RELEASED
The day started like any other.
It was the beginning of summer, and I had yet to steal a break for a swim.
Thanks to my Aunt Emma, I was stuck inside cleaning my room. She took the
whole “legal guardian” stuff pretty seriously, despite the fact that I would be
eighteen in a little over a year’s time. When I had first told her about the date, she
said no. But I had to go. This wasn’t an ordinary date, it was my first! I needed to
find a way to get her on my side.
First, I promised to clean my room, but that wasn't good enough, so I offered to
clean the house. But she still wouldn’t let me go. And then it hit me! Emma hated
coming home from work and having to cook. She was forever going on about how
one day she'd love to have a private chef like that American talk show host, Oprah
“I'll cook! No. I'll cook every night.” She wasn’t warming to those words so I
added, “For a week, two weeks. No, a month.” Even though I knew I could barely
boil water, and she’d let me out after a day of eating my “Awn-ye” burnt special
casserole surprise.
"Aine, have you gone mad? Since when did you learn to cook?" Emma looked at
me as if I'd offered to shave her head and then mine. She settled petite hands
against her hips.
“I found a recipe for Oprah’s Spaghetti Carbonara online. How hard can it
possibly be?” I offered with a pot in one hand and a skillet in the other.
With scrunched eyebrows and a look of pain, she offered a weak smile. She was
giving in. I was going out with Adrian!
“Thanks, Emma. You won’t regret it!” I promised as I dashed off to my room. But, she would and so would I.
I changed outfits countless times but none of them were perfect. Finally, I
settled on a crocheted sleeveless sweater dress in a creamy soft off-white and
vintage cork wedge heels. Perfect.
It took an hour to straighten my dark hair. I added a side French braid and tucked it
behind my ear. At last, I was going on a real date, no more just flirting and passing
notes at school. I wondered how he felt about me, if he was just as excited. My
thoughts wondered to kissing and whether he’d kiss me at my door at the end of
the date or at the park or at dinner. In the mirror, I could see the flush of my
cheeks.
Seems looking at myself was a bad idea. Panic started to gnaw at my stomach. I
arched my eyebrows, then blew on my palm and sniffed. Was my breath okay? Did
the dress make me look too skinny? I inspected my face, both sides. Was I too
pale? I pulled on my braid—the only life in my now-flat hair. Was I wearing too much
makeup? I was. I was wearing too much makeup. I knew it.
"Emma!" She came right in, like she had been just outside the door. She held a
small package that she set on my bed.
"Are you okay?” she asked. “You look sort of green.”
Crap. I knew it. Not enough makeup.
"It was the same way on my first date with Bryan.” She said. It might have been
more comforting if Emma’s fingers grazed my forehead weren’t shaking. “You have
a fever.” I reminded myself her date with Bryan turned out just fine. They were
getting married soon!
Still, Emma looked at me a bit strangely. Like she was re-thinking the
permission she’d given. "No, no, everything's fine.” It occurred to me that if she
thought I was on edge, she might change her mind about letting me go. “I was just
wondering if I looked okay." She took a step back. She made me nervous as I stood
still while she inspected me, almost like a detective looking for clues. “Em--” I
swallowed half the word.
Then she did a three-sixty look over, spinning me around and said, "You look…
beautiful, Aine." She twirled the ends of my hair between her fingers as we giggled.
Threw her arms around me and finished with, "Here” She reached behind me and
said, “This came yesterday from your godmother." Once she left I tore it open.
Chanel Number 5. Emma insisted I had a fever, and should come home early to rest -
as a condition of letting me go.
We agreed to meet at the Dingle aquarium. He was sitting on the bench, but
when he saw me approaching, he stood, and met me halfway, a sideways grin on
his face. It was warm and the breeze carried the scent of his cologne that made my
knees weak. I’d forgotten how beautiful he was.
“I was afraid you wouldn’t come.” he said as his smiled widened.
Almost breathlessly I said, “me too.” Then I filled him in on all I had to do to get
there. “I’ll be paying for this date for the next month,” I joked, unaware of the truth
in the statement.
He swatted a fly from my shoulder and said, “Well I’m glad you made it.”
Gracefully he moved his hand from my shoulder to his sandy blonde hair and
brushed his hair back. The sun played with the colors in his shirt, and I saw
charcoal where previously it was plain black. He said, “And you look beautiful.” I
don't think I’d ever blushed as much as I did at that moment, as I felt the heat rise
in my head down to my feet. Didn’t know my body could do that.
I clasped my hands in front of me and said, "Thank you." He and I grinned
sheepishly at each other.
He playfully bumped his right shoulder into me. “You seemed warm when
I bumped you. You feeling okay?”
