Seeking a Refuge (28)

He had already been waiting for her for nearly twenty minutes. The raindrops were falling on his shaking body. The stubborn brilliancy of his eyes hadn’t quite died though. His fierce glance searched Stephanie from the uncovered place outside the library, where he was staying. He couldn’t find a refuge from rain inside. To him, the situation looked as though someone was playing reflecting his inner feelings on the outside. 1

Stephanie ran to him unbelievably fast, handing him a huge pink umbrella:2

“I’m sorry I’m late,” she said, unwillingly touching one of her red eyes with the right hand. “Take this, I... I don’t really need it.”3

Chris took it slowly, holding it so as to cover them both. 4

“What did you want to tell me?” Stephanie asked like everything was ok. 5

“Well in case you didn’t notice, it’s a bit cold in here,” the man said, “so why don’t we go to a restaurant or something and talk there?”6

“Ok, ok, but I’ll pay for it...” the girl said before she even realized she was going to speak. 7

They walked together, struggling with the liquid curtain that wouldn’t let them see any farther than two inches from the place where they were. They entered the first restaurant in their way. The warmth and simple but attractive environment there were very welcoming, and Stephanie soon forgot she had made a promise regarding Chris. 8

“So, yeah, they gave me a rise,” he said with a wink, as part of an unending smalltalk that was seemingly meant to make him feel more comfortable and then... Stephanie, however, appeared to have realized it. She looked at him as if she was analyzing his every move, then whispered:9

“Chris... I’m sorry I avoided to talk to you for so many days, but I had some serious reasons...”10

“Oh, that’s ok,” he rushed to assure her.11

“...but I thought you called me here to say something more important,” she said, playing carelessly with her hands.12

“Ah. Yes.”13

“Well?” Stephanie inquired, watching the door with a terribly absent interest.14

“Wait a minute,” Chris pleaded, lost in the labyrinth that his feelings represented. “It’s pretty hard... Ok,” he said powerfully, looking straight into her big eyes, “I... I love you. I know it’s...”15

...But he stopped. The girl was agitated and that day was the only one when Chris thought there existed a possibility that the one he fancied actually had a boyfriend. After a minute, she answered, her body stupefied in an artificial relaxation:16

“I can’t do anything about it. I’m sorry, I know what you think about my... romantic history, if I can call it so, but...”17

“But we could still be friends...” she continued peacefully, her arms independently crossed over her teenage chest.18

After finishing their meal, the two of them left like nothing had happened. They went in opposite directions. But the pink umbrella which Stephanie had made Chris take with him said something on its own, though he was afraid of thinking about it. After all, she was weird. And he loved her for it.19