Ella
Dear Diary,
It’s around
4 a.m., and I don’t want to sleep. I don’t want to fall asleep and risk
forgetting everything I felt today, or worse, close my eyes only to find out it
was all just a dream, because that’s exactly how it feels.
I won’t keep
building suspense because I’m dying to write this down.
I went with
Kyle to the skate park today, just as I wrote here yesterday that we’d planned,
and I didn’t expect anything extraordinary—except for Ella, of course.
No, she
wasn’t skating at that moment. Right when our eyes met, she was groaning in
pain, struggling with all her might to take off her black boots. “Ella,” Kyle
said. “What?” I asked, snapping out of my thoughts.
“Her name’s
Ella. She goes to the school up there. She’s kind of weird; she’s always around
here, and I’ve noticed she tends to get hurt. Last year, she fell off her
skateboard so hard she dislocated her shoulder. It wasn’t pretty, to say the
least. Looks like she twisted her ankle now.”
Kyle went
silent, climbed up a ramp to greet some friends, and I sat on the nearest bench
to Ella. Pure coincidence.
She has
dark, wavy hair that falls just around her shoulders, a defiant smile even
though she’d just gotten hurt, and naturally tan skin. She’s wearing
vintage-style sunglasses that honestly suit her well. Oh, and she has braces—I
noticed that when Ella smiled at me.
“If you
like what you see so much, take a picture; I won’t live forever.” Her voice was
enchanting. Wait… what?
“Are you
talking to me?” I asked, loud enough that only she could hear. Ella smiled
again, struggling to get up and then coming over to sit on the bench beside me.
She set her nearly empty gray backpack on the table in front of us and took out
a Polaroid camera.
“Of course
I’m talking to you. There’s no one else here, is there?”
There
really wasn’t, and everyone within ten meters seemed too wrapped up in their
own world to notice a thing.
“Well, I’ll
handle it for you. Here, hold this”—she put the camera in my hand —“point it at
me, yes, look through the lens, and press the button.” The camera snapped the
picture she wanted, and when I held it in my hand, I was speechless.
“It’s
blurry. You can’t see anything,” I said, trying to hide a sadness I didn’t
understand from my voice.
“Wow, those
photography skills won’t get you far.” She took the picture, waved it a bit,
and left it on the table. Then, turning to me, she said:
“I’m Ella,
nice to meet you.”
“I’m
Diane.” And then I smiled, for the first time since this magical creature sat
beside me.
“Diane... I
don’t like it. You’re Anne now. Well, Anne, what are you doing in this filthy
skate park without a skateboard? And in a dress?”
I went on
to explain that I’d only come to keep my brother Kyle company, since he doesn’t
have a driver’s license yet and the skate park is far from our house. I noticed
that as I spoke, Ella was looking at me up and down.
“You have a
car, then?”
“I do. If
you could walk, I’d show it to you.”
“Lucky for
me, someone just gave me crutches.”
I smiled at
her. She smiled back. We grabbed our things and walked to where I’d parked.
Ella looked around, then smiled at me again. She really does have a beautiful
smile.
“Tell me a
bit about yourself, Anne. Don’t spare the details.” She said this while I
unlocked the car, and we both got in.
“OK, well,
a girl recently decided to change my name, so... I’m Anne. I’m 18 and just
finished high school. I love to write, and I’ve considered writing a book, but
for now, I stick to small articles for little magazines. I have two adorable
dogs. I hate walking alone, but I must do it every night. Your turn, Ella.”
“Alright,
I’m 17, almost 18—don’t judge. I’m an only child and have a tiny group of
friends. I don’t usually have evening plans with them, so if you want to invite
me to walk your dogs with you…” She gave me a little sideways smile, and I
smiled back. “I love to read, and I’m a big anime fan.”
In the
distance, we heard voices, and I recognized one as Kyle’s.
“I liked
the initiative. You should come over sometime to walk the dogs with me
tonight.”
Before she
could react, Kyle called me, now closer, saying we could go home. Quickly, I
opened my backpack while my brother was distracted and wrote down the address
of the park where I usually walk the dogs. I handed it to her, and she grabbed
the blurry photo, took the pen from my hand, and wrote something on it before I
could see it. Then she stuffed it into my backpack and got out of my car with
difficulty.
The ride
home was exhausting. Kyle put on his System of a Down CD and sang the entire
time. I wonder what kind of music Ella listens to and whether she’ll really
show up at the park.
I’d like to
say time passed quickly, but it didn’t. I spent a good hour staring at the
photo and the phone number she’d written on it. I didn’t want to seem
interested or curious, so I let it go. I didn’t call the number, though I
really wanted to.
Finally,
it’s 11:00 p.m. I said goodbye to everyone at home and headed out with the dogs
to the park, where I spotted a figure from afar.
“Hey! I
didn’t know what time you’d come, but I just got here myself. Shall we walk?”
I greeted
her, giving her space to pass with the crutches. We started a silence that,
surprisingly, didn’t feel awkward. She wore jeans, a black top, and wasn’t
wearing sunglasses now.
She asked
if she could walk one of the dogs, and I immediately agreed, giving her the one
who doesn’t pull as much so she could manage with the crutches. When she took
the leash, our hands brushed, and I noticed she seemed embarrassed. You
couldn’t see much in the moonlight and scattered streetlights, but somehow none
of her beauty was lost—in fact, it seemed to deepen.
“You know,
I wasn’t sure you’d actually come, but I have to say I’m really glad you did.”
I smiled slightly and tucked my curly hair behind my ear. Ella looked at me
without saying anything, then sat down on a bench, and I followed her lead.
“I almost
didn’t come, since you didn’t call or give me your number.” She smiled, and I
pulled my phone from my pocket, handing it to her. She spent a good two or
three minutes with it. I later found out why.
We started
a long conversation about movies, anime, music, and series until she fell
silent.
She looked
at me with an unspoken intent and did what I’d been wanting to do for so long.
She kissed
me.
And it was
unlike anything I’d ever imagined. I’d never even been interested in a girl
before, much less kissed one. It was incomparable.
She broke
the kiss, smiled at me, glanced at her phone, and said she had to go, or she’d
miss her train. It was past 2 a.m. She gave me one last smile, kissed me again,
and left as quickly as her crutches would let her.
She left me
there, grinning like an idiot. I sat down, soaking in the unique feeling of
kissing Ella. None of my ex-boyfriends had ever come close to stirring these
feelings.
After a few
minutes, I got up and headed home with the dogs.
Passing
through the living room, my parents said I seemed strangely serene and asked if
I was okay. I told them I’d never been better.
I went
upstairs to my room, closed the door, took off my shoes, socks, pants, and so
on. I grabbed the Polaroid picture and put it under my pillow. Lying down, I
picked up my phone and saw five selfies of her that left me stunned. She’s so
beautiful. I was lost in the photos when my phone vibrated—a message from Ella.
“Same time
tomorrow? :)”
I sent back
a “Yes ;)” and came here to write all this down.
Well,
tomorrow, whatever happens, happens. But I know I want to feel her lips on mine
again. And now that I’ve written this down, I can fall asleep in peace.
Diane
“Anne” Thompson
~K