Paper Cranes

I slipped on the navy dress and zipped it up. I glanced at the reflection on the mirror which was staring blankly back at me. The girl in the mirror seemed like a damsel in distress. I heaved a sigh and sat in front of my makeup table. I browsed at my makeup accessories and decided to go for the bronze eye shadow, black eyeliner and mascara accompanied by my favourite maroon lipstick. I applied all that and put on a pair of abstract kind of earrings and a turquoise necklace which was a gift from Winona for my birthday last year.

I combed my hair and did an Arwen (elf in Lord of the Rings) kind of hair style which was one of my personal favorites. I stole another glance at my reflection and smiled approvingly. I thought I looked pretty okay for a first date. Not too much and at the same time not underdressed either. Thank god, Winona helped me out! I sent a silent thanks to Winona, hoping she would receive it wherever she was.

As if she heard my thank you, the phone rang. I picked it up and it was Winona. “How’s everything?” she asked. I chuckled at her excitement. “Everything’s going pretty good actually,” I replied, feeling slightly relaxed. We discussed for a while about what I should do and what I shouldn’t for tonight’s date. I couldn’t be more grateful for a friend like Winona; she knew I was always a nervous wreck whenever I had a date with some guy.

Just as I was about to go and put the phone back to its place, I tripped over a carpet and I felt myself went diving down for the floor. I was falling and falling and BANG! My body hit the floor. My elbow and palms were burning in pain; it felt like there were a million needles poking it. I pushed myself up and examined my palms and elbow, making sure there were no bruises or cuts. The next thing to check was my outfit. Thank goodness it didn’t rip or anything bad like that. Why am I such a klutz all the time? I put the phone back and looked at the time. It’s seven already. I went back to my room, wore my white coat on and grabbed my navy handbag which went along with the dress. I put on my pair of comfortable four-inch heels and was prepared to go.

BRRINNGGG. BRRRIIINGG.

I answered the phone and realized it was Jared. “Hey, Rowena. It’s Jared.”

“Oh, hi Jared!” I said enthusiastically.

He chuckled. “I’m downstairs at your apartment already.”

A man on time, that’s good. “Okay. Cool. I’ll be there in a sec,” I replied and hung up. I inhaled a deep breath and left my apartment. I went downstairs and through the glass door. There he was, leaning on his black car. Just like the last time I met him, just by seeing him knocked the breath out of me. He was looking gorgeous. He was wearing a pair of skinny black pants, a black shirt with a loosely tied silver tie and a black jacket. His glossy black hair shone under the street light, the red tips gleamed. He was also holding a red rose, a grin plastered on his face.
He walked towards me as I was walking out from the building towards him, both of us smiling. Unfortunately, right at that blissful moment I tripped and once again on that night, I sent myself flying forward. I was so afraid I was going to fall flat on my face but Jared caught me right on time. I was already breathing heavily. I held onto his strong arms as he helped me up.

“Are you okay?” he asked concerned. I gazed up from the concrete floor and was staring straight into his ocean blue eyes which seemed to be filled with anxiety. I flashed him my best smile and shook my head. “I’m fine. I’m fine. Thank you so much,” I mumbled, still holding onto his arms. He didn’t seem to mind either but returned the smile.

“You scared me for a second there,” he admitted and exhaled, chuckling at himself. I felt my face flushed and finally let go of his arms.

“Oh… erm… this is for you,” he said, holding out the blood red rose. I felt myself blushed even more but took the rose. “Thank you,” I muttered and examined it. It was half-bloomed.

He was flashing his gentle smile again which I admit made my knees buckled a little. “You look fantastic, Rowena,” he said. All I could do was smile in reply. He chuckled and thrust his right hand. “Shall we?” he asked in a faked British accent. I laughed and took his hand. He led me to his car and closed the door behind me before running to his side of the car.

Once he got in, he turned to me. “You’re going to like this place.” He smirked and began to drive down the street. The restaurant was 20 minutes away but we were busy talking about our day which made it seemed like a shorter journey.

“How was your day?” Jared asked as the car stopped in front of a red light. His eyes fixated on the road ahead.

“It’s okay. Just the same thing over and over again which is filing, typing out letters, more filing and meetings,” I answered. “Yours?”

He shrugged and drove when the light turned green. “It’s pretty productive. Did a whole bunch of interviews and talked to the guys from the band about our next show,” he replied. The radio was switched on a low volume.

“Cool!” I exclaimed, still looking at him. “Interviews and a concert!”

