EMIT (THE EMIT SAGA) (10 page)

“I just don’t get it.” I was being
such a baby. Now that he was talking to me, I was getting insecure and scared. Talking to Lily did quiet some of my concerns.

When I heard Mom calling me, I got off the phone. As I reached for the plates to set the table, I started humming.

“You seem better. How was your talk with Reed?” Mom asked.

“
Oh Mom, it was a misunderstanding. A friend of his posted it as a joke. Do you believe it? We’re still friends,” I beamed happily. “Everything’s fine!”

My phone vibrated, alerting me to an incoming email, which reminded me of all the problems I’d been having with my phone. “Mom, I’m still having
issues with my phone.”

“Can you make calls?”

“Yeah, it works outgoing.”

“
You’re going to Lily’s tomorrow so, we’ll take care of it next week.”

“Okay, but it’s a mess. I’m not getting all my calls, email or notifications from Facebook and my call log is not working at all,” I added.

I called
Lily and we finalized our plans to meet at Uncle Ian’s office on Park Avenue.

I kept talking about Daniel and Lily interrupted me
mid-sentence and said, “Enough. I’m going swimming. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I grabbed my poetry book and looked for the two poems
that Daniel had mentioned. I found the “Darkness” poem. There was such an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness. Words of destruction, depicting the end of the world and the end of humanity, made the poem nightmarish with all the horrible images and connotations. Shocked, I couldn’t fathom how this poem could be his favorite. Perhaps Daniel discovered this poem after he lost his parents and could relate.

Quickly, I starte
d looking for the other poem, to rid my mind of this one. Only one poem had the word Harrow it was called “On a Distant View of the Village and School of Harrow On The Hill.” The poem was full of memories and recollections.

Tired of reading poetry, I put the book away and started writing a song. Inspired by my crazy emotions, I called it ‘Longing.’

Still long to feel the touch of your hand once again

To feel the warmth of your skin.

Even after you left,

Your voice still lingers in the air.

I can’t stand when the sound of your voice enters

my heart and my head
and all I can think of is you.

Trying to pretend your standing right beside me

and there’s the times I picture your face.

And believe you still care.

But how could you ever care about me?

All my longings are just illusions of the heart.

That can never come true.

To long
now that you’re gone

I can see that without you by me

It’s like a part of me has simply gone away.

You left me
my heart shattered and cracked

and it will not be whole again.

The footprints you left on my heart

will never be washed away.

Trying to pretend your standing right beside me.

And there’s the times I picture your face

And believe you still care.

But how could you ever care about me?

All my longings are just illusions of the heart.

That can never come true.

“What does a fish know about the water in which it swims all its life?”
Einstein

I woke up out of a fitful sleep. Since I first noticed Daniel, I hadn’t slept well. I was having really weird scary dreams. Snippets of the dream came to me and I remembered being terrified. It was probably caused from reading that horrible ‘Darkness’ poem. I showered and dressed.

Mom, still in her bathrobe, was pouring water into the coffe
e pot as I entered the kitchen.

“Good morning. Why are you up so early?”

“I couldn’t sleep. I got up to finish packing for Lily’s,” I explained.

“Can you take Amber out since you’re all dressed?”
she asked.

“Sure.
” I walked towards the foyer with Amber close behind.

Mom called out,
“Paige, do you want anything for breakfast? I could make you eggs.”

“Oh
no, thanks. I’m meeting a friend for breakfast,” I said matter-of-factly and left.

When I brought Amber back, Mom was upstairs and D
ad was in the den on a phone call. I waved and quickly ran out the door.

As I approached
the cafe, I worried about being stood up. Thankfully, I saw Daniel walking from the opposite direction and I waved.

“Hi. I wasn’t sure if you’d be here.”

“What do you mean?” I asked since I was just thinking the same thing.

“I’ll tell you inside,” he said and open
ed the door.

We
sat at a table near the window and I stared at his beautiful almond-shaped eyes. He had on chinos and a pale blue polo shirt, which made his eyes look even bluer. He had a chiseled jaw and there were a few tiny freckles on the top of his nose that I hadn’t noticed before.

“Why did you think I wasn’t coming?”

“What I meant was, if something came up, we wouldn’t have been able to reach each other. I wasn’t positive you’d make it.” He handed me a business card. “That’s my phone number for the future. ”

“Thanks,” was all I could say. I had his phone number and his name was Daniel Haydin. “Haydin? If there was an e, you could say you were the Hayden from the Hayden Planetarium.”

Daniel asked, “Oh, really? Do you still want to have breakfast
with me even though I have the wrong name?”

“Hmmm....Let me think about it,” I joked. Daniel gave me a hurt look. “I’m kidding.”

When the waitress came over, I ordered Earl Grey tea and over-easy eggs and Daniel ordered coffee and a mushroom omelet.

“
You’re a coffee drinker. That’s not very English of you,” I teased when the waitress left.

“
I have coffee in the morning to wake up. The rest of the day, it’s tea. No coffee for you?”

“
No, don’t like the taste. I do like cappuccinos though.”

H
e kept asking me questions about school, teachers and my friends. I answered them because I didn’t want to be rude, but I wanted to hear more about him.

When I asked
if he was on Facebook, he said, “No. It doesn’t interest me.” Too bad, that meant I couldn’t lurk him.

