To Protect My Honor

Emotional Stirring III

Six weeks later, I had traveled to Monterey, California to visit a friend who had come there as well. That day happened to be Valentine's Day, but nothing romantic had ever happened between me and Lois, the person who I was visiting. I sat on the patio of the hotel's courtyard in the late afternoon with her family. The day was pleasantly warm for February, and my academic woes  seemed to be light years away. But one thing troubled me.

I had not heard from Victoria in four weeks and counting. She could have just been busy, I'll give her that. But something told me this was intentional. I just had a hunch.

There was nothing she said that would suggest she didn't want to talk to me, but I had no idea how she felt. That's what terrified me. Not knowing.

As evening fell, I messaged Alexis again, confiding in her what was happening, or more correctly, what was not happening.

"So you think she doesn't want to talk to you," responded Alexis.

"Maybe," I typed. "But I can't think of any reason why, so I am not willing to rule anything out at this point."

"Fair enough."

I was not worried about her. I figured that she was okay. What worried me was how she felt about me.

At eight o'clock, immediately after we had dinner, my mom called.

"Mom! Hi," I answered.

"Hello, Milton. How was your day?"

"Good. Yours?"

"I had a great day," she said.

"That's good to hear. I'm a bit tired, but I am doing well."

"Well, I guess I'll let you go, then. Oh. How's Lois?"

"She's doing really well," I said. 

"Good to hear. Well, good night."

"Good night, Mom. Love you."

"Love you too."

I hadn't told her about the ongoing Victoria issue.

That night, I walked by myself to get an iced tea from a Starbucks near the hotel. As I walked there, I thought about my life and how things had changed over the past years. But when I arrived, I briefly discussed life in Monterey with the cashier as my iced tea was being made.

I drank it on my walk back, then went to bed soon thereafter.

Three days later, back in Pasadena, I was discussing ideas with Alexis over the phone. We discussed a lot of things, but what I enjoyed most was our discussions of ideas we had. I use the word "ideas" in its broadest possible sense.

It was lunchtime. I had two hours off before going into five hours of afternoon class. I chose my own schedule, but it did drag on a bit, or so I thought.

I told Alexis, "What do you think of this? We write a story together. I write most of it and you do the editing. Or you write most of it and I do the editing. It can be about anything you want. I'm good at writing about anything. I mean, some things are better than others, but I can write about anything you want. I mean, after my first project kind of fell through...."

"Stop," she said. "That's enough."

"What do you mean?"

"You had me at 'We write a story together.'"

"Oh, okay. How about over spring break?"

"Quite possibly," she said.

We discussed possible themes, but we had no idea at this point. It was rainy today, a relative rarity in Southern California, but it rained more than usual this winter. I soon walked the few hundred yards to my classroom.