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Long road trips never fail to drive me crazy, of course this one counts too…
Well, that is nothing out of the question since we have been travelling for twelve hours after all, “we” consists of — Dakota, Martha, Nala and Dylan. Dylan and Nala were behind the wheel most of the time for I have the worst carsickness.
We came all the way here in California from Texas for a class reunion party. This is where I grew up.
It is only 6PM yet the restaurant & bar is already packed with my old classmates. There are some familiar faces I can spot on, Rosie and...Molly who keep stealing glances from each other, despite Molly having a grimace. Oh there comes Artemas at the pantry. Seeing those faces again fills me with an unexplainable sense of peace. I'm glad they are still doing fine. I spend no time lingering in my soothing own little world and hurriedly join Martha and Hoppy for some casual catch-up, as I haven’t seen the bunny in ages.
7PM. Everyone seems to have their own seats now, the sound of chattering warmly fills the air but someone is still missing…the MC! I wonder where they are right now…
Clack clack clack.
In that moment, the unmistakable click-clack of shiny heels echoes through the hall announcing Magdalena's arrival. The girl, majestic as always, makes her way toward the main stage. Oh there she is, all hail for our MC. Magdalena is dripped in pearls and diamond, a feather clip adorned on her curly blonde hair. She doesn’t waste any moment before greeting:
“Welcome home! Class of 38’!! I’m honored to be here with you tonight, as a former classmate and your MC. Let us all give a warm round of applause before we move to the main event.”
Amidst the crowd, I found my mind wandering off a bit as I noticed this is the first time I’m completely alone this evening. So I took my time to look around, we are in a your-average-dining place, the scent of wood is pretty strong, we occupy the second floor so the bar should be on the third floor. I heard tell there will be a live jazz session at 9:30PM. Rather than blasting music into customers’ ears or turning all possible lights on, this place has its own distinctive ambient yellow light, some candles and no music is on right now. Good, I think since loud music is just bound to make my banging headaches from earlier ten times worse. Whoever reserved this restaurant deserves all the love in the world.
The event will begin with a speech by our class monitor, Nala. She is the most thoughtful and dependable person I know, with a perfect mix of gentleness and firmness. Afterward, we'll enjoy the main course before ending the meal with dessert. In the meantime people can either order songs or just go straight to the stage and do karaoke.
………
Food is served, of course Molly kicks off by singing bitter love songs, they are quite targeting to be honest, Magdalena duos with her sometimes. The crowd is cheering, and the most passionate of them all is Leo, who gives them frequent standing ovations. Beer is inevitable on these occasions so I have to come to terms with two cups before excusing myself to the bathroom. I can feel the energy draining out of me, dinners like this is the worst torture for introverted souls like mine.
……….
Time flies fast when you are surrounded by your loved ones.
It is already 9:30PM now. Dylan, Artemas and Hatter may have gone outside for a brief smoking break.
I can finally let my hair down a bit when half of the guests are leaving. What I do now knowing that I might have used up the social battery for the next 2 weeks just for tonight. Just when I am about to throw myself somewhere and doze off a bit, the first jazz tune kicks off. I subconsciously follow the sound to the third floor and scout around for the perfect seat before deciding on the bar counter. Sigh
Dizziness may be the death of me. I rub my temples while sliding the stool out to sit on.
“Hey there”
I look up, searching for the owner of the velvety voice only to feel a scent of pleasant fragrance sweep straight into my senses, down to my nostrils. Sandalwood. What a lovely scent, I think to myself.
“Earth to you?”
“Oh sorry”
That snaps me right back to reality where a drop dead gorgeous cowgirl appears in front of me. Her platinum white hair flawlessly compliments her honey tanned skin, there is also a fancy bedazzled cowboy hat on her head, um, most of her face is covered but her left eyes, I am pretty tempted to see her full face underneath this black bandana. What a mysterious person we have here. Should I back off or be scared? Why is she wearing a bandolier across her shoulder and a rope on her side?
