A Hundred Years Without Knowing You

Someone old and wise once told me to never let your past meet your present. And if the two do ever encounter each other don’t let it change you in the slightest, but with youth come ignorance, and I’m not very old or very wise.

What if you’re past was staring you right in the face? What if it was standing there in the flesh? Even a wise person would be consumed with curiosity. Three minutes before that moment I had been submerged in my present, but as I stood there I became increasingly young and ignorant.

“Maher?” I felt my empty glass slip through my fingers and hit the dirty brown floor.

“Liv,” He glanced at the newly broken glass, then back up at me.

I closed the door slightly behind myself. My eyes were wide as I ran a hand through my caramel brown hair. I narrowed my eyes at him. His eyes, they were these glassy brown eyes that feel like they’ve seen everything and I didn’t recognize them at all, but somehow they managed to be oddly comforting. He was staring at me, and he didn’t speak. I didn’t speak either and the only thing I could hear was the ball drop on the television in the loft, as everyone counted down and Maher stared me straight in the eyes.

“5! 4! 3! 2! 1!” Everyone chanted. “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” They screamed, but it sounded faint to me.

“Happy New Year, Olivia,” He breathed. His words were slow and careful as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his worn, dark, jeans.

“What…What are you doing here?” I stumbled over my words. “How did you find me?” I demanded. “Where have you been? And why are you here?”

The questions wouldn’t come out fast enough, and I think it’s because it felt like he was going to disappear. He bit his lip like he was really confused and ran a hand through his nearly neat dark hair, but nothing could ever really have been neat about him.

“What do you want to know first?” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Everything,” I snapped.

“Liv, it’s really not that easy,” he shook his head doubtfully. His voice was deep and raspy.

I took a step back to take him in. All six-feet and two inches, tall and lean. He had always been that way, ever since I could remember. Sharp features, not in the bad way though. Messy dark hair, he had a bit of stubble, and his ears were red; That meant he was nervous. His face had changed. In a lot of ways he was different, but in a lot of ways he was exactly the same.

You see, Maher Akhtar had always been a hot mess ever since I could remember. Except I hadn’t seen him since I was fourteen. Fourteen of my summer into high school. Why was he standing in front of me right then? In the doorway of my New York Loft? That summer was the last birthday I spent with Maher. It was my birthday. May fifth to be exact. A couple of days later he was gone. Without a trace. Without a goodbye.

“Nothing’s ever easy for you, Maher.” I knew I was being terrible, but he deserved it.

“Do you want answers or not?” His voice was annoyed, frustrated. Stressed.

“Don’t start with me Maher, I always win,” I felt like smiling, but I didn’t know why.

“Yeah, I know,” he smirked. “I just figured I owed you some answers, but if you don’t want to hear them I can leave you alone,” he turned towards the stairs.

“No! I mean…Yes. I want answers.”

That was the exact moment that my past met my present. Whether it would change me was questionable, but I didn’t plan on it. I just wanted simple answers and Maher could do whatever he wanted with his time after that. He had come here from god knows where, and it wasn’t like I owed him anything. I was just too curious to let him walk down those stairs. I was too curious to let my past go and not let it meet my present. I took a few steps towards the stairs that lead to the roof and sat on the bottom step pulling the sleeves to my plain white v- neck shirt over my knuckles. Maher sat on the opposite side of the step.

“Go ahead,” I looked up at him and my hair fell into my face. I flipped my long hair to one side.

“I’m here because I wanted to see you. Your birthday passed a couple of months back and all of a sudden I couldn’t stop thinking about you. You’re tough to track down though.” What did he want? A biscuit? Should I have given him a gold star?

“Remember? You asked?” I guess he could read my face, but he always could. I hate that.

“Maher I-,” I began.

“Liv, what are you doing out here? You missed your New Years Kiss!” My roommate, Aliyah, smiled. I got up from the step and so did Maher.

“Who’s this?” Aliyah eyed Maher, shaking her main of curls out of her face.

“Aliyah, This is, Maher. Maher this is Aliyah, my eccentric roommate. You two should remember each other.” I smiled and Aliyah placed a defensive hand on her petite hips.

Then she smiled.

"It's good to see you, mom." She laughed, folding her arms.

Maher chuckled in reply, "As too you, Ali." Then he turned to me, with a sullen expression, "I've got to get going, though. I'll see you soon," He began to walk towards the elevator, but we weren't done yet and he was walking away from me.

“Wait! Maher you never finished! You owe me answers!” I demanded.

“You’ll see me again don’t worry,” he waved me off.

“I’m not worried,” I retaliated.

“Yeah you are. It’s your nature. How long do you think I’ve been gone?” he wasn’t looking at me but I could feel the sarcastic grin playing on his lips.

“Long enough!” I shouted.

“Yeah. I thought so too.” Then he was gone.

Then, I was left there trying to figure out exactly how he interpreted that conversation. If I knew Maher, which I believed I did, I should’ve been smarter with my word choices. Who did he think he was? I probably wouldn’t see Maher for a long time and I was fine with that. Sort of.