[Header Photo by George Lemon on Unsplash]

Almost Story 1: Merry Christmas

Joak watched Aleez waiting for the school bus for the entire first week of school. The mornings were dark and cold.

Although Aleez stood stoically, Joak imagined she was freezing, under-dressed. He found himself later in the days imagining her nose and hands frigid.

Joak and Aleez had never spoken, but he knew her name because on the first day of class the teacher had pronounced exactly two names wrong—hers and his—while calling the roll.

That teacher had also made it abundantly clear that their names, or at least the pronunciation of their names, had been a personal affront to that teacher.

The first morning of the second week, Joak had bought a blanket over the weekend. He handed it to Aleez without a word. She kept her hands still at her sides, but looked him intently in the eyes.

After a few awkward moments with the blanket extended, Joak said, “Merry Christmas.” Immediately, he felt stupid; it was a joke his father had often used although their family never celebrated Christmas.

“We don’t do Christmas,” she said softly. She took the blanket, wrapped it around her shoulders, and then, looked away.

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Almost Story 2: Expiration Date

Neither of them said it, but what turned out to be a first date was at the apartment pool.

Because he had spent his teen years as a lifeguard, he hated pools, and even swimming. But that wasn’t the worst of it.

This not-a-first-date first date would be in partial clothing, swimwear. Which he also hated. A sort of low self-esteem reflex. He also felt a certain level of anxiety that she too would be in swimwear.

None of that would eventually matter. All of that was quickly erased when he glanced down and noticed her tattoo, small text across her left rib cage: “Best Before 12/05/1994.”

Before he could speak, and as he raised his gaze to meet her eyes, he couldn’t tell in the sunshine and heat if she were blushing, but she immediately knew he read the tattoo and said: “Yep. Expiration date. Day I turn 30.”