staticdream

Fate, or destiny, or however else you may choose to call it would always find a way to play tricks on you. Fool your heart into thinking, believing even, that you’re content even though that one vital piece is still missing. For both our girl and our boy, the piece had been small, but they both felt its absence, even though neither one of them could put a name to what it was.

So begins our story with once upon a time. A moment. One brief period in time that doesn’t even warrant an exact definition in most dictionaries. It’s not a very long time period and yet there are people who are so caught up with it, looking back at it, replaying it over and over inside their minds. What encompasses a moment? It’s only a tiny speck in the sense of the day, and there are many moments that pass us by without incident. In fact as you are reading now, many insignificant moments had already passed. Yet, rare as they are, some moments are different, take for example, the day our hero first met our heroine.

In any case, as mentioned, this is the story about a boy meeting a girl. Yes, they all are (except when it’s not, but that’s irrelevant). This now, would be the part where I tell you about both of them. About our protagonists. About the things they have done, are doing, and will do. About how special they are in their own rights, and about how their meeting each other was a once in a lifetime chance.

Who am I to disappoint you?

We begin with our boy. His name is Neil Etheridge, and he desperately wanted to believe that forever was not a myth. Though he would never show it, he liked to think that somewhere out there, someone was meant for him. It was quaint idea, but until it was proven, there was nothing to stop him from making like a bee and dropping in on all the waiting flowers.

And this is exactly how we find him one after-party night. He was only on his third drink when it happened, it was too early in the evening for him, not even midnight when he spotted a a lovely flower standing alone by the bar.

“Target spotted, eh?”

Neil smirked at his friend Simon, “Target is too heavy a word,” he tipped his head towards her direction, appreciation distinct in his eyes. “I’m just going to go say hi. After all, I’m a friendly guy and it’s our victory party. We’re celebrating yet she looks very lonely all by her lonesome over there.”

Simon laughed but said nothing more, “What happened to that last girl? I thought we had something there?”

Neil shook his head. “C’mon mate, you were there. Nothing to really keep you all that interested.”

“Better off friends? Where have I heard that before?”

Laughing, Neil nudged Simon with his elbow before resuming his perusal of the lovely thing waiting for her drink. A few of her girlfriends had joined her, and now Neil was looking at a smorgasbord of long skinny legs and bare backs. “You’re free to take a pick,” he offered, tilting his glass towards the girls.

Simon took one look before shaking his head, “No thanks, I think I’m all set going stag and keeping it that way tonight. But you have fun.” he said, before adding “but not too much fun, we still have work tomorrow.”

Work meant training, but not until late the following afternoon. Nothing was in his way of fun tonight, perhaps he could even get lucky. Maybe, he mused, leaving Simon behind and making his way through the thick crowd of people and towards the bar.

Sadly, said model is not our girl. Far from it. In fact, our girl often secretly wishes she had the physique of many a super model, but alas, genetics was not on her side. Instead, we find a girl who, with persuasion on a good day, would describe herself as just that tad bit above average.

Her name, is Syrena Luna, and tonight, she was going out on a limb in search of her destiny, her forever, her own taste of happily ever after. Despite her arguments that a bar- the first one she and her friend Mai come across- was not the ideal place to look for a soul mate, she easily conceded, trusting fate to play its card for her. Also, Mai’s threats were of no trifle matter. It was a going away party of sorts after all, emotional blackmail was high on the list of possible threats our girl was to receive. So despite all her protestations, there Ren was, nervously looking around the packed floor for any sign at all that destiny was playing tonight.

It would have helped her tremendously if she even knew what the signs were.

“What are you doing?” asked a cross Mai as she handed Ren a drink.

Gingerly, she took it with clear intentions of partaking the drink at a dire opportunity. “Looking around?”

Mai rolled her eyes and sighed, “No looking. We’re here to dance and get wasted!”

Neither of which were high in Ren’s regard, but she nodded in defeat. She knew it would have been pointless to argue with Mai, it had been useless then, and it would continue to be useless indefinitely. She tried to find a mantra to chant in her head, but the music was too loud she couldn’t even hear her own thoughts.

That settles it, she thought, you only live once. Surveying the crowd and clutching her notebook closer to her chest, Ren took one cautionary step towards the dance floor before Mai pulled her back.

“And get rid of that notebook,” her friend said over the music, “why can’t you leave home without that thing?”

This time Ren rolled her eyes and quickly stashed the pink faux leather notebook into her satchel, unaware that the magnetic button locks didn’t fasten properly. She let Mai drag her around and the they wormed through the heavy crowd to look for their own personal pocket for the night. They wound up heading back towards the bar instead, and Ren looked as if she was now being thrust into a parallel universe.

And parallel universe it may have been. With Mai passing her cocktails, and her having no choice but to take them, Ren had finally discovered the joys of inebriation and feelings of relief it brought along with it. It was a salve to soothe the burns on her just broken heart. She downed one shot glass and cursed the bartender, who, much like most barkeeps, smiled and offered her another shot.

“Feeling better?” Mai asked, hopping down the stool and stretching her legs.

“Define better?”

“As in forgetting-your-boy-troubles better.”

“I have no such thing,” Ren drawled, hopping down the stool as well. She glared daggers at the models next to her, mouthing profanities concerning their waistlines and their hemlines. Mai was already sashaying towards the dance floor, and Ren, not knowing what else to do, followed suit.

As it appeared, she had no real hold on her own senses, and as the alcohol kicked in, so did the klutz. Her foot caught on the stool’s footholds, and there she went flying down, a startled yelp on her lips. Ren closed her eyes awaiting the hard floor beneath her as the tiles flashed in her vision. The familiar sensation of falling was almost comforting to her- it gave her a sense of being alive, of adventure even. Perhaps it was even a kind of masochistic streak that blocked her own body’s natural instinct to throw her arms out to protect her from the fall.

Meanwhile, Neil staggered back as something collided into him. On instinct- he was a goalkeeper after all- he spun around and ducked low enough, allowing his arms to catch whatever it had been that was thrown against him. Said something was something lithe, and very, very sweet-smelling. He couldn’t quite put a finger on what exactly it smelled like, but in retrospect he knew it was significant when he considered the setting. She wasn’t exactly soft as the women he was used to having in his arms, she was rather muscular and wiry, but there was something that changed in the air as he caught her.

Her thoughts scattered for a moment as strong arms wrapped around her waist and back. She knew she should have been falling- she had been! Yet there she was caught in mid-air. Soft grunts escaped them both as Neil shifted his position, pulling them both upright. A part of him was telling him he should have let her go, but the thought hadn’t crossed him at all.

A touch of panic swept over her as she realized she didn’t know what to do. There she was in the arms of a stranger, albeit a very attractive stranger that looked awfully familiar to her but under the lights (or the lack of it) she wasn’t too sure.

“Falling for me now, aren’t you?” he asked, unsure of his own voice. To him, the blaring music, the flickering lights, the swarm of people all just faded away into the background.

Ren saw his lips moving, but she couldn’t hear him over the speakers overhead. She nodded, hoping it was an acceptable answer. When his gaze became too intense for her to handle, she fumbled around herself, slipping under his arms, shouting some kind of apology, and running away.

Surprised, Neil couldn’t stop her, and he watched helpless as his Cinderella disappeared into the crowd. He glanced at his watch, chuckling as the green digital numbers read midnight. He glanced down on the floor, expecting a glass slipper, and his brows shot up in disbelief. A pink notebook lay by his feet, and he picked it up, leafing through the pages.