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.
Her date was sweet and could almost pass for attractive, but Aliona could not get rid of the sense that she had met the person she had bumped into earlier and how he knew her name had been on her mind the whole time. So the afternoon had passed by her that day. She vaguely remembered agreeing to watch a movie two days from now with them. What was him name again? Bart or Brandon or was it Eddie? Aliona couldn't even remember that.
"So-"Mable probed, "Are you going to tell me why you have been so spaced out?" she said looking at Aliona and bringing her back to earth....again.
"I don't really know." Aliona said as they parked the car outside Aliona's house. "Mae, have you ever met someone for the first time and felt like you know them from somewhere? But that was the first time you met?"
"You mean like a feeling of déjà vu. " Mae said in an all knowing face then paused "No. Not really. I mean, I have seen a lot of celeb look alikes if that counts?"She said and they both laughed."Oh hey, I just remembered, what's the dream update?"
"Agh, Mae. I had just forgotten about that?" Aliona replied frowning" this time I was falling as well at the end and woke up on the floor"
"You know what I think?"
" oh oh that is never a good thing."Aliona teased
"Tease all you want, but I think you are being sent a message by fate. Maybe your other self is telling you to avoid the glow or else you are bound to fall into deep and irrevocable love. I should write a book about this!" said a very enthusiastic Mable.
"I think you watch too much supernatural series and movies to think realistically anymore dear," Aliona said giving her a good bye hug and stepping out the car. "On the bright side, at least you don't think I am mad."
"You know it, see ya" Mable called as she drove home.
Later that evening Aliona found herself bored and decided to take out her laptop to Google: dreams of falling.
"I cant believe I am doing this." she said to herself.
"I can." came a male voice behind her that made her jump.
"You!" she said staring at the guy she bumped into earlier today." How did you get here? Or know where I stay? Get off my bed!" she shouted backing away from him. But then she backed one slide to far and landed back first on the floor
Thud
"Ouch. Need a hand?" He offered as he stretched out his hand. Aliona slapped away his hand.
"I need- you out of me house, which you were not invited into. And I need- to know how you know my name" Aliona spitted out as she stood up.
To her surprise he looked the least bit unnerved. Instead he sat crossed legged on her now messy bed and closed her laptop and said, "You can find almost anything you want on the internet; it's a silly place to look for those type of questions." He said looking at her with a fondness that made Aliona very uncomfortable. Slowly he placed his feet in the floor and started to walk towards her. "Your back hurts." He said.
" I feel on my books no thanks to you." She said walking backwards. She didn't get far before she reached the window.
"let me see, I can help you" he said when he reached her. He was now close enough to be able to smell the cologne he used. What was even more surprising was that she could hear herself saying yes as she looked into his eyes. She found herself relaxing as he took her hand to lead her away from the window.
"What's your name?" she asked as he took out a pain relief pad from her drawer." How did you-"
"shhhhh" he replied smiling at her. "Aliona?"
"Aliona?" he said again but his voice sounded feminine. "Aliona?"
She recognized that voice, her mom. Opening her eyes she found her mom staring at her.
"mom?" she said in a raspy voice
"Good morning to you too" her mom said smiling then frowned when she looked over her bed, "dear how many times have I told you not to sleep with your laptop on your bed?"
"What? Morning already? How? When did you come home last night? What time is it.?" She said sitting up in her bed trying to catch up on life and understand what had just happened.
"woah, easy there. You must be tired" her mom said laughing. "you do at least remember that I invited a friend of mine from work with her family over for lunch in four hours today right?"
"umm, I think so? The one with two sons?" she said doing her best to try not to look too lost.
"Phew! Good you remember. Now don't forget that I need you and Mable to keep the music and whatnot low where you will be hanging out with her sons okay? No BOOM BOOM BOOM or it will be phone phone phone for a week." She said sitting on the side of Alionas' bed.
"Mae is coming?" Aliona asked
"Yes, we talked about it last night when I got home?" her mom said with a bit of concern, "Are you feeling alright dear?"
Now Aliona was really confused. Mom had talked to her about today? When? Did she dream that the stranger was here?
"Yeah I fine, just sleepy. I'll have a shower to wake up." Aliona said trying to convince her mom with a smile.
"Okay then. I'll be downstairs in my study." Mom said not quite convinced, then kissed her on her forehead and left her room.
Not long after Aliona was in the bathroom getting ready to shower. She opened the taps to let them run all the cold water in the pipes out. As she undressed she felt a slight tugging of her skin when she removed her pyjama top. Aliona turned to face her back to the mirror in the slowing steaming up bathroom. What she saw caught her breath. There on the top left shoulder of her back was a white pain relief patch.