One in a Million

"Aalia,

I just got the news that I get a break from school in a little while! Maybe like, in two or three months. I know it’s kind of far away but I wanted to tell you ahead of time so you keep your schedule open. I still have to fill you in on that amazing guy I told you about a while back. Trust me, you’ll wanna hear about this ;)

Anyway, write me back soon. I’m home alone today and I really need something to do. Get on Skype or something if you can.

Give Dylan a big hug for me.

Love,

Caroline."

Aalia tapped her nails impatiently on her desk, glancing at her cell phone after every other word she read from Caroline’s new email. Aalia had been waiting for the Mystery Boy to call for a while – she seemed to spend most of her time doing so. It made her feel pretty useless; currently, the most exciting thing in her life was nightly calls from a stranger she didn’t know.

It may have seemed like that to others, but Aalia felt as though she knew him better than anyone at that point. She knew his loves and hates, his past and his present, and even his darkest thoughts and deepest aspirations. She knew almost everything about him, except his name, that is. He was the only constant in her life. She could count on him and nothing else. She was holding onto him for he was all she had left to believe in.

Quickly, she typed up a decent reply to Caroline:

"Dear Caroline,

My schedule is all yours. I really mean it. Just let me know when you’re coming home for break and I’ll force Dylan to help me clean the place. Tell me all about that guy in your next email. I’d love to hear about him. I’ll try to get on Skype later. You know how challenged I am with video chat on this stupid new iPhone… I love you and miss you tons.

Xoxo,
Aalia"

Aalia hit the SEND button and shut her laptop, turning her attention back to her cell phone. She situated herself like she did every night – sitting down in a chair on the patio, sipping a lemonade in one hand and holding her phone in the other, awaiting that familiar vibration from his daily call.

Every time his name lit up on the screen, her heart skipped a beat.

“Hey,” she muttered casually after answering, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach.

“Hi there,” he replied. Aalia was surprised it was so quiet on the other end. Usually, she could hear distant chatter or other noises in the background.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“Oh, not much,” he sighed deeply, “I’ve had a really long day.”

“Sounds like it. What did you do?”

“Um,” he hesitated, “I had to meet with some of my dad’s friends. Then, I went to a concert.”

Aalia raised her eyebrows. “Another one? You go to a lot of concerts.”

“Yeah,” he sighed again, “I do.”

“Who do you go to see?” She took a sip of her lemonade before leaning back in her chair.

“Oh, just these bands. You’ve probably never heard of them.” Before Aalia could protest, he changed the subject. “I had to go to church this morning, too,” he mentioned.

“That’s cool,” she replied blandly, “I haven’t been to church in years.”

“My parents are pretty big on religion. My dad used to be a pastor.”

“Oh,” she said, finally noting a significant difference between them, “My family was never really religious. I guess I just lack that quality as well.”

“I’m not too religious either,” he said, “My parents just like my brothers and me to get that experience and hope we take something from it.”

“No, I totally commend you for it,” Aalia said, eager for him not to think she was disagreeing, “Going to church is really good.”

“I don’t completely agree with a lot of the things my parents want me to do just because they’re so big on religion.”

“Like what?” she asked.

“Like, they really believe in abstinence and I’m just like…ugh,” he said, “You know?”

Aalia laughed. “Yeah, I know.”

“They want me and my brothers to stay pure until we get married,” he continued, “My oldest brother kept that promise, but my second oldest definitely didn’t.”

She bit her lip. “I don’t know if this counts towards my twenty questions. I don’t even know how many I have left, but have you kept that promise? So far, I mean.” She was almost scared of the answer. For some strange reason, it made her nervous.

She heard him let out a light laugh. “I don’t know how many either of us has either,” he said, “But to answer your question, yes. I’m still a virgin.”

In a way, she felt proud of his answer. But in the same way, she also felt guilty that he was a virgin and she wasn’t. Their belief systems were so very different.

“But I know I don’t want to wait until I get married,” he went on, “It’s just one of those things I don’t really agree on.”

Aalia nodded but remained silent.

“Are you still a virgin?” asked the Mystery Boy, almost too casually, “I-I mean, if you don’t mind me asking, of course…” He seemed to catch his mistake.

“It’s all good,” Aalia said, “I’m not a virgin. I’m actually a little ashamed to say that.”

“How come?” His voice sounded curious.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged, “I guess it just makes me feel unclean, you know? But it’s only happened once. And the way it happened wasn’t really the way I wanted it to happen.”

“How did it happen?” he asked, the question falling out of his mouth without control. After a moment, he caught himself. “Jeez, I’m sorry. I’m being so nosy. That just came out by itself. You totally don’t have to answer that…”

She laughed. “It’s okay,” she said, “Really, it’s fine. It was just not how I pictured it to be. It wasn’t romantic or loving or anything. It was just…sex. You know?”

He chuckled. “No, I don’t really know,” he said, “But I get what you mean. I’m sorry it wasn’t that great.”

“Yeah, me too…” Aalia went on, “It happened on my birthday, too. So that kind of sucked.”

“I’m sorry,” he kept apologizing, as if it were his fault.

A few moments of awkward silence passed before he asked a subject-changing question.

“What would make your perfect birthday?” he asked, “I actually wrote down a bunch of questions I wanted to ask you and this is one of them. I know that’s kind of lame, considering I’m a guy…”

Aalia smiled. “No, it’s not lame at all. That’s actually a really good question.”

“Oh, thanks,” he laughed.

“Do you want like, what I would do or what?” she asked to clarify.

“Everything. Where you’d go, what you’d do, who you’d be with, everything.”

She sighed deeply, contemplating the possibilities. “Hm, that’s a tough one,” she said, “Alright, I got it.”

She grabbed her half-full lemonade glass and went back inside through the screen door to position herself comfortably on the couch under a blanket. She knew such an explanation would require a bit of time and patience.

“First, the day would start at midnight with some friends at my place. We’d make red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and drink sparkling apple cider while dancing to 50 Cent’s ‘In The Club’.”

She heard his laughter in the receiver. “Why sparkling apple cider?” he asked, “And why that song specifically?”

“Because it’s amazing! And that song is kind of a tradition. I play it every year on my birthday at midnight. Gotta have it,” she explained.

He continued to laugh. “Alright, go on.”

“So then we’d all crash from a sugar rush and have a sleepover. Then, I’d have breakfast with my parents. But that’s impossible because they’re divorced and will never be willing to be in the same room together…But it’d still be nice to be with them, seeing as how they’re responsible for my birthday. Anyway, after that, I’d love to go ice skating. But that’s impossible too because my birthday’s in the summer, plus I live in Arizona. It’d still be fun though.”

“Okay,” he paused, “Then what?”

“Then, I don’t know…” She sifted through her brain for any remaining ideas, “To be quite honest, I just want to be with people I love. Maybe go out to dinner somewhere, stuff like that. You know?”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” he said, his voice sounding as though he were smiling.
“What would your perfect birthday be?” she asked him in return.

He hesitated. “My perfect birthday? I’d love it to be spent being able to act like a normal kid…” he said quietly.

Aalia was suddenly confused. “What do you mean, normal?”

She heard him scold himself for some particular reason, but she didn’t know what.

“Never mind, it’s nothing,” he said quickly, trying to recover himself.

“No, I want to know,” she insisted.

“Listen, I have to go,” he hurried to make an excuse, “I’ll try to call you again in a bit but for now, my brothers need me for something. I’ll talk to you later, Aalia.”

And with that, the conversation completely shifted in a matter of seconds and the line went dead. Aalia was left laying on her couch with the phone still over her ear, utterly confused.