She Is Beautiful

Thirteen

Thirteen
Borrowing

Charles asked a passerby if he could watch over their luggage. Thankfully, the man agreed gladly. Charles ran after Alona. Inside the station. When he saw her making her way to a waiting area, he was going to call her again, but one boy's appearance stopped him. From shouting. From taking another step closer to Alona.

It was Henry. The boy Alona liked. Charles made an abrupt U-turn. Alona would prefer Henry's company, not his. It was last year when he noticed Alona's affectionate eyes towards Henry. She was attracted to him. She liked him.

With drooped shoulders, Charles went back to where he was waiting for his Dad before. Mr. Felix was already there. Talking to the man he had asked to keep an eye on his Dad's luggage. Or arguing.

The man told him his Dad was claiming his things were his. Charles cleared up the situation, thanking him and shaking his hand. As he and his Dad hopped in a cab, he saw Alona and Henry come out of the station. Holding hands.

When Henry heard Alona's stomach growl, he insisted on treating her for brunch. Alona did not want to, in case she found herself depending on Henry for the day. But she was too hungry to say no. Feeling like her stomach was snarfing down her organs in her lower abdomen, she conceded.

She could not resist when Henry held her hand. Too hungry, too weak.

"When you asked me to go see a movie with you, was it because you really liked me?"

"Then did you think it was because I really hated you?"

"What I'm trying to say is that, if you like me wholeheartedly, then other people liking you can't be lies."

Alona hadn't totally champed on her bite of mushroom chicken fillet, but she still swallowed. A small attempt to hear the sound of the action instead of Henry's piece of mind.

"We're different. You're handsome, slender arms. I'm not." To change the topic, she asked him quickly what he was doing in Currant. He told her he was actually supposed to travel back to Scarlet, but then he saw her.

"I came here with Giselle yesterday. It was her sister's wedding. We were going to go back together, but she wanted to stay for one more day. It's their family's valuable time. I can't intrude." Henry sipped on his soda. "What about you?"

"Going to see my Dad, though I don't know his address. I'll make a call later in the afternoon."

"I'll give you company until then. If that's okay with you."

It was late in the afternoon when they seated themselves on a hard bench near the city's tower when Alona finally pulled her phone out from her coat's pocket. There were thirty-three missed calls. And nineteen new messages. Most from her Mom. The rest from Lawrence. She excused herself. She was going to distance herself but Henry got up first, walking across the lawn.

Her Mom was being her ratty self when Alona called back. She was giving her an earful. For not calling or texting to inform her of whereabouts. When Alona told her Mom that she was not at sleepover like she assumed she was, her Mom raised her voice again, berating her for her unworldliness. That the reality of life is that the world is a dangerous place.

"I'm in Currant, Mom. It's getting dark, and I don't have any place to sleep at. I only have a few dollars with me."

Her Mom stopped her rating. As the other line turned quiet, Alona bit her upper lip, hoping and praying that her Mom will fall for it.

"Your Dad's not there. He won't be back for a week." Mrs. Ryans calmed down. "I'm not ignorant to not know that there are night buses running. If you don't jump on one right now, I don't know what I'll do, Alona."

"I saw Dad with Lawrence!" Alona failed to hold back her tears. "At least tell me why I'm prohibited from visiting him when he's my Dad and there's almost no reason—"

"He doesn't want to see you."

Alona came to a standstill. It took her a while to process what her Mom just said. "Mom, please, stop lying. Is that the best excuse you can come up with? It's okay for Lawrence to see Dad, and it's not okay for me?"

Mrs. Ryans shut her eyes. "You're right. It's okay for Lawrence. It's not for you. Why? Because it's his son he wants to see, not you. Alona, your doting father is sick of you. Do you actually want me to use harsh words before you get it?"

Alona wanted to hang up to end her sobbing. She wanted to mutter again and again that her Mom was a liar, but she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and said softly that she really could not afford the bus fare. She heard her Mom sighing on the other line. She was fed up with her. So Alona immediately faked a laugh, taking her words back. She ended the call reassuring her Mom that she would board the bus at the earliest moment.

Henry asked her if everything was fine, she weakly answered yes. Although worrying that Henry might not be carrying enough money, she still put on a bold front, borrowing fifty dollars from him. He did not ask whatever happened to her meeting with her Dad. He even personally bought the ticket for her. Alona couldn't be anymore grateful.

As they mounted the bus, Alona took one last hurried look at the snow-capped peaks surrounding Currant. It was its mountains and two-storey buildings made from bricks that made it very different from Scarlet. It gave off a certain wistfulness, like walking in an era no one had ever been too before but still felt like home.

Alona covered her face with her coat as the bus left the terminal. Her travelling alone was a definite fail.