Ryan
A few months past and my blood was boiling that Lia and her friend's had yet to forgive me for an honest mistake. As if they never made any while on Earth.
"Ryan, what ko kalay?" Ace asked in concern as we were seated comfortably one Saturday on the couch in the child's section of the library. Her English was getting much better and she would speak a sort of mix in between Sapphieran and English when we were alone. I didn't want to worry her with my problems, though.
"Nothing," I told her. I forced a fake smile onto my face. Usually just sitting in the library had its effect on me.
"You miss esu-hi? Lia, ji mean."
I shook my head no. And I found that wasn't a lie. Whenever I sat on the couch with Ace, I wanted nothing more than to remain there forever. Even if we weren't having a conversation. With Lia I wasn't too keen on staying around her even when we were dating. I realized in that one moment that I had fallen for the looks of Lia and not known anything at all about her character. And even if at first I saw Ace as beautiful, I knew as much as possible about her. I knew her favorite color. I knew about her family. I had to think hard about Lia. All I could recall that she had a sister with some name I could not remember. I knew that she was genuinely curious about other cultures. I didn't know if Lia was curious or just a follower.
I knew the way Ace asked for me to help her. I knew how she couldn't quite speak English but tried so hard just so we didn't always have to speak in her native tongue. I remembered how we first met vividly. And with Lia, all I remember was a boring day and some jumbled Sapphieran-English translations.
In that moment, I realized I was moping about the wrong girl. I was slowly and painfully falling in love with a young woman whose character was better than every human's I had ever encountered. And I was certain she didn't feel the same way.
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Acsedorra.
Acsedorra held in a sigh of relief as Ryan denied missing Lia. It showed in his eyes that he was as honest as they come. She would sneak glances at him when he was not looking. When his attention was averted she would mouth I care about you. Internally she would add the last part: "as more than a friend."
She loved his laugh. And the way he wasn't afraid to explain to their friends, different Earth customs. They had quite a bit of fun mimicking Halloween trick-or-treating in different parts of the library. Her closest friend's saw the way her eyes lit up when Ryan entered the room. She couldn't help but smile when he had a confused face during their conversations at the lunch table. Or the way he tried his hardest to get the teachers to allow him to address them as Ell/Juno and then their last name. Or even just Ell/Juno and then their first name. He had no such luck and it amused Ace and the majority of their friends.
Too bad Ace was convinced that Ryan didn't love her back.
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Ryan
Ace and I had decided to go out with some friends. We met up at Mia Terra Flora or The Meadow. A cute little café for school-aged people.
We had booked a room so we could play games without disturbing the other patrons.
The first person outside of Ace and I to arrive was the always hopeless-romantic Xyïoa. He and his twin sister, Maddilyn were constantly on my case to ask out Acsedorra. I politely declined the offers. Or I might have just told them that she wouldn't feel the same way so no use damaging our friendship.
Our friends were a tight-knit group. Mostly consisted of scholarly types. The only person who much preferred athletics was Koralï, an exchange student from the planet Ginaeval- better-known as the only planet that's official language was English in the galaxy. She and I got each other's references most of the time. There were a few discrepancies but for the most part Ginaeval and Earth were the same.
When all 6 of us-Ace, Xyïoa, Maddilyn, Koralï, Jessi, and I- were all in the room we began playing the different games we had brought. Koralï and I taught everyone how to play Uno. And then we had an epic tournament of it. Then everyone else taught the two of us some Sapphieran games. My favorite was the bean bag toss across-like game. Excpet their version no one could get hurt in. Because it was tossing small blue and yellow balls into a bin about three feet away and whoever got the most in won. It was like free-throw basketball without people trying to catch the ball when it came out of the net. We explained how to play darts and that was an instant no. I'm fairly certain darts are impossible to buy there. We had fun and then went to our respective homes for the eveining.
A/N: Okay….if you have any ideas for this. Let me know. :D Thanks!
