26
Demir left the house at dawn the following morning and Tahti couldn't help but stare at the sun catcher he had gifted her, the previous night, once he had left. He had asked her to accompany him to an exhibition on Sunday which meant he didn't even know what day the coming Sunday was and she felt weird for feeling slightly annoyed.
She doubted he felt the same way she did, and she wondered if she was just being obsessive over him?
Her phone, which was on the bed rang and she dropped her head to look at the ID, which bore her aunt as the caller. A smile crossed her lips as she reached for her phone to answer the call.
"Aunt Freya. Did you pull an all nighter again?...I guess I should work as hard as you." She said.
It was just a couple of minutes to six and yet her aunt had rang her up.That was something her mother would never do, except it was an emergency. She knew her aunt had probably stayed up all night working on her pottery pieces too and sometimes, Tahti admired the speed at which her aunt completed her pottery pieces, which was something she had difficulty with, even as a student. She was presently struggling with her art piece for the gallery exhibition.
"I'm used to this, anyway...So you should just work on your own speed, sweetheart." Her aunt said. "Are you going to your mom's place this Sunday? It's your birthday tomorrow, so I was thinking of visiting."
She would love to have her aunt around as it had been a while, she had seen her but she felt going over to visit her would be better.
"You don't need to come. It will only be tiring for you. I will come visit you once the semester is over, I promise."
"I see. Do you want anything as a present then? You know I'll get you anything you want. Just say it." Aunt Freya said and she sank back to the bed, with a smile, knowing her aunt loved nothing more than to spoil her, since she had no kids of her own.
"Gosh, I wish you were my mom."
"You're one lucky girl, you know. It's because you have both your mom and aunt." She said and the smile on Tahti's face slowly disappeared. She had never for once considered herself lucky to have the type of mother she had, who had always been jumping from men to men, and neglecting her after she had divorced her dad. It wasn't even clear why she had divorced her dad in the first place, although she had suspected it had something to do with the country's green card.
"You should spend your birthday with the person you want to be with the most, Tahti."
"The person I want to be with..." She repeated, thoughtfully as she raised her head to the sun catcher.
It was crystal clear to her that the person she wanted to be with the most was Demir, but how was she supposed to go about it? He wasn't her boyfriend for starters and two, he didn't even know it was her birthday. Wouldn't it seem like she was forcing herself on him, if she told him?
She kept pondering on her aunt's words as she headed for the professor's office that morning. Would it be wrong of her to ask Demir to spend the day with her, even though they were just sex partners?
She was a couple of metres from the entrance of the office when Demir walked out and she was about to call him when he took out his phone in his pocket to answer a call.
"Hey Stella, I just finished. I'll be there soon." He said and turned to take the flight of stairs at the other side.
Stella, it was that name again, she thought with a frown to herself as she walked him walk away. Was everything just her wishful thinking? Did she not occupy a special place in his heart like he did in hers? Was it only Stella that held a special place in his heart?
Disappointed, she walked into the office.
"This looks good." Michelle was saying as Andre passed her a cutlery when she walked in.
"Good morning." She smiled.
"Demir just left. Didn't you see him on your way in?" Andre said and she felt awkward for a moment. It was true though, she had come to see him.
"I didn't come to see him." She lied and hurriedly pointed towards the night work board. "I came to unlist my name for tonight's late night work." She replied.
"Unlist your name? This early?"
"I'll be leaving town first thing tomorrow morning."
"Oh!" Andre said and she turned to sign on the board.
"Did you eat?" Michelle asked and she turned back to them. She hadn't thought of having breakfast as she had been thinking about Demir when she had left the house.
"Come over. You can eat with us...We ordered three servings." Andre beckoned to her with a smile.
"Alright." She replied and she dropped her bag on a chair, before sitting in the other. She was feeling hungry anyway.
The thought of whether to ask him out the following day bore on her mind as Michelle passed her a spoon and she bit her lip. She could seriously do with April's advice as at that moment, but April was one smart girl. She would figure out she was talking about herself and Demir and the least thing she wanted to start rumours herself.
"Do you have something to say?" Michelle asked and she raised her head to look at her.
"Huh?"
"You looked like you had something to say." She said and Tahti tore her eyes to look down at the table. Andre and Michelle were completely unaware of her relationship with Demir, unlike April who was no fool. She'd know she was talking about her relationship with Demir even if she lied that it was a story of a friend. It would probably be best if she asked, anyway. After all, a problem shared was half solved.