He chuckled and the conversation just went on from there. When he stopped in front of the restaurant, he parked nearby the place and led me inside. A waiter with messy light brown hair opened the door for us. I bowed slightly as a sign of gratitude. He smiled, led us to a table with two seats and took our coats. Jared pulled out the big wooden chair which I sat down as gracefully as I could. He took the seat opposite mine, a smile still on his face. The waiter handed us the menus and poured the pre-ordered red wine into the glasses.

I looked around the restaurant and realized we were the only two customers there which seemed very strange. The place was dimly lit with old paintings and photographs hung on the walls which were made of old bricks which gave the place an old, classic vibe. There was the faint sound of slow Italian songs being played. “This place looks great,” I said as I proceeded to read the menu.

“Yeah. It is. The food is good too,” Jared commented and closed his menu. I looked through the list of food and decided to order a spaghetti carbonara. I closed my menu.

“You ready to order?” he asked, gesturing at the closed menu in front of me. I nodded and he waved for the waiter. We placed our orders and the waiter jotted it down on a small note pad before leaving for the kitchen.

“You look great tonight,” Jared said, a grin playing across his face.

“Thanks,” I smiled, blushing slightly. ‘Didn’t he say that already?’ I thought. “You don’t look so bad yourself,” I added which made him grin even more.

“So, are you interested in going to a rock concert?” he asked suddenly after a short non-awkward silence.

“Yeah! Definitely,” I replied.

“Great! Are you free next Friday?” he asked, scratching the back of his neck. I thought for a while and nodded. He smiled. “Okay! I’ll get you the tickets as soon as I can. You can get a friend to come too.”

“That would be great, Jared. Thanks!” I said. ‘Winona is so coming!’ I thought. There was the silence again. “So…” I started. “Do you actually stay in New York or LA like the other celebrities?” I asked. I knew it was a dumb question but I was curious and that was the first question that came to me.

He didn’t seem to mind as he replied, “My house is actually in LA but I rented an apartment here temporarily because I was shooting a film here.”

“That’s cool. So, how is it like being a celebrity?” I asked, mentally slapping myself again. Here I am on a date with a hot actor and I couldn’t stop going on about how it’s like being a celebrity. I highly doubt he likes people questioning so much about that.

He chuckled. “You surely are curious about the life of a celebrity, huh?” I blushed. “Well, it’s okay… I guess…” He paused. “I mean… yeah it’s cool that people recognise your work and all that but it’s really kinda frustrating sometimes when the press just wouldn’t leave you alone. It’s like everywhere you go, there they are. 24/7.”

I nodded and remained silent. I was totally out of questions to ask at the moment. “How about you? Are you a local New Yorker?” he asked.

“No. I’m originally from Philly. I moved here a couple of years ago to start working.” I said matter-of-factly.

He nodded, listening intently all the while, his eyes never breaking the eye contact between us. “So, you still travel back to Philly during the holidays to visit your family and relatives?”

“Em…” I took the glass of red wine and gulped down half of the content, eyes docking away from his. “No… not really.” I inhaled sharply. “I’m not really close with my family,” I said.

“Oh…” He definitely sensed my sudden uneasiness and diverted the subject. “So... how long have you been working in the law firm?”

“Erm… around two years,” I answered, drinking the wine again. Thankfully before the situation grew any more awkward, our food arrived. From there on, the night just rolled out before us. It seemed like with the food on our table, both of us were able to communicate better with one another and the strangeness between us was gone. By the end of the dinner, I found out Jared was from Louisiana and his older brother, Shannon was the drummer of his band and that he liked to snowboard, read and paint. We also exchanged a few personal accounts on our embarrassing moments during our high school years. Around ten, we left the restaurant, quite tipsy from the bottle of red wine.

Jared had his arm around my waist as we laughed hysterically at nothing. He led me to his car and I got in as he stumbled to the other side. “You wanna go some place else first or home?” he asked, starting the engine of his car.

“Whatever you like,” I said, buckling my seatbelt. He nodded and drove off. We seemed to be heading towards the park. The radio was playing a John Mayer song, so I turned up the volume and sang along to it (this only happens when I’m kinda out of myself). Jared laughed and sang the chorus line only.

The traffic light in front was about to turn red and Jared accelerated the car to cross the street before the orange light changed. But as we passed, it turned red and without any warning, a pair of bright headlights came from behind us. The lights blinded my sight as I stared in shock at the oncoming lights. Jared obviously saw it coming as he gasped, “OHMYGOD!”

But it was all too late, the lights came hurtling towards us and our car was hit with such an impact that I felt I could have thrown out of the car if it wasn’t for the seatbelt. There was a loud explosion and I felt our car swiveled out of control and spiraled across the road. I felt like screaming but no voice came through my open mouth. I grabbed hold of Jared’s arm before the blackness devoured my vision.