of her parents, but if she thought hard enough, the last memory of their strictly business persona had been approximately three months ago. She had come to the conclusion that they simply did not have the time for her anymore and only strived for their everlasting success in the business world.
The girl had become so lost in her mind that when a sudden presence next to her appeared, it did not alarm her in the slightest. A tap on her shoulder indicated that her attention was wanted, and she shook herself out of reverie, turning to her right to send a pleasant smile in the person’s direction. The girl stopped short when she took in the handsome boy in front of her, but she recovered in time so as to not look ridiculous.
The boy offered a smile and politely asked, “May I sit here?” as he gestured around to show that the café was so packed that there was not a single table or seat open.
The teenage girl felt her lips turn upwards as she nodded her head. “Yeah, yeah, of course.” The boy sat down opposite of her with a cup of coffee in his hand while proceeding to take out papers that looked like a homework assignment. Fixed intently, he wrote furiously onto the sheet of paper, seemingly oblivious to the outside world as well as the girl. Every so minutes he would push his thick rimmed glasses up as they continued to slide off his nose, but no longer than twenty minutes did he finish.
By then the girl prepared to leave, but the teenage boy stopped her as he felt the need to say something. While he had stood in line for his coffee, the boy had curiously glanced around the place when he spotted the mysterious girl. He had watched as that single, isolated tear made its way down her rosy cheek, and he immediately wanted to know the source of her pain. Luckily, the place appeared to be filled to the brim and that the only suitable place for him to sit was at her table.
A brilliant smile flashed on the boy’s face, and the girl felt herself grinning back without reason. The boy spoke softly, “What’s your name?”
The smile dropped slightly from her face at the reminder that no one knew who she was, and her own parents’ refusal to say her name. No one simply cared. “It doesn’t matter,” She replied with a wave of her hand. The boy’s smile disappeared almost immediately as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“Of course it does. . . Well, my name is Derek Ashford, and it’s a pleasure to meet you,” He greeted with the utmost sincerity.
“You, too,” The girl voiced, and for once the strange feeling of slight mirth surfaced, and she realized that she actually liked it. It was the first time in a long time that she received any type of attention, even more so than her parents, and she found herself reveling in the feel. For the oddest reason, the girl could see the boy and her having a strong, promising friendship in the future.
The girl seemed to linger in her spot as they discussed trivial topics, and she ended up staying at the café for another hour. Not once did she have the looming thoughts of her parents’ absence but instead laughed wholeheartedly at the jokes Derek occasionally cracked. Derek did not want to see that look of chagrin and hurt on the beautiful girl’s face, so he became determined to wipe away any trace of those emotions and replace them with feelings of effervescence and genuine optimism.
The time eventually came when the sun began to set celestially, and it signaled that they should go home for the day. Both of the teenagers felt a bit reluctant to do so, but with a promise to meet at the same café in a few days, they were ready to leave with smiles on their faces.
The girl only felt that she needed to do one task, so she spun around to face Derek before he ambled out the door. She uttered one word with a tilt of her lips.
“Brielle.”