"Well...I was wondering if it would be weird to spend your birthday with someone you're not dating?"
"Then are you're getting to know each other?" Andre asked as he served Michelle.
She hesitated as she tilted her head. Her relationship with Demir had gone past knowing each other. "It's not like that. but if you do everything else..."
"Do everything else? What do you mean?" Michelle paused and Tahti wondered how she was going to put it without them throwing her a weird glance when she shook her head.
"Oh...Then I would say no. A birthday gift would be fine, but spending the day together...I think that's a bit too much."
"Really?"
"Do you love him?" Andre asked and she turned to him.
"What?" She blinked, taken aback at the direct question. "No. I wasn't talking about myself. It's about a friend."
"Does she love him?"
"You're always going on about love." Michelle eyed him as she clicked her tongue and turned back to her. "That's not a good relationship.You're sure to regret it soon.Tell your friend to use birth control."
She slowly nodded. "I will."
That was another red flag, she thought to herself as she ate without enthusiasm. Her appetite for the meal disappeared on noting another sign, that hanging out with Demir would only end up with her having a heartbreak, in the most painful way possible.
Aunt Freya told her to spend her birthday with the person she wanted to be with the most, but had it occurred to her that she probably didn't mean the same to Demir? He didn't even know her birthday was the next day, so how could she dream of being someone who his heart held dear?
She dialled his number as she walked out of the office after she was done with the meal. She would just come up with an excuse and cancel their appointment.
"Can you talk right now?" She asked when he answered, on the third ring.
"Yeah."
Yet again, his voice did wonders to her system and she found herself warming again to him. God, would she never stop this rush of emotions where he was concerned? She had called to cancel, for God's sake.
"I just called to say I can't come with you to the exhibit this weekend.I'm going to see my mom."
"Really?" He asked, with a resigned sigh and she guessed, it was because he hadn't expected her to say no. "That's too bad."
"Sorry. You can go with someone else."
"Alright. Is there anything else?"
"No, that's it. Bye." She said and hurriedly hanged up on him before he did, just like an adolescent girl did on her boyfriend.
The day had turned bleak and cloudy when she was out of school, headed for home and Tahti regretted not taking an umbrella. It was the fault of the forecasters who had gotten terrible at forecasting the weather as of recent.
Luckily for her, she turned to see a bus was driving past the school and she stretched her hand to flag it down.
There were only a few passengers in the bus and she walked to take a seat next to the window, with a sigh. She would just listen to her aunt and go visit her mother. Her mother would still her mother, anyway.
"Darn, these weather forecasters." She swore, when the sky crackled with a downpour.
"Tahti?"
Someone called, with hesitation in his voice and her head whipped round to see a familiar face behind her. She scanned through the faces she had ever come across, wondering where she had seen the person before her and he smiled.
"It really is you, Tahti." He said and the face finally matched with one she had seen in her school. One of her numerous friends.
"Josh Daniels?" She doubtfully called and he smiled again.
"Yeah."
She clasped a hand over her mouth in surprise as she'd never expected to run into him after their graduation at high school.
"It's been such a long time... It's been about ten years, right?"
"That's right. I thought we'd never meet again." She lowered her hand, surprise still written all over her face.
"Me too."
"What are the chances?"
"Are you living in LA?" He leaned forward to ask and she nodded.
"You?"
"Yeah. I'm learning how to cook." He replied.
"Cook?" She smiled her surprise. "Just like your grandpa?"
"Yeah. I'm working at the QSR at Dreamland's intersection."
The QSR at Dreamland's intersection, she repeated silently. That was two streets away from where she lived and she recalled April had once told the crew to have dinner there with her, after complimenting their menus.
"I know that place."
"You do?"
"I've never been there before, but a friend of mine said it was good." She told him and he grinned, and she could see he looked pleased with himself.
"You should come over sometime."
"Alright, I will." She replied and looked out the window to see her stop was next. "Josh, I'll soon get off..."
"Tahti." He called and reached for his back pocket to take out his phone before handing it over to her. "Can you give me your number?" He asked.
"Of course." She replied.
The bus jerked to an abrupt stop, sending some passengers falling forwards and others off their seats.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied and handed his phone back to him. "I have to get off here. I'll see you some other time."
"Alright." He replied and she rose to hurry out of the bus.
The doors of the bus shot open and she alighted, raising her hands to cover her head and prepared to run towards a nearby shelter, when she realized she couldn't feel the raindrops on her anymore.