“I think so,” I said even though I was feeling a bit warm as we headed inside.
Chocked it up to the fact he just touched me. Never mind the heat was there before
he grazed me.
Passing through the gardens of the fungi, the native Atlantic, the Amazon
waterfall where I stole several glances at him and hoped he wouldn’t notice. This
was far different than being at school with everyone watching our every move.
Here, we blended in and no one cared that we were together. No one would be
talking about us the next day or passing notes about us next period. An hour later,
we’d reached the Ocean Tunnel, where we were surrounded by Plexiglas. We
paused, staring at the marina moving above and around us.
He looked down at his signature basketball shoes and said, “Ready to head to An
Canteen Restaurant?”
I took two steps back and said, “Oooh. I love that restaurant.” He’d thought of
everything and we rode the bus to the restaurant where Adrian took me straight to
the back. I saw the sign, “Reserved table for two.”
We were seated in the cozy courtyard garden. Adrian ordered the sixteen-hour
braised beef on champ with a red wine and beef gravy and I opted for a Cajun
chicken breast with garlic mayonnaise and rocket salad on arm Ciabatta.
“Maybe you can get the recipe and make this for your Aunt Emma,” Adrian
joked.
“Ha ha. Very funny. Maybe you can come over and make it for her. This is your date
too!”
"How about we split the Bailey’s Cheesecake and call it even? We can walk off
dinner and head to Town Park.”
“What are you saying? I need to lose weight?” I teased.
He smiled, tilted his head in my direction and said, “I thought I told you already.
You’re beautiful.” He ran a finger down my cheek and for a moment, it felt like I’d
stopped breathing.
It was a quick walk down Dykegate Lane but we took our time. While he held
the dessert on a carryout plate, he said, "Your aunt seems real protective over you.
I hope she likes me."
"Emma can be overbearing at times, but I know she loves me. She’s like a
mother to me. Are you close with your parents? "
He let out a sigh, stealing glances at me and said, "They’re okay. They mean well
but they have high expectations. You know, basketball scholarship, debate team
captain. I wish they’d just let me be myself sometimes. Dad just won a big arss
gold trophy for snaring the largest angler and expects big things from me too. ” He
paused and held my gaze, then continued, “Hey, but let’s talk about something
else, okay? I don’t want to be a downer. You’ll never go out with me again!"
I really blushed that time and said, "Of course I’ll go out with you again. I mean.
If you ask me."
Adrian took his last bite of cake, disposed the plate at the nearest trash bin,
cleared his throat and said, “Aine, since this is our first official date I want to make
us official.”
Standing straighter, I leaned ever so slightly towards him. I had a feeling I knew
where things were going but was too shy to hope. I only managed an, “okay.”
“Aine, you look so beautiful. Ever since I saw you at my basketball games last
fall, I’ve wanted this. I guess I just didn’t know how to ask.” He crossed one arm
across his chest like he was reaching for something. Ooooh his pin!
He was so cute but he could talk. I honestly didn’t mind. “Adrian!” I know I blushed,
again. I don’t know why I suddenly had a surge of blood flow thru my body. He got
all serious and his floppy light hair looked gorgeous to me. We both stood and he
leaned forward, and pinned his varsity pin to my dress. In a low voice, “Aine, I
would be honored if you would be my girlfriend.”
I had only wanted to hold his hand. A heat began to pump through my veins like
a run-away steam locomotive being fed too much coal. I became heightened with
crazy emotions of excitement and it saturated my senses. They stirred throughout
my body as I took his hand in mine. Then there were red flames swirled over his
body like a frenzied tornado. Oh God, what was happening to me?
Overtaking the fragrance of Heather of Town Park was a blistering, bubbling,
burning, white-pink skin that peeled off in layers. It was a strong aroma of
sickening, sweet meat, sort of like grilled pork, but with a uniqueness of its own. I
leaned my hands on the alder tree and it began to burn. Adrian was too weak for
the flames that engulfed him and the fire was so hot, the supple leaves of the Alder
tree nearby crumbled instantly. I was rooted firmly to the earth, unable to look
away, as he shriveled and imploded before dissolving into black ash. Then, a soft
breeze kicked up, as if to gather him back to the dust as if he was released. Leaves
played mindlessly in the gentle currents, seemingly unaware of the horror that had
just taken place. My mind was unable to grasp what had just happen
The scream within me became strangled in my throat as I watched him burn into
nothingness. Moving away from the tree, my crocheted dress snagged a branch but
still I approached the bald ground where once he stood. I imagined my appearance
resembled how I felt – broken. Dropping to my knees, hysterical sobs escaped my
mouth but somehow I managed to say, "Yes, Adrian. I'll be your girlfriend," as if
that would somehow resurrect him.
