I awoke from the dream like I always did, tired and confused. Every night I dreamt of her, the beautiful princess who begged me to find the silver crystal, but still I was no closer to finding the crystal.
'Who is she?' I wondered to myself, slowly getting up out of bed. Even though I had slept a full eight hours, I still felt pretty tired, which was usually the case on the nights when I dreamt of her. Unfortunately, this was becoming more and more frequent of late.
After picking my clothes out for the day and laying them on the bed, I made my way to the bathroom for a nice, hot shower, only to catch a reflection of myself in the mirror.
"You look awful," I told myself. With my hair sticking out in every direction and large bags under my eyes, I really did look like a train wreck.
Shaking my head, I got into the shower, letting the hot water flow down my body, all the while wondering how I was going to breach the double date topic with Serena. I couldn't just go up to her and say, "Hey Serena, want to go on this double date with me?" I mean, come on, it's not like I was terribly interested in her. I was just doing this as a friend. Call it a truce between us.
'Yeah, a truce,' I thought to myself. 'That's how I'll go about asking her.'
"4:17. I swear that girl would be late to her own funeral," I observed, a bit miffed that she hadn't shown up yet. After all, I was doing her a favor.
"What are you waiting on, Darien? Or should I ask, who are you waiting on?" Andrew slyly asked, giving me a wide, knowing grin. I shot him a glare. I seemed to be doing that quite a bit lately.
"On a more serious note, though, why did you decide to go through with this?" he asked.
"I don't know. Some of what you said made sense. I mean, if I don't do this I'll be sitting in my apartment, by myself, doing nothing but studying," I replied.
"And?" Andrew prompted.
"And what?" I asked.
"Why else did you agree to this?" he asked, obviously hinting at something.
"Well...I thought...maybe this is a chance at a ceasefire between us," I proposed, but Andrew just rolled his eyes "That's not what I'm talking about, Darien. God, you're thick!" Andrew exclaimed. "Admit it; you like Serena. Why else would you ask her out?"
"Andrew, you're making something out of nothing. I'm doing this as a ifavor/i, nothing more, nothing less. This idoes not/i mean that I like Serena in that way. She's four years younger than me!" I barked back.
"What is age in the midst of true love?" Andrew cried, much to my irritation. It wasn't enough that he got me into this mess, but now he had to insinuate that I harbored feelings for the Meatball Head. Give me a break. She was just some fourteen-year-old girl that I knew...It's not like I icould/i like her in that way.
"Um, Darien? Are you okay?" I was broken out of my reverie by the Meatball Head herself.
"Uh, yeah," I said, shaking my head slightly in an effort to clear my thoughts. "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" I glanced over at Andrew and, catching his gloating smirk, made sure to add, "Outside, please?"
"Uh, yeah...sure...okay," she said, understandably confused as to why I would want to speak with her in private.
Once outside the arcade doors, I led her to the shade of a tree in the nearby park, making doubly sure I was out of earshot.
"Darien, what is this about?" she asked, sounding slightly irritated.
I turned around to face her, unsure how to phrase my question. "I was wondering..." I started, my hands slick with sweat as I struggled to find the right words.
"I was wondering...if you found someone to go with you Friday night...because if you haven't...I'd...I'd be willing to go with you," I said, hoping she wouldn't burst out laughing right then and there.
But instead of laughing, she just stood there, confusion written on her face. I thought maybe for a second that she hadn't heard me, so I began to repeat myself, making sure to speak a little louder this time.
"I was wondering if you-"
"I heard you," she said quietly, suddenly very interested in the grass at her feet. She stood there for several moments not speaking, intent on the little trenches she was digging with her feet. I had the feeling that she wasn't terribly excited about the whole idea of going with me. I shrugged to myself. Oh well, hadn't I told Andrew that she wouldn't go for it?
"Why, Darien?" she asked, still intent on the ground.
"Why what?" I asked.
"Why are you doing this, Darien?" she cried, finally looking up at me. "You know, I'm really getting tired of this. I know why you want to go with me; this is just another way for you to humiliate me. Don't you ever tire of making fun of me all the time, calling me names?"
"Whoa Serena, you've got it all wrong. I'm not doing this to humiliate you, if anything I'm trying to do just the opposite. Look, I've got nothing to do Friday night, so I figured I'd help you out a little...as a friend of course."
"You mean it?" she asked sheepishly.
"Yeah, I mean it" I replied, giving her an encouraging smile.
It was then that she finally smiled, the first one I had seen since that day in the arcade.
"Oh wow, this is great! I gotta tell Raye...Oh and don't worry, you won't have to act like my boyfriend or anything. I'll just tell them that you're a friend of mine..." she cried, obviously pleased that she now had someone to go with her.
"So, do we have a truce, Meatball Head?" I asked, extending my hand.
She shot me a playful glare before shaking my proffered hand.
"Truce," she said with a small smile.
"So she accepted, huh?" Andrew stated, his eyebrows raised and a stupid grin plastered on his face. He had called me late that night, demanding that I meet him at the arcade after he closed the place. All this just so he could learn Serena's answer.
"Yeah, I was really surprised. I thought surely she was going to throw her shoe at me or something, all the while yelling 'Never in a million years!'," I joked.
"But she didn't..."
I looked up, suddenly aware of what was going on. "You're implying something, Andrew. What is it?"
"There's hope yet," was all he said.
"Whatever," I muttered, rolling my eyes for what seemed like the thousandth time.
"Someday you'll understand what I'm implying; you're just too blind at the moment to see the truth," Andrew asserted, getting up from his chair. "Anyway, it's getting late and I have to work tomorrow. I'll see ya!"
And with that, Andrew gathered his things and left the arcade. I suddenly found myself alone in the darkened building, wishing I understood what it was Andrew had been implying...