Status: Completed
Hanging By a Moment
The Refusal
Landon’s mom motioned for me to sit in the chair next to him. I did and once she left Landon spoke. “So you have to go to the bathroom?”
“Um, yeah.”
“Right there,” he said pointing to the bathroom off of his room that Arianna had just used.
I went to use it and once I was done I went and sat down once again quietly, unsure of what to say or do. So then I looked around his room. In the middle of everything was a king size bed with a modern comforter with a leather-cushioned headboard giving a masculine feel though you could tell Therese had decorated his room. At the foot of the bed were the two chairs Landon and I were sitting in. They faced the entertainment center which housed every video game system you could think of—Xbox 360, Wii, Playstation 3, Gamecube, and even Nintendo 64. Derek would be in Heaven. He was an obsessive Call of Duty player but his Xbox broke, so he was out of luck and now had time to text and call me.
Just then my phone buzzed in my small clutch purse I had brought along, and forgotten I was holding. I opened it up as Landon sat next to me, silent. I grabbed my phone and glanced at the touch screen to see who texted me. Derek. Then sliding up the phone, I touched the screen where it said View Now.
Hey babe.
I typed back a reply: I’m at this dinner party thing. I’ll call you when I get home, okay?
I put the phone back in my sequined clutch and ignored it when I heard a vibrating noise—Derek’s reply— from inside it. Landon didn’t speak at all for the next few minutes. He just flipped through his book of poems by Paul Verlaine as the silence hurt my ears. You know how silence can be louder then anything? It’s so noticeable and awkward. I hated awkward.
“Um,” I started, which I seemed to be starting every sentence with um around Landon, “I’m really sorry about this whole arranged marriage thing. I have a boyfriend too.”
“Yeah. I know,” Landon said his eyes on one of the pages in his book.
“You know?”
“My mom told me. So we have something in common, well except the fact I have a girlfriend.” He looked at me and smirked as he spoke.
“Ha, I guess so. But really, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t go through with this if we didn’t have to.”
Which actually, maybe I would. Looking at him, well, he was gorgeous in an obvious way. And if he was all my mom said he was—charming, nice, and funny… Then he was a perfect catch, perfect marriage material. Maybe we could be like my grandparents—forced into an arranged marriage by their parents and then ending up to get the fairytale ending. They’d been together for fifty years. I started to like the idea of an arranged marriage, with Landon that is.
“I’m not going through with it,” Landon said nonchalantly.
I widened my eyes at him. “What?”
“I’m eighteen. I can make my own decisions. They aren’t the bosses of me anymore,” he said defiantly. “Your grandparents will still pay for your college as long as you still go through with it.”
I was taken aback. Almost hurt. So he wasn’t going to go through with it? Was there something wrong with me? Okay, I thought, I know I’m a Ginger with freckles but… so?! I’m not a fake plastic platinum blond Barbie named Arianna. I felt… embarrassed. I looked down awkwardly at my flats. They were black and had a simple bow on the tip.
“No offense,” Landon said closing his book.
I would have said none taken, but then I’d be lying. “Um, do you like poems?” I queried.
“Yeah. I learned about them my junior year of high school and I really like Paul Verlain’s.”
“Oh, well what’s your favorite?”
“I don’t have one, but his most famous one is called Clair de lune—meaning Moonlight.”
“Will you read it?” I questioned sheepishly.
“Uh, sure,” he said huskily. “Your soul is like a landscape fantasy,” he began.
Where masks and Bergamasks, in charming wise,
Strum lutes and dance, just a bit sad to be
Hidden beneath their fanciful disguise.
Singing in minor mode of life's largesse
And all-victorious love, they yet seem quite
Reluctant to believe their happiness,
And their song mingles with the pale moonlight,
The calm, pale moonlight, whose sad beauty, beaming,
Sets the birds softly dreaming in the trees,
And makes the marbled fountains, gushing, streaming--
Slender jet-fountains—sob their ecstasies,” he finished.
“Did you understand any of that?”
“Some… It’s a little confusing.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, it is. Arianna can’t interpret any of it.”
I smiled to myself. “My boyfriend wouldn’t be able to, either.”
Landon leaned back in his chair. “What’s with your name?”
“What?” I asked confused.
“It’s weird.”
“Psh, my name? Landon? What kind of name is that?”
“A nice name. It’s fitting.”
“Fitting for what?”
“A fuckin’ awesome guy,” he said proudly.
I laughed and it rang through the room. “Yeah, awesome is one word for it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
I smirked. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
He laughed, grinning—his pearly white teeth shining. “Well that’s why I asked.”
