The Truth About Her

03 | Nodus

Nodus.

(n.) A difficult or intricate point, situation, plot, etc.

▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄

WHEN YOU CONSTANTLY CLOSE YOURSELF to chances and avoid almost everything because you let your fears take over everything you are, but then you take a deep breath and get into something that can end in a hundred different ways. That moment might change your life significantly and forever. And if that decision, which probably seemed irrelevant for you, brings a person to your life, it'll most likely happen because of a reason that can be unknown to you. Everything happens for a reason.

Even if some people think it's just a quote, it's the truth. The thing is that some people try to take that simple quote to a higher level. If they cut their hand, they think it has to mean something outstanding or essential.

But maybe they just cut their hand because they didn't have a good grip on the knife. And that's a reason. Not a big one. Or interesting. But still a reason. Of course, some things happen, and the reason for it is noteworthy. Like when a certain girl meets a certain boy in the middle of the night. Oceana Hemmings doesn't know it yet, but the young man sitting in front of her has a reason to be there with her.

Cai lent a Berkeley hoodie and a pair of sweatpants to Oceana while he dries her clothes with a hairdryer, which it's taking a long time, but they'll dry eventually. At least that's what he told her. Oceana wanted to do it, but he said he could and that he didn't want her to fight him. So, she's sitting on the same couch with his clothes on, and Cai is on the floor, with Oceana's jumper and the hairdryer.

She finds him funny and sort of silly, but in a cute way, though she tries not to think about that. It's almost midnight, and Cai is saying so much nonsense that only makes Oceana laugh so hard her stomach hurts. He's undoubtedly one of a kind with the weird voices and the funny faces he makes. Then, her phone rings, and she rushes to the bed where her purse is, takes the phone out of it, and answers the call.

"Hey, dad," she feels slightly embarrassed, but she can't tell why. And holds in laughter when she sees Cai— who isn't drying the clothes anymore— accidentally tripping over his own feet.

"I know you're a grown-up, but it's sort of late, and I wanted to know if you were going to take long. It's almost midnight," Gregg says through the phone, and she can tell he's worried.

"Yes, I know, dad. Sorry, I'll be home in a while, yeah?" She says and bites her lip to keep herself from laughing when Cai starts shaking a can of coke.

"Okay, take care," he says and hangs up. Oceana bursts out in laughter as soon as she hangs up.

"What's wrong with you?" She asks when her laughter dies down. "Do you do it on purpose?"

"What?" He asks, putting the coke inside the small fridge again, and sitting back on the floor, to keep on drying the jumper.

"That," she says. "You know, the whole goofball act. Because I bet you don't shake a can of coke when you're alone."

"You'd be surprised by the things I do when I'm alone," he smirks and chuckles when he sees Oceana's reaction. "But no, I don't do it on purpose. It comes naturally. When I used to be a kid, I wanted to be a comedian."

"And what are you studying?" She asks with curiosity. Usually, she doesn't care about people's life aside from her father's, but she finds herself interested in Cai.

"Accounting," he responds. "It's not my favorite thing in the world, but I'm good at it," Cai shrugs.

"Funny. My dad is an accountant," she adds. Oceana sits on the edge of the bed, and Cai stands up, running a hand through his hair.

"Oh, look at that. We have one thing in common," he sits next to her. The proximity between the two of them makes her feel uneasy. It's been long since she was alone with a boy. And it's not that she's planning or thinking in anything s****l. But Cai's still a guy, and that's more than enough for her.

"You said you see me all the time on campus..." Her voice trails off as she doesn't know what exactly she wants to ask.

"Yes, we don't have any classes together. But somehow, I always see you walking around, listening to music. It's weird to see you without earphones." That makes Oceana laugh. "Seriously. And well, being honest, I always thought of talking to you but never got the guts to do it."

"You wanted to talk to me?" She finds it so weird that someone just saw her and wanted to approach her. Since she always avoids people.

"I'm not going to lie. You make me curious," he admits. "I'm one of those crazy people that find interest in the oddest things."

"Are you saying I'm an odd thing?" Her brows furrow, and her lips curve up.

"Frankly, I think you are," Cai says. "Now more than ever. A good kind of odd, anyways," he adds.

"Why is that?"

"I don't think many people would wear the clothes of someone they don't know. And a girl in her right mind wouldn't ask to go to an unknown guy's hotel room at night," he says.