“Well, I may have to put my love for champagne cocktail aside for a bit since we have a bigger problem right here.” She gives her cocktail glass one last glance before looking at me straight into my eyes. “Sweetheart, do you need help? You look like you are going to faint” Her voice is so warm and soft.
“Probably..”
“Bartender, one iced lemonade please. It is on me, also where can I get water?..Uh huh, you are helping, thanks.” The girl walks away for a few seconds before coming back and slipping a cup of water across the counter for me.
“Here, take small sips, you look like you have been through hell. Tell me exactly where hell is, will you?”
“You don’t really have to go through all of this problem for me, really!” I take a few caution sips exactly like what she told me then shake my head violently.
“You look like a wet sad puppy. I couldn't leave you alone.” She chuckles.
“Excuse me?! Come on, God forbid a girl feels spent after a twelve-hour drive from Texas and a big party?” I whimper.
“Texas? I’m from there too, what a coincidence. In Houston to be specific” The girl gasps and holds both of my hands. Well, this is so overwhelming but curiosity gets the better of me so I keep talking to her.
I tug at the hem of the flag draped over my shoulders, scrambling for a question– any question to keep the conversation alive. I need to be fast though before my heartbeat grows loud enough to drown every other sensible thought I have. Oh something just pops up, that’s it, I might as well utter now.
“Sooo…do you smoke?”
“Huh??” The girl almost choked on her cocktail, followed by a small giggle. “I’m sorry? I’m sure that is not how you greet new people. And to answer your question, no, I don’t smoke, I recommend you quit it if you do”. She glances at me dearly and I can feel my face heating up. Oh please stop looking at me like that, it is bad for my heart.
I sip on my lemonade and look away, Martha please drag me out of this mess, I’m conflicted though.. I don’t want to leave this stranger’s side since she gives me the comfort no one else can. I met fifty people tonight. Somehow, it was the fifty-first stranger who remembered to ask if I was okay.
“I’m in love with your necklaces” The mysterious girl points out.
“Oh? These are gifts from my grandma, as you can see I treasure them a lot”. I hold tightly onto the layered necklaces and nod.
To think of it, there are plenty of empty spaces in this room yet I still pick the seat next to her. There is something about this girl that keeps pulling me back to her. Maybe she really is a witch. Otherwise there is no other explanation for why I was so hopelessly attracted to someone whose face is still unknown to me.
As I try to utter something else for the sake of breaking the silence, she makes a “shhh” sound and calmly tells me that all I need is a kitten nap, she doesn’t want to drain my energy even more.
She folds her flag into a pillow for me and places it neatly on the counter.
“Here, rest well”
“Say, what if I wake up and you just disappear?”. I clench my fists in nervousness, I swear it must feel like a nightmare, my eyelids feel so heavy but I can’t risk losing her…
“Calm down, I’ll stay by your side, don’t you dare overthink in this state...Ah, what about this..” She grabbed my wrist and intertwined our fingers together. “Is it okay now, ms pretty cowboy boots?”– She whispers.
“Fine”– I can feel my face turning red, oh my the betrayal…Just like that, I fell asleep on her makeshift pillow.
Maybe all I ever needed is someone to sit beside me and make silence feel comforting.
Dolly’s Point of view:
She’s hopeless, she sleeps right away after three minutes. Though I can't deny that watching her sleep stirs something in me, it makes me want to look after her.
Watching you sleep is peaceful and the time I spent with you feels like a getaway from my hectic daily life as I rarely prize myself with these breaks.
There is so much more I want to know about you. Never have I been interested in someone this much. I wonder if it is wrong to feel like this, I’m having butterflies when our fingers intertwine like this.
What is this feeling exactly?
After 20 minutes, she wakes up, stretching her hands first on top of everything.
Dakota’s Point of view:
I just have the best nap ever, it fills me with so much joy. Yawns. I feel like a kid without any care in the world.
The witch's hand is still wrapped around mine. That’s good.
I’m totally convinced that she is a Witch now, considering how strangely sound asleep I was earlier.
