The Truth About Her

08 | Orphic

Orphic

 (adj.) mysterious and entrancing;

 beyond ordinary understanding.

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 A DOWNSIDE OF NEVER GOING on dates is that you never know if what you're wearing is good enough, if it's appropriate, or if it might be too much — it's a real dilemma for her. After trying on four different outfits, it's still impossible for her to make up her mind. A few hours ago, she called Cai asking him where they are going, so she could decide what to wear, but the boy, being the big tease he is, didn't give her many details to work with. He only said they're going to the park near the beach. That was it. Even though she doesn't really know Cai that well, she can tell the guy enjoys keeping her interested, curious at the edge of her seat. Whether he likes to do that with her exclusively, or if he's like that with every girl; that, she doesn't know but hopes it's not the latter. There's something about having someone treat you differently than everybody else. It makes you feel special. It makes you feel like they care about you. Of course, she's aware that for him to have that effect on her, she should care about him or about the things he does, which is sort of crazy, if you ask her — they met only a few days ago, not even a week ago, and she's been to his hotel room, she's gone out with him once already and is about to do it again, he's been her to her house several times, in only a matter of days. After thinking about it for several hours through the whole morning, to be exact, Oceana decided that things will be less complicated if she admits she likes him; that's the plain truth.

Staring at her reflection on the mirror, she feels like she might have found the one, a chambray shirtdress and a pair of white converse. The outfit is casual but not casual enough that it might make one think she doesn't care enough about their date to try to look good. And to not look so simple, she puts on some accessories; a necklace here, a bracelet there; simple but effective. Then she grabs her phone to check the time. It's 6:40pm, which means she has twenty minutes left to do her hair. And only the thought of it stresses her. She looks back at the mirror, focusing on her short blonde hair, utterly indecisive as to what to do with it. If maybe she should leave it like that or try a hairdo. As usual, whenever there's something she doesn't know how to do, she decides to grab her phone and visit her good old friend, Pinterest and search for hairstyle ideas. After a few scrolls, she finds one that seems easy enough to do in a short time but nice enough to make her look good. Oceana combs her hair, which she washed when she took a shower, to detangle it, and leaves a section of hair in the front, ties up the rest of her hair, and braids this section of hair in a Dutch side braid, braiding it until the end and then secures with an elastic band. To finish, she uses some hairpins to pin the braid to the side of her head.

 The sound of knocking makes her turn around, and she sets the comb down over the nightstand before walking towards the door and opening it, revealing the sight of her father. "There's a young man in the living room." His words might not be formulating a question, but his eyes are. There's an inquisitive look in his brown eyes.

Damn it. She's been in cloud nine all morning and didn't think about telling her father about her date with Cai, not even while they were having lunch, since she was practically daydreaming about it. "Uh, yeah. Tell him I'll be downstairs in two minutes."

His father raises his eyebrows in response, saying everything there's to say, only with one glance.

"Dad, I promise I'll tell you everything when I come back home, but I have to finish getting ready, so please go tell him I'll be down in five minutes."

"Didn't you just say two?" He asks teasingly, appearing to be satisfied with her previous answer.

"Make it 10," she sticks her tongue out before closing the door and rushing back to the mirror. She applies some eye shadow and mascara on her eyes and then a matte red lipstick on her lips before spraying some perfume on the back of her wrist and rubbing it on her neck as a final touch. She sets the bottle of 212 NYC over her drawer and then grabs her purse — one last look in the mirror, and a feeling of jitteriness creeps on her chest. This is my first date in years.

And true to her word, Oceana makes her way down the stairs about ten minutes after the boy arrived at her house. When their eyes meet, Cai, who had been sitting on the large beige sofa of her living room, stands up, and the corners of his mouth turn up into a bright smile, so contagious that it makes her smile too. Once they're standing in front of each other, he says, "Hey," and plants a kiss on her cheek. The warmth of his lips over her skin feeds the butterflies in her stomach, making them revolt. "I can see you showered very well."

The girl is about to give him a very witty comeback when the sound of someone clearing their throat makes them dart their eyes towards the kitchen entry, where Gregg is standing, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Heat instantaneously rushes up to her cheeks and then her ears. "Dad, this is Cai. He's a friend, I met him when I went out with the girls the other night, and he's also friends with Theo."

Gregg's expression goes from curious to skeptical. He knows about Theo, about how things went terribly downhill with him, so she knows that he must be wondering how she feels about going out with a guy close to the other guy that broke her heart, for whom she lost sleep and appetite for days and days. His tone is not cold when he speaks, but it's not as warmly friendly as it usually is. "Are you going out just the two of you, or is Theo joining you?"

She fights the urge to roll her eyes; her dad's protective side sometimes doesn't get along with her attitude even if he means well. "No, dad. It's just the two of us."

"Don't worry, sir. I'll bring her home early. Besides, we're just going to the park near the beach, we won't be too far," Cai says, probably thinking her father's unsettled expression was caused by the fact that they're going alone, when in fact, it was driven by the idea of Theo being in the same place as her.

