Assigned to You (Completed)

2016 I wonder if she had noticed that I had been staring at her for almost an hour as she sat quietly at the edge of the pier, red hair blown freely by the wind, soft features illuminated by the moonlight. From a distance, I couldn’t tell if she was pretty or beautiful, but I can say that she must be for she had caught my undivided attention. She was eye-catching. For almost an hour, I simply stared at her as I downed the beers I had bought. Here I thought I was going to grieve the loss of a mother I barely knew but I was merely drinking beers and staring at a woman perched on the edge of the pier that might or might not jump to the ocean. I watched as she suddenly stood up and spun around, heading right in my direction. Her walk was graceful and barefoot, she padded lightly on the wooden platform of the pier. Suddenly she was right in front of me, wind still in her favor as it blew her hair out of her face, flowing at her side. She tilted her head and it was then that I had come to a realization that she really was in front of me. “Didn’t your mother teach you it wasn’t polite to stare?” she asked, her voice had a slight rasp in it, making it sound sultry and sexy and enticing. I wanted to hear it again. “And staring that long borders to creepy and stalkerish.” There was confidence in her voice when she spoke and there was an air of superiority surrounding her. She was a girl who knew her ground, it surprised me. “I don’t know. My mother wasn’t even around to raise me.” My answer seemed to have taken her back. She wasn’t the only one surprised by it. It surprised me too. I never divulged that information to anyone, especially to a stranger. But I guess learning your mother died a few hours earlier, even when you’ve barely seen her your entire life, still wrecks you even just a bit. I motioned at the can of beers lying around me, surrounding me and the pack I haven’t gone to finishing off. I wasn’t drunk. I needed more than just a few cans I bought to get drunk. But I felt like I needed a drink to digest the information my uncle had told me a few hours earlier. “She died a few hours ago,” I said, taking a sip of my beer, still unsure why I was telling her that when I didn’t even know her name. I grabbed a can and tossed it to her; she caught it with ease and again, it surprised me. Not all girls were that agile. “That doesn’t justify anything,” she replied but popped open the can and took a gulp and it was then that I realized she needed a drink as much as I did. I motioned for the spot next to me, clearing away the empty cans. She contemplated for a moment before taking a seat next to me. “I’m sorry. I’ve been here for approximately two hours and you just suddenly arrived. You caught my attention.” “I didn’t-,” I nodded. “You didn’t see me because you just suddenly jumped onto the platform. I must say I was surprised to see a hand suddenly grasping the platform and you pulling up your entire body like that with such ease. You must exercise a lot or you’re an athlete.” She seemed unfazed at my statement and I waited for her to tell me that it was just my drunk-ass imagining things. She gulped down her beer again and pulled her knees closer to her body. “Here I thought you were ruining my peace and quiet.” I chuckled and gulped down my own can, finishing it off and tossing it to the side. “What’s your name?” It took her more than a minute before replying like she was thinking whether or not she’ll tell me who she was. Finally, she took a deep breath and answered me. “Evangeline Sterell.” Evangeline. Like the name of the woman that searched for her lost love, the epic poem written by Longfellow. I wondered if she knew that but thought of saying it. I didn’t want her to think of me as some kind of loser who nerds around history and English literature, even when that was very much true. “That’s a nice name. It sounds angelic.” She raised an eyebrow and looked like she wanted to say something but thought against it. Instead, she shrugged and nodded at me. “What’s yours?” “Everett Saunders,” I replied with a long sigh. I wished my name rang a bell with her. But I was barely coming by with the app I was developing. I couldn’t match Mark Zuckerburg even if I tried. “What were you doing all by yourself out there? You weren’t thinking of jumping to the ocean, right?” “You thought I was contemplating suicide?” She questioned. In truth, I didn’t think of that. I thought she just liked the serenity that the beach offered her at around this time. I only said the last statement as a joke. But it didn’t seem like she took it as one. “Were you?” She snorted and shook her head. “Hell no. I find being near the water stilling. It calms me, listening to waves and basking myself in the salty air. I could’ve sat on the sand but I’m afraid of the hermit crabs taking a jab at me. I wasn’t thinking of suicide. I like my life just fine.” “That makes one of us.” She turned to me and it was then that I realized how beautiful she was under the glow of the moonlight. Her eyes held fierceness and intensity, green as grass and just as pleasing to see. She looked like someone willing to listen and in all honesty, I just wanted to talk. She lowered down her beer and set it on the platform. “Let’s swim.” “What?” I