Soft breeze swayed the light curtains like a flowing wave of a calm river. Every once in a while scribbles of messy lines and crumbled papers thrown into the dustbin echoed in the tranquility.
Ria sighed when she started at her unfinished lines. With one hand on her cheek and another twirling the metallic pen, "For the longing of…ugh this is so hard"
She closed her eyes as she thought of words that could fill the empty pages. It's her first time writing a romance. Ria mostly focused on a more cynical, philosophical and abstract plot than a genuine story of connection.
She pushed her chair away from her desk, "This sucks. Why did they have to choose something so hard like eternal love? How am I supposed to know what that is!?"
She clearly didn't find any relevancy to write this for her school's magazine so the entire night she spent pacing around her room coming up with different excuses to get away from writing it.
"Teacher I have to study for my exam"
She stood as if her teacher was in front of her as she shook her head in strong disagreement, "No! That's so dumb! She will think I am incompetent."
"My grandma died"
She scratched her head hard, "That's what Dylan says and Dylan is an idiot"
"I can't write romance. My mother says that's blasphemous"
She stood there blinking, "..."
When the soft wind shifted to cold and sharp icyness that sung one's skin.
She paced around tapping her pen against her chin, "Love. Love is the main entrance to one's heart. It can be anything for anyone. "
She turned towards the window as she tilted her head, "Eternal love is a love that never ends"
Does it though?
…
…
The sun was bright as soft rays filtered through the canopy of giant trees. Ria stood by the small cafè that felt peculiarly out of place. Wood whose color was stripping away every day, paint that was washed out in a misty shade and an ambience that was too quiet for a café.
She checked her watch with slow blinks. It's really early in the morning and she has school to hurry up to. Where's her aunt?
Birds chirped here and there and she sighed while playing with the tassel of her bicycle. She could almost fall asleep as she leaned on her bicycle handles, folded her hands to support her head.
"Hey"
The sudden voice made her jerk upright, "Yes?" She asked, more confused than surprised.
The voice belonged to someone tall and lean. His face shone in the bright sunlight against the coldness of the concrete pavement. His hair shone golden brown where the light danced. His features still a bit hazy due to the distance, Ria blinked slowly.
Colors started to become desaturated blue as a distant voice echoed,
"I will forget you. I will never look back again"
For a moment Ria was trying to find the resemblance she could almost find familiar. The breezy drift of time only became clear when he continued, "Do you know where Rupert Linnell lives?"
She blinked, Rupert? That's her best friend as she wrinkled her brows, "Why?'
He kept his voice flat, "Can't you just tell me?"
She looked away before shaking her head, "Not until you tell me who you are and why you want to know"
He stepped forward, his fingers clutching the strap of his bag loosely, "I am his friend. I really need to see him…for something personal "
She raised another eyebrow, "And I am his best friend. How come I don't know you, "his supposed" friend?"
Rupert was always attracting unwanted attention because of his rising fame in the world of music and voice. She looked at the boy sharply, "Don't invade someone's privacy just because you like his voice a lot"
His concerned expression shifted into pure confusion while she continued more vehemently, "People like you are the reason why Rupert is so weird around people. Do you have any idea about what it feels like seeing my best friend constantly being harassed over his looks and voice!?"
Before he could say anything to which he was almost confused whether he should speak or not– she raised her hand before him, "No. Right? You do realise this is a crime. Like you could be in juvenile prison for it"
He looked away not embarrassed but unconcerned, "Fine I will ask someone else"
She closed her eyes in genuine exasperation, "You-"
"Aiden!"
Rupert's clear voice paused her mid sentence. He ran up to Aiden and smiled, "It's been so long"
Aiden turned his gaze towards Rupert, "Three years"
While the two boys talked Ria could hardly hear their words as her focus wasn't on that it was on: who is Aiden?
Her dark brown hair swayed as a gust of dusty wind hit her. She watched them, Rupert shook his head as he gestured to Aiden to follow him.
When Aiden walked past Ria to follow Rupert, for a second their eyes met, before he left.
Ria stood there before turning towards her bicycle and stiffly waiting for her aunt. She played with the ring on her finger and mumbled, "Rupert didn't even notice me"
…
…
The school was calm. Students were all silently studying for their upcoming exams. Only a few boys were playing football in the muddy ground.
The sky roared every once in a while as sapphire clouds drifted like sky mountains. Ria sighed as she looked at the empty pages before her.
She had been contemplating going to her teacher and asking for a solution but she just couldn't forget a weird feeling of something ephemeral.
She looked through her lashes to the deserted front of her desk.
"I am your friend"
The text was written in bold golden italics. The pen in itself looked exquisite and she tilted her head. Her eyes dimmed, friend?
For whom?
"Ria??"
Rupert's impatient but concerned voice closed her thoughts. She sat straighter, "Yeah?"
Her voice was callous and expression hard. Rupert sat down before her and said quietly, "I didn't see you in the morning. Please do be angry"
She opened her exercise book, "It's fine. What do you have to say?"
He looked at her sullenly, "I am genuinely sorry. I heard you even threatened Aiden…for me. "
His eyes turned slightly glassy as he shook his head in disbelief, "I am so honoured "
Ria stared at him, her fingers tightened around the rim of the page, "Who is this Aiden?"
Rupert turned his face away, "A friend "
Ria nodded, "ok."
The silence became heavier. Drops of water started to fall outside on the ground in a rhythmic structure as Ria wrote the title, perennial.
Perennial.