I turned my smirk into a smile and he continued to grin back at me. I knew then that it would be easy to fall in love with this boy in just one month.
“Um, yeah.”
“Right there,” he said pointing to the bathroom off of his room that Arianna had just used.
I went to use it and once I was done I went and sat down once again quietly, unsure of what to say or do. So then I looked around his room. In the middle of everything was a king size bed with a modern comforter with a leather-cushioned headboard giving a masculine feel though you could tell Therese had decorated his room. At the foot of the bed were the two chairs Landon and I were sitting in. They faced the entertainment center which housed every video game system you could think of—Xbox 360, Wii, Playstation 3, Gamecube, and even Nintendo 64. Derek would be in Heaven. He was an obsessive Call of Duty player but his Xbox broke, so he was out of luck and now had time to text and call me.
Just then my phone buzzed in my small clutch purse I had brought along, and forgotten I was holding. I opened it up as Landon sat next to me, silent. I grabbed my phone and glanced at the touch screen to see who texted me. Derek. Then sliding up the phone, I touched the screen where it said View Now.
Hey babe.
I typed back a reply: I’m at this dinner party thing. I’ll call you when I get home, okay?
I put the phone back in my sequined clutch and ignored it when I heard a vibrating noise—Derek’s reply— from inside it. Landon didn’t speak at all for the next few minutes. He just flipped through his book of poems by Paul Verlaine as the silence hurt my ears. You know how silence can be louder then anything? It’s so noticeable and awkward. I hated awkward.
“Um,” I started, which I seemed to be starting every sentence with um around Landon, “I’m really sorry about this whole arranged marriage thing. I have a boyfriend too.”
“Yeah. I know,” Landon said his eyes on one of the pages in his book.
“You know?”
“My mom told me. So we have something in common, well except the fact I have a girlfriend.” He looked at me and smirked as he spoke.
“Ha, I guess so. But really, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t go through with this if we didn’t have to.”
Which actually, maybe I would. Looking at him, well, he was gorgeous in an obvious way. And if he was all my mom said he was—charming, nice, and funny… Then he was a perfect catch, perfect marriage material. Maybe we could be like my grandparents—forced into an arranged marriage by their parents and then ending up to get the fairytale ending. They’d been together for fifty years. I started to like the idea of an arranged marriage, with Landon that is.
“I’m not going through with it,” Landon said nonchalantly.
I widened my eyes at him. “What?”
“I’m eighteen. I can make my own decisions. They aren’t the bosses of me anymore,” he said defiantly. “Your grandparents will still pay for your college as long as you still go through with it.”
I was taken aback. Almost hurt. So he wasn’t going to go through with it? Was there something wrong with me? Okay, I thought, I know I’m a Ginger with freckles but… so?! I’m not a fake plastic platinum blond Barbie named Arianna. I felt… embarrassed. I looked down awkwardly at my flats. They were black and had a simple bow on the tip.
“No offense,” Landon said closing his book.
I would have said none taken, but then I’d be lying. “Um, do you like poems?” I queried.
“Yeah. I learned about them my junior year of high school and I really like Paul Verlain’s.”
“Oh, well what’s your favorite?”
“I don’t have one, but his most famous one is called Clair de lune—meaning Moonlight.”
“Will you read it?” I questioned sheepishly.
“Uh, sure,” he said huskily. “Your soul is like a landscape fantasy,” he began.
Where masks and Bergamasks, in charming wise,
Strum lutes and dance, just a bit sad to be
Hidden beneath their fanciful disguise.
Singing in minor mode of life's largesse
And all-victorious love, they yet seem quite
Reluctant to believe their happiness,
And their song mingles with the pale moonlight,
The calm, pale moonlight, whose sad beauty, beaming,
Sets the birds softly dreaming in the trees,
And makes the marbled fountains, gushing, streaming--
Slender jet-fountains—sob their ecstasies,” he finished.
“Did you understand any of that?”
“Some… It’s a little confusing.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, it is. Arianna can’t interpret any of it.”
I smiled to myself. “My boyfriend wouldn’t be able to, either.”
Landon leaned back in his chair. “What’s with your name?”
“What?” I asked confused.
“It’s weird.”
“Psh, my name? Landon? What kind of name is that?”
“A nice name. It’s fitting.”
“Fitting for what?”
“A fuckin’ awesome guy,” he said proudly.
I laughed and it rang through the room. “Yeah, awesome is one word for it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
I smirked. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
He laughed, grinning—his pearly white teeth shining. “Well that’s why I asked.”
I turned my smirk into a smile and he continued to grin back at me. I knew then that it would be easy to fall in love with this boy in just one month.