“
Daniel, the day we met in the park, what were you doing?” He looked at me like he didn’t understand. “You were picking nuts and flowers then putting them in a plastic bag.”

“
Oh, a friend in DC asked for those samples. I mailed them to him.”

“What wa
s he doing with them?”

“
I really don’t know.” He shrugged and changed the subject. “Any plans this weekend?”

“I’m going to Lily’s in Westchester.”

“Really? I’ll be up there too.”

“Where
are you going?” I asked curiously.

“Visiting an aunt in Chappaqua,” he answered
.

I
stared at him with my mouth open. “I’m going there too!” It had to be fate. Daniel in Chappaqua! I got excited thinking about it.

“You’re kidding?
I’m driving up tonight. Would you like a ride?” he asked.

“
Thanks… I’m catching the train with Lily and my uncle.” Going with Daniel would’ve been great, but my parents would never allow me to drive up there with a total stranger.

“No problem. If something happ
ens and you need a ride, call me,” Daniel said.

He
said he’d like to meet Lily and asked about having breakfast in Chappaqua. We made plans to meet at Susan’s Café at ten o’clock the next day.

Hi
s cell beeped all through breakfast, but he’d look at it and never answer it.

“Maybe you should answer it. It might be important.”

“
It isn’t. Should I swing by and pick you two up in the morning?”

“
Uh, I think it’s best if we meet you there,” I stumbled over my words awkwardly.

Daniel realized what I meant and said, “Oh
, a stranger taking you both away in a car.”

“
It’s just that my aunt doesn’t know you and she’d want to meet you,” I said.

“And you’re embarrassed to introduce
me?” he asked, sounding amused.

“Oh…no…no…I’m not,” I stammered,
mortified that he thought that.

“Don’t worry. I understand,” he said smili
ng and insisted that he wasn’t insulted.

Daniel’s cell phone went off again and this time he
excused himself and went outside.

When he
returned, his mood was gloomy. He angrily thrust his cell phone down and it slid across the table. Before it fell off, I grabbed it and handed it to him.

“Are you
okay?” I asked.

He nodded, but
he seemed upset. “Tell me about Lily. Does she have any pets?” Daniel was adept at switching conversations mid-stream.

“No. Her Dad’s allergic to animals and has to stay away from Amber. On second thought, she does have a fish named Bubbles.”

“Interesting name.”

“Yes, Lily’s very creative. She’s had Bubbles for six years now.
Isn’t that awfully long?” I asked. Daniel didn’t respond. “I was positive her parents were replacing Bubbles whenever he died, but Lily said it wasn’t possible because Bubbles had special markings.”

Daniel
just stared at me and I felt so self-conscious.

“How long do fish live?” I asked and waited for him to answer.
It felt like eternity.

“I really don’t know.” Daniel looked down at his phone. “I’m sorry,
but I have to get going.”

Outside on
the sidewalk, Daniel said, “I’ll see you tomorrow at Susan’s Café.” He rushed off and grabbed a cab at the corner.

M
y cell rang and I fumbled around in my bag to find it. I answered without checking. “Lily?”

“No, it’s Daphne.
Who were you with in the coffee shop?” she asked excitedly.

“Oh, hi. That was Daniel. Where are you?” I asked, looking around to see if she was nearby.

“At work. I had to come in early for a delivery. Reed and I walked by and Reed almost had a heart attack.” Reed seeing us was actually a good thing. “So who is he?”

“A guy I recently met.” No point in telling her
that he was a total stranger that I met in Central Park. “What were you doing with Reed?”

“We bumped into each other and he walked me to work.
He talked about you, of course, and then when we saw you, he got very quiet. I felt bad for him.”

“Oh…
I wish you two would date.” That would be the best solution. If things didn’t work out with Evan, I would try to get Daphne and Reed together. They would make a great couple.

“
Daphne, I have another call. I’ll call you later.” I hung up with her to take Lily’s call. I told Lily about our new plans for breakfast and she said she couldn’t wait to meet him.

Now, because of
Daniel, I was thrilled to be in Manhattan for the summer. Honestly, I didn’t know how long he’d be around. I expected him to disappear the same way he had materialized.

When I got back
it was eight thirty and Dad was still home, so we walked to work together.

At the end of the day, I was really
excited knowing that I’d see Daniel tomorrow. When I arrived at Uncle Ian’s office building, they were waiting outside.

“Hi Duncle,” I said and hugged Uncle Ian and then Lily. Duncle is what I’ve called Uncle Ian since I was young. One day, Lily and I combined t
he words dad and uncle together, so we could call Uncle Ian the same name. Uncle Ian’s been like a second dad to me, always there in his quiet, reserved manner. Lily eventually reverted back to dad, but every once in a while I still call him duncle.

In ninth grade a teacher started calling
me Buttercup and it stuck with the kids at school in ninth grade. At first, I was annoyed, but I eventually got used to it. On one of my school sweatshirts instead of monogramming it with Paige or Devon, I put Buttercup. In tenth grade, the kids stopped and that’s when the nickname moved to my house.

After Dad heard Daphne call me
Buttercup, he started calling me that. When he said it in front of Nana, she said that the name really suited me and from that day on, also called me Buttercup. Thankfully, Mom and Grammy never jumped on the ‘Buttercup’ ship.