Delilah Collins shifted in her spot of the local bench, where she had been sitting, for oh, the past two hours.
“Any minute now,” she mumbled to herself, low enough so that the old man beside her couldn’t hear. Not that it was likely anyways. He had to be at least hitting ninety soon, he was perched with his legs crossed, reading the daily newspaper. The crinkling of the newspaper was driving her insane. How could she focus on finding her soul mate when there was such a distraction?
“One,” she began the countdown. “Two,” she glanced around, committing to memory all the things around her in this special moment. At three, she closed her eyes tightly, squeezing them as if she were about to witness the greatest thing alive. She took in long deep breath, and them opened her them.
“Hi.” She was staring into the eyes of her new love, Brock Malcolm.
Her face turned beet red. “Brock!” She shrieked, “what do you want?” she asked, trying to level her voice as the old man shifted farther away.
Brock just grinned then took a spot beside her on the bench. The old man cast them both a dirty glance before folding up his paper and walking away, grunting. Great, even she could scare away the elderly, or was it Brock?
“Well,” he began by tossing his arms above his head, taking in a long yawn. Delilah pretended to look at her watch as she waited. “I was just walking over to Costco to pick up my mom some cranberry juice. You see, she has this horrible urinary infection and-”
She raised her hand to stop him. “Spare me the details and just go on.”
“But you’re missing the best part!” He protested but when she shot him the look of death, he continued on. “So anyways, I was walking and then I saw you sitting here, you looked weird. Anxious or something. And then you closed your eyes and I thought I would surprise you.”
“Well you definitely did.” she stated bitterly. They were both silent for a few moments as a few cars passed by.
“What were you doing anyways?” Brock asked suddenly. Delilah opened her mouth to speak, then stopped. How could she possibly explain this to someone without them thinking that she was crazy? All her friends thought that she had gone bonkers, so why wouldn’t he? She had known him for years, considering that they lived on the same street and their mothers practically grown up together. But she knew Brock, she knew that telling him would only set off a chain reaction of jokes that would last for years. Even after high school, he would go on to tell the tale. And at their high school reunion, fifty years down the road, he would still be going on and on. She was positive.
She felt a lump rise in her throat as he waited. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him staring at her.
“Stop looking at me,” she said, testing him.
“Then tell me.”
“It’s not that easy.” And it wasn’t, she had known him for years, but she never really knew him. Yes, he dated pretty much all her friends and almost all of their senior class. Excluding boys, of course. But he had a record that seemed to be growing ever since he moved to Italy for the summer last year. He moved in with his Aunt, got a job working on a boat for the summer. He also got a haircut and a killer tan, and bam, just like that, Brock was suddenly hot.
“C’mon.” He interrupted her thoughts, bumping his shoulder into hers. She bit the inside of her cheek then looked down at her perfectly manicured nails. Her mother owned the local beauty shop so she got all the best services done for free. But it didn’t help that she had to spend a lot of her free time working the front desk. She suddenly felt Brock nudge her again.
“What!” She snapped. When she looked over at him again, he smiled. She noticed that he had recently gotten a hair cut. His already short brown hair, was spiked into some sort of fohawk and his green eyes were still gazing at her intently.
“Are you going-”
“Okay, fine!” She cut in abruptly. “If you must know, I have been sitting on this park bench hoping that maybe I would find my soul mate. So, I closed my eyes hoping that I would open them, and bam, he would just, you know, be there.” She waited a few seconds for the hysterical laughter to start but instead he said nothing.
“What? No jokes? Or were you waiting till I left to die of laughter?”
“Nope.” He said calmly, and for a second she almost believed him. Almost.
“Then what do you think?” She asked, as if he was suddenly so hard to read.
“I think that what you’re doing is actually kind of cool.”
“Cool?” She repeated slowly.
Brock just nodded.
“That’s all?” She asked as a couple driving an old Honda drove by, staring at them. To the rest of the world, they were just another teenage couple.
“Well, I have two questions.” He shifted in his seat so that he was facing her. He smelled of cologne.
“Go on.” She said, yet in a way, she was kind of scared of what he had to ask.
“First, why are you doing it?” He asked simply, the words rolling off his tongue in a perfect way.
“Why?” Delilah clarified. He just nodded his head. “Ok, um. Warning, this may be long and completely silly to you, so don’t laugh.”
He held his right hand over his heart. “Scouts honour.”
She just rolled her eyes but continued on. “I have always been a sucker for love. When I was younger, I would day dream about the day when I fell in love and just knew that for once in my life, something didn’t have to be figured out. Maybe love could be the missing puzzle pieces of all life’s problems. I also envisioned that when you fall in love; it doesn’t just happen, sometimes you have to make it real. So I thought that if I sat here, then maybe it would just happen.” She paused for dramatic effect. “Like when Romeo met Juliet, it was love at first sight. I want to feel the way that Juliet did. I want that, I want all that love has to offer. You know that crazy kind of love that all the songs and movies talk about. The kind that makes you forget the world as you get lost in the mist of it all.” She took in another long breath. “I want that.”
When she finished, it was quiet for a moment.
“Second question.” Brock said instantly, not even bothering to comment on what she just said.
“What?”
“Can I join?” He asked and for a second she thought that he was joking but when she looked into her calm face, she knew he was serious.
“Why?”
“All those things you said, I want all that too. Not in a girly way though.” He added with a grin.
“Right.” She rolled her eyes.
“So can I?” He asked again.
“Can you what?”
Brock sighed, “join your little love adventure. It can be like a little love club. Elite members only.” He said, and once again, Delilah had to stare at him to make sure he was being serious.
“This isn’t some club. This is my life and what I want. If you want to join then fine but-”
“Perfect!” He interrupted her suddenly then stood up. “Be here tomorrow around three and we’ll start. See ya!” He called before walking onto the road, and luckily dodging a truck.
Delilah sighed. What just happened? Who knew that telling him her crazy love story could lead to this? She just shook her head, as if none of it just happened. She stood up, while stifling a yawn before walking to home, the one place that seemed to make sense. Or at least, she thought it did. As she walked, she thought back to her conversation with Brock. She had no clue what tomorrow would bring. But she believed that this it was worth it, even if it meant enduring this experience with the last person she expected. Delilah believed that she could survive it.
After all, it was all for love.