See You Again

There was this girl that I met, it was a long time ago, but even now I can still label her as one of the most interesting people I have met in my life. And trust me, I’ve met a lot of interesting people in my twenty-five years, not to brag or anything.

I was about eighteen at the time. It was around the end of May in 2007, before the draft. My dad had started doing some business with a new client and they had generously invited us all over for dinner one night at their home just outside the city of Buffalo. Their house was huge. It was three floors, pale blue with white trim and a wraparound porch. They had a long driveway up to the house and an enormous plot of grassy land that led to the edge of a lake behind their house. We pulled into their driveway and before we even got out of the car my dad turned to my three sisters, Erica, Jessica, Jaqueline and I.

“You four on your best behavior, especially you Pat.” I feigned innocence and disregarded his comment with a wave of my hand and went back to looking at my phone. “If this goes well this could mean a big business deal for me. They have three kids. They have twin girls Pat’s age and a fifteen year old daughter. I don’t remember their names but I’m sure they’ll introduce themselves so please try and get along.”

Great, no boys. I remember thinking to myself. We all piled out of the car and stumbled up to the front door. My dad looked each of us over to make sure we looked presentable, not that there would have been anything he could do at that point if we didn’t, and knocked on the door. It opened immediately and a woman about my mom’s age answered and soon a man walked up behind her.

“Patrick, Donna, how wonderful you could join us for dinner.” My mom and the woman hugged and my father and the man exchanged a handshake. “And these must be your kids.” The woman gathered my sisters under her arm and gave them all a squeeze, making them giggle. I roll my eyes.

“Yes, this is my oldest, Patrick and my three daughters Erica, Jessica and Jacqueline. Kids, this is Mr. and Mrs. Elder.” My father introduced us.

“Please, call us Paula and Joseph.” They ushered us inside and then three girls came bounding into the front entry. The two twins introduced themselves as Johanna and Samantha. They seemed hardly anything alike. Samantha “call me Sam” definitely seemed more outgoing. She wore a tight pair of skinny jeans and a fitted tank top. Her long brown hair was curled to perfection and she had sparkling green eyes that were outline in thick black makeup. She was absolutely stunning.

Johanna on the other hand seemed a bit quieter. She wasn’t quite as confident when introducing herself and she wore a pair of skinny jeans and a loose tank top under a grey cardigan. She had the same hair color as her sister but it fell in soft waves over her shoulders. The same color green colored her eyes but she wore no makeup around them. Her skin was tan and glowed naturally.

Their younger sister Melissa was adorable with her blonde hair pulled into a tight ponytail and her eyes matching the same green as the twin’s. She wore a hot pink tee shirt and denim jeans. You could see a strong resemblance between her and her sisters.

Instantly my sisters bonded with the girls and they all rushed upstairs. My father gave me a pointed look indicating that I had to follow. I inwardly groaned and stalked upstairs. I watched as Jessica and Jacqueline followed Melissa into her room and Erica and Samantha were busily chatting and heading towards the door marked ‘Sam.’ I looked around for Johanna and saw a flash of her hurrying up the steps to the third floor. For some reason I felt myself following her.

I got to the top of the steps and there was just one door. It was marked ‘Johanna’ in fancy script. The door was already ajar so I entered without knocking. The bedroom took up the whole third floor. It looked as though they had converted the attic into a bedroom. The ceilings were low and there was one window on three of the four walls. It was an odd shaped bedroom. It opened up as soon as you walked into the door but to the left was a bathroom and closet whose walls blocked part of the bedroom from view.

Immediately to my right was a desk and pushed up to the wall I was facing was a large queen sized bed that was covered with tons of blankets and pillows. I walked over to the desk and looked at the open notebook on the desk. Written in perfect girl writing was a set of biology notes about some cell respiration thingy whatever the hell that is. Between the bed and the desk were wall to ceiling bookcases filled with hundreds of books. Next to the bathroom door was a small table that held a record player and had dozens of records scattered around it. I walked over and looked at some of the albums which included musicians like The Beatles and Tina Turner.

I heard a noise from further into the bedroom behind the wall the blocked the rest of the room. I ventured father in and saw Johanna standing at a dresser pushed up against a window. On the dresser was a fancy looking jewelry box that was larger than a normal jewelry box. It was black with brass locks and hinges. It was decorated with gold mountains and three-dimensional Chinese woman in colorful kimonos were embedded into the box’s surface. A lamp sat on the table next to the box and I watched as Johanna reached up into the lamp and revealed a key that I assumed opened the box.

Suddenly I felt like I was intruding on something personal and wanted to make my presence known. I cleared my throat loud enough for Johanna to hear and she jumped, dropping the key she held in her hand in the process. It fell to the floor with a loud thud and skittered under the dresser.

“Sorry,” I apologized, moving over towards her. She blushed and knelt down onto the floor and stuck her hand under the dresser. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay.” She replied quietly. Her hand searched under the dresser for the key but it came up empty.

“Here, let me help.” She looked up at me briefly and then dropped her gaze back down to the floor. She removed her hand from under the dresser and pushed a strand of lose brown hair behind her ears. I reached my hand under the dresser and easily found the key and handed it to her.

“Thanks.” She smiled and stood from her seated position. I soon followed. She stood there awkwardly not sure what to do and I did the same.

“What is that?” I asked, gesturing to the box.

“It was my grandma’s jewelry box. She brought it back from China with her own two hands she always used to tell me. She gave it to me when she died.” She stared at the box for a few seconds before looking at me. She opened her hand to show me the key. “It looks like a Chinese fan.” She was right, it did. Instead of fanning out, it was just a small stick like object. She showed me how to put it in the side of the lock and how it pushed the other end out. She skillfully caught the lock before it feel to the floor. The top of the box opened and there were two door on the front that when opened revealed three drawers. We ended up standing in front of the dresser for almost an hour talking about anything and everything.

“I’m sorry, you’re a guy, and you probably find this really boring.”

“No, its fine, it’s,” I searched my brain for the right work. “Interesting.” I opened the bottom drawer of the box which held a small notebook. She quickly closed the drawer again and smirked at me.
“That is my diary, which I will not be showing you.”

“Aw come on,” I teased. “I want to know all your dirty little secrets.” I stepped closer to her and looked down at her. She looked up at my towering frame and her pink lips parted a bit as if she was going to say something. For a second I wanted to lean down and kiss her because I was so captivated by her but just then her bedroom door opened and Samantha came marching in. Johanna and I took a step apart.

“There you two are, it’s time for dinner.” Samantha said.

“We’re coming.” Johanna called to her. Samantha nodded and let. “Well it was nice talking to you Patrick.”

“I definitely enjoyed it, Jo.” She smiled at the nickname and then hurried downstairs to the kitchen.

And that was the last time I ever saw her.