"Well, you're just as odd as me," she replies smugly. And adds, "You lend your clothes to an unknown girl, and you take that unknown girl into your room at night." Though, Oceana does see the difference between both situations. To the eyes of society, it's not the same. She doesn't care whatsoever.

More than anything, Oceana avoids tags and stereotypes. She doesn't like those sorts of things. And she thinks a girl can do the same things a boy does, and vice-versa.

"I should go home," she gets up. "My dad must be going crazy." The time on her phone it's 12:05 am. "Besides, I think I've entertained you enough."

Cai simpers. "I'll give you a ride." Bending down, he picks up her clothes and hands them to her. Oceana walks into the bathroom and changes her clothes, which are still a little wet, but it's better than how they were before, and when she's done, she gets out and gives the hoodie and pants to Cai. They leave the room and walk to the elevator.

When they're inside the elevator, Cai asks, "How long are you staying in Mirefield?"

"Until spring break ends," she answers. "Now that you mention it, what are you doing here? I mean, you're not from this town because if you were, I'd have seen you before."

And you wouldn't be talking to me because you'd know what I did. She thinks to herself.

"I came with a friend. His family invited me to come and also to celebrate his mom's birthday. They love me," he says cheekily.

"Sure, they do," Oceana says sarcastically. Once they're out of the hotel, they get in the car. The ride is quiet. None of them say anything. Oceana thinks about the events of the night, about what would have had happened if she had reacted differently at the club. Maybe, she'd be having fun. But Oceana knows that thinking about the what-ifs of a situation only causes regrets and headaches.

Cai parks in front of Oceana's house, and they look at each other. "Thank you for everything..." she says.

"Anytime," he smiles. "I was thinking, you know, if maybe you want to exchange numbers," he gulps.

"You want my number?" She asks, and Cai laughs nervously but nods. Oceana accepts, and they exchange each other's numbers.

Cai clears his throat, looking forward. "Do you... Are you free tomorrow? I mean, are you free today?"

She smiles knowingly. "Why do you ask me that, Charlie?" She teases him. Even if she knows the answer.

"My friend and I are going to the beach, and he invited some of his friends. I thought it'd be cool to invite someone," he says casually and finally turns to look at her. "Honestly, I just want to hang out with you again. You're a fun person to be around."

"Thank you, but I don't think it'd be right to go." Oceana is aware of what she's doing. She's pushing him away, putting her walls up. "Goodbye, Cai."

Before he can say anything, she rushes out of the car and walks quickly to the door, taking her key out of her purse and opening the door to step in. The lights are off, and she sprints up the stairs. Oceana can hear the sound of voices coming from the TV room.

Her father is on the couch, head tilted backward, mouth slightly open. He's asleep, the light from the TV screen lighting the whole room. When she's in front of him, with a hand, she gently wakes him up. "Dad, come on. Let's go to bed."

He blinks a few times, looking around. "Did you just arrive?" He gets up, running a hand through his light blonde hair.

"Yes," Oceana nods. "Sorry, I arrived so late. We sort of got carried away." That's partially true. Maybe she isn't talking about Freya, Willow, and Lyla. But she and Cai did get carried away.

"So, you had fun with them?" Gregg raises his eyebrows, and there's something in his eyes. As if he were happy for her.

"Yes, we had fun," Oceana smiles sincerely. "But I'm sort of tired, so I'm going to bed now." Gregg nods, planting a kiss on her forehead, and they both go to their respective rooms.

When you have many things going through your head, it's hard to fall asleep. You can close your eyes, but your brain keeps on working, processing thoughts that will only keep you awake. And it's tough to get rid of those thoughts. They go round and round inside your head. Oceana hates when that happens to her, she doesn't like to be thinking about the same thing for hours, or in this case, the same person. Finally, her brain gives her a rest, and she falls asleep.

In the morning, Oceana realizes it's still pretty early, around 6:20 am. The thing with her is that she has never been the kind of person to wake up late, not even if she falls asleep late at night. Obviously, if she stays up all night and then falls asleep, that's a different situation. Typically, on holidays, Oceana stays at home watching TV or doing something with her father, and sometimes- once in a blue moon, they go out. Gregg never ceases to tell her to have some fun but doesn't pressure her much because he doesn't want her to lose her patience. Everybody knows what happens when Oceana loses her patience.

But if there's one thing she likes to do, it's jogging. When she wakes up early, she goes for a run, exercises a little, and gets some fresh air. Besides, at that time of the day, there aren't many people outside. Oceana finds peace in being alone, just with herself, as weird as it might sound for some people.

