One in a Million

Aalia,
I waited for your call the other night. What happened, chica? Call or email me so I know you’re okay.
Xoxo,
Caroline

Aalia felt beyond guilty reading her best friend’s newest email. In the midst of her daydreams about the Mystery Boy, she had completely forgotten to call Caroline. She knew she was probably pacing the floor of her hotel room, worried to death. So Aalia sifted through her previous emails to find the right phone number – she’d gotten it wrong initially only by one digit. She dialed it carefully into her iPhone and pressed TALK.

“Hello?” Aalia heard a jolly, high-pitched voice sing into the receiver.

“Guess who!” She gleamed.

“Aalia fucking Hart, I’ve been dead worried about you! You never called! Skank.”

She laughed. “I’m so sorry, C. I got your number wrong and felt like a total idiot.”

“Wow,” Caroline scoffed humorously, “You would do that. So what’s new? What have I missed?”

“Not much, to be quite honest…”

As Aalia filled Caroline in on going to the gym with Dylan, the trainer who wanted her number, and the new bikini she bought, only one thing was constantly stuck on the back of her mind. She was conflicted over whether or not to tell her about him or not. She wasn’t like Dylan. She wouldn’t lecture her too much, yet Aalia was still unsure.

“Hold up, a silver bikini? Oh, snap. You have to let me borrow it when I get back,” Caroline squealed, “But oh, my God. I’ve been dying to tell you about this guy I met at the airport on my way over here. Aalia, it was fate. I’m telling you. He’s so sexy. Like, legit, the most gorgeous creature I’ve ever laid eyes on. It was kind of a one night stand thing because he’s busy as shit, but it was so worth it.”

Aalia laughed halfheartedly at Caroline’s news. She could never approve of her risky pimpette status. Caroline’s sleeping around with random men screamed danger to Aalia and she was constantly afraid of the worst happening.

“I’m glad you’re having fun, C,” she said.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you who it was,” Caroline went on, “He kinda made me promise not to tell anyone, but I have to tell you eventually. You’re my best friend.”

“Best friend?” Aalia scoffed, “Pshh, we’re totally lesbian lovers. Stop lying.”

“Only when bad bait’s around, baby,” Caroline laughed, “So any new guys for you?”

Aalia almost didn’t notice the subtle change in Caroline’s tone.

“Not really,” she answered quietly, “To be honest, I haven’t been looking.”

“That’s alright,” Caroline soothed her, “It’s totally understandable.”

Aalia remained quiet, not really having anything left to say on the subject.

“I better go,” Caroline continued, “My mom needs help making lunch and then I have another audition in a bit.”

“Good luck! I know you’ll do great.”

She laughed. “Let’s hope so. I’ll call you later.”

“Okay, let me know how it goes.”

“Alright. Bye, hun.”

“Later.”

The line went dead and Aalia sighed. It was Sunday, the most boring day of the week for her. She didn’t have a job, didn’t have Dylan to bother because she was at her boxing class, and didn’t even have anything on TV to watch. She tapped her manicured nails restlessly on the table. Her impatience was growing.

She pondered on her options and settled on turning on the television. There had to be something on that wouldn’t bore her to tears. Sunday shows solely consisted of Dora the Explorer, infomercials on some exercise machine, or paid programming for seniors. Luckily, a rerun of E! News was on from earlier in the week and even though celebrity gossip disgusted her, Aalia got comfortable on the couch and began watching.

She suffered through the latest dish on whatever the Real Housewives of New York were up to and a piece on Miley’s newest nude photos. She rolled her eyes at their stupidity, knowing that all of these ridiculous acts were just to gain publicity and popularity. Nobody in show business likes a goodie-two-shoes. Aalia believed everyone with fame was, in one way or another, tarnished. Either they were drunks, drug-addicts, sex-addicts, or just insane fame-addicts. And she had no idea why people were so concerned with their every move.

“Coming up next on E! News… The Jonas Brothers. Are they not so pure anymore? Find out next!”

That’s all Aalia could take before she reached for the remote and turned off the television. She laughed to herself, thinking about how ridiculous it was that people actually believed their purity rings were real. Of course, with as much pressure on them to be squeaky clean from Disney, the Jonas Brothers would eventually rebel and have as much mind-blowing, wild, steamy sex as possible, just because they were told they couldn’t. To Aalia, it was obvious. Even though their rings made them good role models for their fans, it still made no difference. She was sure they weren’t virgins.

And neither was she.

Before she got deeper into that thought, she sprang to her feet and decided she’d take a nap to kill the time. The only thing she was waiting for was the call from her Mystery Boy. Nothing else mattered. She was eager to ask him her question. It burned inside her and made her excited as butterflies fluttered in her stomach at the thought of hearing his voice.

So she would curl up on the couch with a blanket and dream of him, conjuring up an imaginative, perfect boy in the ideal setting. She could make him anything she wanted to be. That fascinated her almost as much as he did.

