Brilliant Bones

Write About Love

New York City, Manhattan
1990

Maude Allen had had what she was allowing to be called 'the worst day of the month'. She had said too many times when she was younger the phrase : 'this is the worst day of my life', so she had decided to take a bad day and consider it the worst day of the month. In the last era of the 20th century, the nineties had given her four or five 'worst days of the month'.
But that wasn't the point.

She had just finished her boring and confusing Hebrew exam, a subject she absolutely loathed. She had thought about protesting to the Jewish school board about having an option for students to drop the language when they reached high school, but there was no one else who would be willing to fight. Mostly because she seemed to be the only person who really minded.
Maude wasn't the sort of person who would spend her days repeating to herself : "I have friends, I have friends, I have five fucking million friends", she had decided to stick to reality and agree with the honest voice in her head who said : "Maude, you have no fucking friends, boo hoo".
She had a boyfriend , Anthony. She didn't know if she loved him or not , but she knew he loved her. They had had sex already. Maude had been counting the days since she had had sex: twenty nine days.
Twenty nine days since she had questioned whether Anthony was existing anywhere in her future. They were going to different colleges: Anthony was staying in their hometown of New York to study medicine at NYU itself and Maude was heading to study business and psychology at Pennsylvania University.
She was starting to see this as an escape.
Sex with Anthony was supposed to be fun, pleasurable, the best experience of her life. But no, it made her question if she had had sex wrong.
She couldn't imagine herself breaking up with Anthony. He was popular, smart (a little too vein about it as well), Maude's mom loved him and they had been nominated for Prom Queen and King despite the fact that Maude didn't have any close friends.
She knew that Anthony's friends had voted for him and then for her almost as a favor to her boyfriend.
As she was thinking of all this, she was walking on the streets of New York City. She was dressed in her school uniform to indicate that she was just a regular Jewish , young woman growing up in Manhattan.
She liked to think of herself of looking like she had just escaped an old fashioned cult which had forced her to dress like a pilgrim. She was fine with wearing the white, buttoned up shirt, the blue and white striped tie and the blue blazer.
It was the skirt that was the problem.
She insisted that it made her look Amish. It went past her knees and extended for about seven more centimeters. People would give her looks in the streets when she would walk home in it, fascinated by the girl who went to the prestigious Jewish high school.
As she thought about what she thought to be her horrendous uniform and her supposedly 'wonderful' boyfriend , she finally noticed she was at Drew's Brunch, her favorite diner. It was six blocks away from her school, seven from her home.
It was far from everyone she knew from her area, no one could recognize her there.
It was paradise.
She felt herself smile, but forced it back. She didn't feel like being happy, there was no reason to be happy. She wasn't even inside the diner yet, how could happiness happen outside paradise?
She soon turned the corner and was in front of the diner. Maude didn't hesitate walking in, she ended up rushing inside instead. She pushed the glass door with her might, not jumping like she used to as a bell chimed above her head. The diner wasn't too full, only a few tables were occupied. She was even lucky enough to notice her booth at the very back of the thin and rectangular diner was empty and calling for her.
She didn't wait for any waiter or waitress to lead her to a table, she knew how to direct herself and mentally insisted didn't need help. She soon arrived at the booth, slipped herself in and a released a huge sigh of relief.
All she needed to calm her down was a Coke Zero to sweeten her body but keep her figure thin and an egg mayo sandwich.
She also needed a golden ticket to a better world where there were better, kinder and more loyal people, but that was impossible.
"Ma'am"?
Maude looked up to see a young girl, probably the same age as herself. The girl was blonde and of an average height. She had green-blue eyes, full and complete lips and an overall beautiful face. Her eyes were outlined by dark eyeliner that Maude had always thought about trying but never had, her beautiful lips were completely natural. Maude could see the girl was wearing a very natural shade of blush as well as matching eyeshadow.
The girl was wearing nothing compared to what some other girls wore in Maude's area.
"Um,hi ". Maude muttered.
Maude was feeling something, a feeling she had never felt before. It was a feeling with a strong definition: it was like her heart had been soaked in sugar, her brain melted of stress, her bones strengthen like an athlete, her skin sequenced by goosebumps.
The girl was staring at Maude in the way that made her feel like the outcast and loser she believed she was.
"Do you go to school around here"? The girl asked.
"That's a strange question ". Maude muttered, staring into her lap.
"Well", the girl said with a smile on her face, "you are wearing a uniform".
"No", Maude choked out, "I go to school in upper side Manhattan ". She then looked up to look at the girl, "I go to Mitzvah High School".
"What's a fucking mitzvah"? The girl asked, her voice filled with humor.
"You don't want to know".
The girl looked Maude up and down once more before letting her mouth curl and her pretty eyes come into contact again.
"I unfortunately just started my shift", she announced, "rushed from school just around the corner to waitress. My shift ends at four". She then stepped closer to Maude, "wanna do something"?
She felt her heart erupting in a beautiful thunder storm inside her body.
Could the worst day of the month not actually be today?
Was someone actually wanting to hang out with her?
"I could be a serial killer". Maude said, trying to grasp onto reality that had seemed to escape suddenly.
"I know you're not".
"We've literally just met each other".
"The longer we talk, the longer we end up knowing each other".
"I don't even think that makes sense".
"It does, my math teacher repeats it over and over again when he forces me to have private conversations with him about the fact that my brain might actually repel to math".
Suddenly overwhelmed yet wondering if she was still in her reality, she made eye contact with the young girl:
"Don't you have anyone else to hang out"?
"No, everyone thinks I'm a freak".
Maude's eyes widened as she head the girl's remark. She immediately felt like an absolute asshole.
"I doubt that".
The girl shrugged.
"I'm Alex". She announced.
She reached her hand forward to reach Maude's grasp. Maude stared at Alex's hand for a moment, noticing how her hand was shaking.
"I'm Maude...what's wrong with your hand"? she asked.
"I'm ADHD, I don't really ever stop moving". Alex responded with a dull tone.
"Is that why you think you're a freak"?
"No...but I can tell you why if you shake my hand".
Maude didn't hesitate and reached her hand to touch Alex's. She felt the tenderness of Alex's twitching hand and felt it grasp onto her skin as if it was a jewel.
"Why-" Maude begun as they shook, still wondering how the hell they were still talking.
"Because you're special", Alex said, "is that good enough for you to hear"?
None of them were letting go, their hands' grasp was not breaking and they were still shaking.
Alex was the one to let go. She then took a notepad and pen out of her denim, waitress apron and began writing with her right hand. After about half a minute, she tore a piece of paper off the notepad and slammed it onto Maude's.
Maude leaned in quickly and swiped the note, reading it as quickly as possible as Alex stood over her.
Alex Henstridge wants you and your smooth hand to spill all the emotions that you think you're hiding but are actually really good at showing.
Meet me at the New York Library at four thirty.
Maude looked up at Alex, her eyes shining with anticipation.
"I don't need to meet you", Maude muttered, "I'm fine with waiting here...I really have nothing to do besides study".
Maude thought she had covered her feelings quite well at that moment.
Yet, She did have things to do.
She knew Anthony wanted to have sex with her again, but she was trying to avoid him so she wouldn't have to tell him how much she hated their first time and eventually break up with him.
She wasn't brave enough to take on that role.
Maybe she didn't have so much to do after all.
But she liked Alex, she liked her in a way that she didn't understand.