Seeking a Refuge (32)

The L&U K members had decided to take a walk on that beautiful mid-October afternoon, and John hadn’t returned from work yet. Stephanie was pacing up and down in front of the simple house that sheltered her whole life, pondering what she was going to say. Her mind was a blank and the only thing Stephanie was still slightly aware of was her aching body which shook uncontrollably like that of a child on the first school day. It was five to six p.m. and she had been waiting for half an hour, feeling remorse as if she was committing the biggest crime of her life. 1

At exactly six o’clock, Chris appeared at the corner of the road and walked slowly towards the girl. 2

“Hi,” she whispered looking into his eyes like nothing was unusual. 3

“Hey,” he answered politely. Some kind of caution atypical of him shadowed his normally unruffled voice. 4

“So... let’s get inside,” Stephanie suggested. “Except for my mother who’s in the kitchen we’re alone,” she added needlessly, leading the way to the door. They entered silently. 5

“Hello, Mrs. Smith,” the man said seeing Mary get out of the living room. 6

“Hello,” she replied. “I take it you’re Chris, right?”7

“Yes...” He was playing with his fingers carelessly. 8

“Well... Welcome to our house, then, Chris. Make yourself at home.”9

Stephanie thought for a moment that her mother could officially win an award for “politeness queen”, then she accompanied Chris to her room. 10

“You have a nice house,” he noticed, staring at the walls with an odd sort of interest. “Steph...”11

He remained like that, standing up and watching her with his unbelievably innocent green eyes, even though his host had sat on the bed. 12

“I... I kinda owe you an apology,” he mumbled almost inarticulately, watching the pink carpet in disbelief. 13

The girl stood up and put an trembling hand on his shoulder, saying as clearly as possible in that tensioned circumstance:14

“No, you don’t. Actually... I’m feeling very confused right now, but I need to tell you something. Please, sit down.”15

They sat on the bed uncomfortably as she continued to talk:16

“I seem to have made you feel guilty for your good feelings towards me, and for that I’m asking you to forgive me. In fact,”17

The man’s sharp, artificial laughter stopped her brutally:18

“Wow, do you always talk like that? Wake up, Steph, I’m no academician... Sorry,” he said more seriously, looking at Stephanie’s face. “What is it that you wanted to tell me?”19

“I love you. I’m just confused because... well it’s hard to explain.”20

“I see. There’s no need to,” he assured her, hugging her briefly. 21

Stephanie was going to remember that day for the rest of her life. She was, of course, still Steve’s girlfriend as well. She was expecting the day when she’d trust Chris (or maybe herself) enough to talk about that to her new love. Her first real declaration of that type meant more than the girl thought and, later, she examined other possibilities of choices her variants in alternate realities could have made. It didn’t take Einstein to understand that was the day to change her. But at that particular moment in time/space, she was just a teenager in love who knew nothing of all these. 22