The girl now places her elbow on the counter and lets her chin rest on her hand while looking at me curiously
“Rise and shine, pretty. How was your nap?”
“Strangely good. Did you just cast upon me some Black magic?”
“Hmm… Black magic? Were I to pick a name for it, it would be 'Love’ instead"– a warm smile already tugging at her lips and her cheeks are now painted a rose color.
“Oh I see, so that is how it is. Love is it?” – I grin in approval of her answer.
“Can you stop, you are not subtle too. I caught you redhanded staring at me earlier when I was drinking from my glass. To your dismay, I used a straw to drink behind my bandana instead of showing my face” – She defends.
There she goes again with her soft giggles.
Unexpectedly, she takes off her black bandana, presses her lips on it then throws it at me. Before my mind can process what just happens, my hand already catches it.
A sense of achievement sweeps through me as I can finally admire her full face.
Oh.
She is mesmerizing. Somehow, she looks even better than I'd imagined (now we do know what I was dreaming about in my short nap). Her features are defined and sharp and she has maroon red lipstick.
“Got to see your sleepy face, and now you get to see mine. Isn’t it only fair?”
“No? You are not even near being sleepy”– My eyes still glue at her face, our eyes meet.
“That’s called keeping up appearances, dear. I’m sleep deprived all the time due to the intensity of my job”
“That is harsh I hope you get more breaks”
“"You’re….the break, though. Tonight has been kinder thanks to you, but I think I have enough now, thank you for coming here.” Her eyes linger on mine, almost too dear to let go. It hurts.
.
.
.
Thump
Thump
Thump
For a moment, all I can hear are our heartbeats. Feelings are all over the place. I grip on her bandana tightly.
“Do you have a pen?” I speak first
“Perhaps I do” – She searches in her left pocket and pulls out one. “Catch”
I reach out for the pen and wait for her silent approval to sign on her flag.
“Your signature? Fine you can sign on it but don’t go running around saying I’m your number one fan or so”
I sign my name neatly and doodle a bunny next to it.
“You like them bunnies?”
“Silly, I love them. Even when I was a baby”
“You are cute” – She speaks as she stares at her flag to avoid Dakota's eyes.
“Stop speaking facts”
We exchange some glances as though it was the last time. Who knows, maybe it is. It is past 11PM now… The night begins to fall.
“So– ..”
“DAKOTA?”
“Dakota, where are you?” It is Martha who yells, she has the loudest voice.
“Dylan, you go check on the third floor and look outside from its balcony.”– Nala assigns.
“Dakota?”
"That's me." I tap a finger against my chest.
“Oh. Time’s up”, she stretches her arms, occasionally eyeing me.
She lowers the brim of her hat to gesture a silent ‘goodbye’ to me, no it is more like a ‘farewell’ she then brushes past my shoulders and leaves first. My heart sinks. The scent of sandalwood leaves with her, and suddenly the room feels stupidly empty despite the jazz band and the couples scattered around the bar.
I walk toward the stair where Dylan bumps into me “We have been looking for you everywhere, where have you been all the time?”– His eyes sweep across the bar before settling on me with a frown. “You don't even like jazz enough to stay up here this long and what with that bandana?”. Oh he is sharp, as expected from my friend.
“I literally nap for two hours, don’t mind me.” – I give him a dead stare before going down to the main hall.
By the time I get downstairs, Nala and Martha are already there, they look worried. It turns out everyone moved to a nearby karaoke place during the past two hours.
I follow Nala to our shared pickup truck and lay down on the truck bed.
The acrid smell of gasoline hangs in the air as the old pickup wobbles along the road. I slowly drift my eyes upward to the nocturnal sky. There is a canopy of stars, so bright, yet so far away.
The night was still young yet ours had already come to an end.
Is it better for us to not meet at all? I wonder. I never prepared myself to leave you so suddenly
If you asked me about tonight, I’d say this is the night I met my soulmate. Still, there is one thing I bitterly regret.
I never asked for her name.
And now she will forever remain the face I never forget, belonging to a name I will never know.
End