"Well, go, have fun," he smiles softly and beckons for them to leave.

Oceana takes Cai by the hand and traces her path towards the main door, dragging him behind her. "I'm sorry about my dad. You know, he's just being a dad," she says once they're outside, walking to his car.

"Yeah, don't worry," he says reassuringly and squeezes her hand; that's when she becomes fully aware of the fact that they're holding hands, that she took his hand when they left the house, and they haven't let go. Cai seems to notice what her eyes are fixed on and says, "Thank you, by the way."

She looks up at him with a quizzical look. "Why?"

"I was wondering when it'd be the right time to hold your hand, and you just took care of that for me," he says with a smirk plastered on his face. "Do take care of the next step if you feel like doing so. I won't mind."

She arches an eyebrow. "What's the next step?"

His smirk grows into a full mischievous grin. "Whatever you want it to be."

That answer gets a heartily laugh out of her before she lets go of his hand. "Take it easy, Christian Grey. This is only the first date."

"Christian Grey, for real?" He asks, bringing a hand up to his chest, sounding genuinely hurt. "I'm way hotter than that guy."

"Maybe," she shrugs. "But you do sound as creepy as him."

Cai gasps. "No, you didn't," he says while opening the door to the passenger seat. She ignores him and hops into the car. There, he leans over, and all amusement aside, he says, "By the way, you look beautiful, Oceana."

Silence falls upon them, the night sky is filled with stars behind him, but none is brighter than him; tonight, he's wearing three layers of cloth over his torso— a plain white T-shirt under an unbuttoned red flannel shirt, all layered under a leather jacket — black jeans and matching vans. The outfit is casual, so she doesn't feel overdressed nor underdressed, which is a relief. But it's not the clothes that give him the power of shining brighter than the stars. It's him. Cai Boulya is a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed young man with a bouncy and high-spirited persona. He's everything she used to be and feels nostalgic about. "And you're quite handsome yourself, Cai."

"Tell me something I don't know," he winks before closing the door to her seat and walks around the front part of the car and hops in the driver's seat, swiftly turning on the engine. The ride to the park goes by in silence, except for the music coming from the radio speakers, but it's also short, which means it's not long before they arrive at the park. Through the car window, she can see a stage, and a crowd gathered around it — so, their first date will be at a concert. She's never had a date like this, so there's no way of knowing what to expect, along with the fact that she doesn't even know who's performing but definitely hopes they play good music.

Once they're outside, approaching the crowd, she says, "So, a concert, huh?"

He chuckles lightly. "I don't even know who's playing, but I heard some band had a gig at the park, and I'm all up for trying new things. Besides, there are some food stands around."

"You're amazing," she shakes her head and smiles lightly.

"Why, thank you," he attempts to talk with an English accent, but it comes out way too fake.

"Come on, I want a hot dog," she grabs his hand and pulls him, so they start walking.

YOUTH GLORY IS a great band. Their style is a mixture of electronica and dream pop. The lyrics are cool enough to be relatable but not mainstream. They spend an hour and forty minutes dancing and humming along to the songs played by the band formed by three young boys. To be their first actual date, she can say that she really is having a good time. Cai is a great person to hang out with, every few minutes, he says things that make her smile. Everything feels easy about him. She might have been nervous at first when she was getting ready. But now, walking around the park with him, since the concert ended and they don't want to go home, she feels at ease. No tension on her shoulders, no tightness in her chest; the only thing that might be considered unusual is the butterflies fluttering in her stomach caused by his fingers being intertwined with hers.

Stars shine in the sky like sugar scattered over black marble. Oceana smiles, feeling the wind blow her hair into a tousled mane. With her arms around the boy's arm and her head leaning gently on his shoulder, the starlight keeps its familiar pattern. The constellations, who have witnessed centuries and millennia just the same, watched over this tiny moment. Suddenly, she feels a raindrop fall against her skin, followed by several others, and they both look up to the starry sky; smiles quickly appear on their faces. Their bodies are a fountain for the incoming rain, the water making her eyelids heavy. She closes her shimmering blue eyes, a rattled sigh passing through her parted lips as she does so.

Cai's hair becomes one with his face in the rain, wetly draped over the bone structure that drives her crazy. Something flashes across his eyes, something hard to read. She pulls his hand to bring him closer and moves in front, toe to toe. And he closes the gap between them. The passersby melt away, and the moment is theirs. The rain runs down their faces to where their lips meet, each of them tasting the cold drops; instead of detracting from the intensity of the moment, it brings them to new heights. Cai pushes his lips in more firmly, and the wave that runs through her is intoxicating, making her head swirl as she pulls back to take in his beautiful face. For the kiss, it's as if they've been transported somewhere heavenly, and perhaps if it weren't for the cold rain, she might believe they have. And then he leans forward again, taking her breath away once more. 

They're tied in a kiss that is so tender, the world should stop on its axis.