That's why she gets up and changes her pajamas for her set of Nike sports clothes, sports bra with a zip hoodie, running shorts, and sneakers, all black. Standing in front of the mirror, Oceana pulls her hair up high and twists it into a knot, making a bun. She walks into the bathroom, brushes her teeth, and splashes cold water to her face.

Once finished, she sprints down the stairs, where she sees her dad in the kitchen, typing something on his phone. "Good morning, dad," she greets him, kissing his cheek.

"Good morning," he smiles. "You're going for a run. That's good," he nods, leaning against the counter. "You have any plans with the girls today?"

She knows he wants to hear a yes. She knows he hopes her daughter might be finally living the life she should, and it's not spending all her days locked up in a room, all by herself or just with him. He wants her to have friends and all those sorts of things. "Not sure," she says casually. "Maybe, I'll have to call them." To lie is wrong. Oceana knows it, but she doesn't want him to know the truth.

Gregg nods once. "Well, if you're going out, let me know, okay?" He asks, and she nods. After another kiss on the cheek, Oceana leaves the house, with her phone inside the pocket of her hoodie and earphones on. She starts running down the streets at a normal pace.

Around ten minutes later, she sees one person running in opposite directions. Anyone can tell it's a male by the figure, but her heart skips a beat when she can see who it is. Blonde hair and tall figure, he is wearing a gray sweatshirt and black fleece pants. When they were younger, Oceana used to think he looked good in everything. There wasn't a hairstyle or outfit Theo couldn't pull off. He still does.

When his gaze meets her, Oceana thinks of turning around and running back to the house. But it's too late now. He's approaching her as Oceana stands rigidly, taking her earphones off, preparing for the worst. Theo stops a few meters away from her, and Oceana can see how time has had some effect on Theo. His features seem to have hardened, and you just can tell he's not a boy anymore, but a man.

"Hi, Oceana," Theo mumbles. Her eyes catch sight of the scar above his right eyebrow. He's always had that tiny scar; Oceana doesn't know why but she used to like it. "It's been a while. How are you?"

The need to slap him is bigger than the need she had to slap Lyla the previous day. And that's a lot. "I'm good." There's the trace of a smile on her face—a fake smile, of course.

Theo scratches the back of his head, and Oceana knows that he only does that when he's nervous. "I heard you're studying at Berkeley," he mumbles.

"I am," she says. "I heard you're not in college." The moment she says those words, she feels regret. Theo's mom has been in a wheelchair for around a year already, his father died when he was a child, and he has two other siblings. Oceana knows he dropped out of college only because he needed to get a full-time job to earn money for his family. As far as she knows, he's working at Lyla's father's business.

He grimaces slightly, "No, I'm not." There's something similar to embarrassment, but not quite. "Anyways, I better keep on running. It was good seeing you," Theo grins.

Oceana nods with a bit of a smile in response to his words, and when he's far from her, she finds herself letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding. And keeps running at the same pace. But her mind is processing so many thoughts, the music not being enough to distract her.

Oceana runs for about thirty minutes and goes back home. Her head a little more relaxed, and her body sweating and tired. But with a cold shower and a good breakfast, she'll feel just fine.

When music isn't flooding her ears at home, her brain starts to process thoughts once more. This time about Cai. It has never been hard for her to be alone and stay home, mainly because there wasn't anyone to ask her out or make her company. Yesterday with Cai, she had fun. She laughed sincerely and smiled not because she had to or because it was the right thing to do, but because she wanted to. She remembered what it was like to have an honest conversation with someone that isn't her father.

To talk to someone because she wanted to, not because she had to like it happens in college when there's some sort of group work or something of the matter. But she had said no when he invited her to the beach, that was her decision, and it is going to stay like that.

After she's all clean and fed, Oceana sits on the couch, TV remote in hand, eyes fixed on the screen. And that's how she spends the whole morning, flipping through channels, watching movies. She laughs while watching Jim Carrey in The Mask and cries when she watches Toy Story 3.

She hates to be so emotional with movies. It annoys her that the tears run down her cheeks like a river whenever she watches a sad movie. That's the main reason why she watches sad movies only when she's alone. Oceana doesn't like to cry in front of people. Which reminds her of Cai. When she cried in front of him in the elevator, how he tried to comfort her, but she pushed him away.

Funnily enough, her phone rings, and she sees the name Cai Boulya.