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Chocolate brown eyes, soft straight hair, and warm muscular arms wrapped around her small, fragile body. She could smell his sweet scent, closing her eyes and taking him in. His heart beat against her ear and the sound it created was painfully beautiful. She wanted to be closer to him and take it all that she could from him. Their love was deep and passionate, everything she could have ever wished for. She looked up at him and begged him with her eyes, until slowly, he leaned in, holding her close…

Aalia awoke with a sudden jerk of her body, swinging open her eyes quickly and sitting up, shoving the blanket to the floor. Her body was hot and she was out of breath as she remembered her all too realistic dream. It was one of those dreams she was angry to wake up from, wishing desperate she could fall back asleep and see what happens next. But when the darkening sky of twilight outside her window caught her eye, her heart sped up.

How long had she slept for?

She began to panic and reached for her cell phone, checking the time. It was only 6pm. Thankfully, she had time before he would call. She breathed a sigh of relief and sat back down, moving a strand of hair from her eyes. Slowly, she began to feel silly because of her dream. She laughed humorlessly, knowing she was taking it all too far. He’s just a boy, she thought. No need to get ahead of yourself, stupid.

Aalia wanted to shower, knowing it would help her clear her head, but she didn’t want to risk missing his call. Instead, she changed into a yellow sundress and went out on the balcony, admiring the lovely sunset displayed in the horizon before her eyes. She sat in one of the lounge chairs Caroline had picked out and crossed her legs, placing her phone neatly on the matching table. Aalia and Caroline had cared mostly about the balcony when they moved in, ignoring much of the rest of the apartment. The balcony is what made them fall in love with the place. They spent hours on it, stringing up white lights, picking out a delicately gorgeous table set, displaying flowerpots filled with plants of all different colors and aromas, and lighting countless candles, making the area extremely beautiful, romantic, and calming, especially at night. Aalia relaxed as the soft breeze blew through her hair and soothed her skin.

At the perfect moment, the phone rang. Her heart leapt with joy as she saw the familiar number under “Mystery Boy.” She took a moment to calm her nerves before bringing the phone to her ear and grinning.

“Hello?” she said casually, trying to contain her excitement.

“Hey, pretty girl,” said the smooth voice on the other end. Aalia heart skipped a beat.

“You don’t know if I’m pretty,” she sang.

“Well, you have a pretty name and a pretty voice. So I just have a feeling.”

She laughed. “Okay, fair enough.”

“How are you today?”

“I’m just fine, thanks for asking. How are you?”

“Pretty tired. I had a crazy day.”

“That’s the exact opposite of my day. What did you do?”

He chuckled. “Well, um… I woke up at five thirty. My brothers and I met with a bunch of people. Met with another bunch of people. I wrote a little bit. Then we went to a concert.”

“Wow, that’s really cool,” Aalia replied, impressed.

“Yeah, it’s pretty fun. What about you? What did you do today?”

She blushed a little, considering making up something exciting so he wouldn’t think she was a loser. But she chose not to. She was being true to him.

“Well, I watched some stupid gossip shows and took a nap… Oh, and I called Caroline.”

“Was she mad at you?” he asked apprehensively.

“Nah, everything was okay. We chatted for a while and she’s okay.”

“That’s good.” He paused. “So what was your next question?”

She could hear a smile hinted in his voice and couldn’t help but smile shyly herself. Only one question was burning inside of her. She knew that if she asked it, there was a possibility she would be taking things too far. But she was dying to know.

“Well, um… I-I wanted to know if you…If you maybe, possibly had a…girlfriend…” she ended in a whisper.

She heard him laugh lightly.

“No, I don’t,” he said with assurance, “Not anymore.”

“Oh, okay,” she said, trying not to make her overflowing happiness obvious.

“Do you?”

She smirked. “I don’t have a girlfriend, no.”

His carefree laugh was beautiful. “How about a boyfriend?”

Her heart sank a little bit, recalling her last misfortune with boys. “No, no boyfriend at the moment.”

“Oh, well that’s good,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Aalia laughed and hear d him stutter as he embarrassingly realized what he’d just said.

“I mean…It’s not good that you don’t have a boyfriend ‘cause I’m sure you’d like to have one. Not that you need one! I mean…That’s kinda surprising that you don’t have a boyfriend. Um…I don’t know what I’m saying.” He stammered and stuttered, quickly trying to redeem himself.

Aalia saw it as nothing but adorable. She giggled at his attempts.

“It’s all good. I know what you mean,” she said, not truly understanding him but wanting him to relax.

“Good,” he said quietly, chuckling a little bit at himself.

Aalia and the Mystery Boy went on talking for hours, until the Arizona sky was pitch black, glittering with millions of stars. They lost complete track of time because nothing else mattered.

They had each other now.