asked surprised. She began to take off her shirt, leaving her only in her bra and when she started to fumble with the button of her shorts, I hastily grabbed her hand. “What the hell are you doing? You’ve only had two cans and you’re already drunk?” Her green eyes danced with humor. “I’m not. But you look like you want to rant and you’re expecting that since my name is Evangeline and you claim it sounds angelic, I’ll be like an angel listening to your problems. I don’t roll that way.” “So you thought skinny dipping’s a better option?” I asked, my voice seeping exasperation. So maybe I made a mistake and thought that she was a listener when she was claiming she wasn’t. She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t say we’re going skinny dipping. I said we’re only going swimming. Now get your drunk ass to the water.” I should hate the way she bossed me around but obligingly, I stood up and stripped off my shirt. She was already padding to where she sat earlier and I watched as she dived into the ocean, a perfect one at that too. I ran to the edge, “Evangeline!” Her head popped up from the water, hair wet and clinging to her face. “C’mon, Everett, get in the water.” The ocean must’ve been freezing cold but she didn’t look fazed by it. Even her teeth weren’t chattering. She looked at me expectantly and for a moment I wondered how the hell the situation had gone to this. A moment ago, I was trying to get drunk with the news that my mother was dead while staring at a pretty woman. Now the pretty woman was telling me to get into the waters with her. With a sigh, I dove into the ocean but not as graceful as her. When I resurfaced, “What the f**k! It’s freezing cold!” She snorted and splashed water in my direction. “Don’t be such a baby. Brave the cold, big guy.” Evangeline began to float on her back, calmly staring at the night sky. I padded close to her, keeping my head above water. “Why did you ask me to take a swim with you when we both know the water is freezing at this hour.” “Why did you even agree?” She countered and then closed her eyes. “Like I said, I like the water, it stills me. You must be an emotional wreck by now, what, with the tiny bit of information you just told me. I’m hoping this helps.” I didn’t that to be her reply or explanation. It wasn’t like she knew me well enough to feel sorry for my loss but then again, maybe she was just one of those people who were nice enough to be with someone as they grieved. We stayed like that a little while longer, neither one of us speaking and letting the silence fill the void. “They told me empathy is my special ability,” she said, breaking that silence and then changing back to her original position. She tried to keep herself afloat and I could see the effort she was making. She began to swim away from me and towards the shore and as before, I followed suit. When we reached the sand, she plopped down on the sand and seemed to have forgotten about the hermit crabs she was worried about earlier. She lied down on the shore, her eyes focused on the sky like when she was floating on the waters. “Do you ever think about where people go when they die?” She asked me suddenly, her question random. I exhaled loudly and copied her position. I stared at the blinking stars dotting the black sky. “They say there’s heaven and hell and purgatory in between.” “You don’t believe that?” “Do you?” I countered. It wasn’t that I wasn’t a believer. It was just that it was hard to believe something that you didn’t have concrete evidence of other than just having faith that it’s real. For a moment, I wondered if someone like my mother could go to heaven or if her soul was restless in purgatory or she was deemed in hell because of the son she chose to abandon. “I believe in a lot of things. Ghosts, fairytales, hell I believe that Atlantis is real,” she said with a small smile on her face when I turned to look at her. She looked like a little girl at that moment, “But heaven and hell and souls in purgatory, it makes me wonder.” “Why?” “Because what about the people who meant to do the right thing but did it the wrong way?” She didn’t wait for me to answer her question. “What if it was the situation that made them bad people when they were just meant to be good ones?” I sat up and looked down at her. She met my gaze with questioning eyes. “I believe no one was born to be bad so doesn’t that mean we were all meant for heaven?” “Are you justifying my mother’s abandonment?” She flashed a crooked smile. “I didn’t mean it for you to take it so personally.” “I’m sorry,” I muttered and then sighed, “Not just for that comment but for ruining your peaceful moment by staring at you and thinking you would want to listen to all my troubles.” She sighed and sat up, our eyes were leveled now. “And I’m sorry for letting you think I’m justifying what your mother did to you. In the end, the reality of life and society made us assholes but it’s still up to us to make the decision.” I was quiet for a moment and the two of us basked in the silence. She inched closer to me when the ocean breeze blew and I knew she did it to warm herself. I fought the urge to wrap my arms around her because I didn’t want her to think I spent all this time with her because I was a perverted guy and just simply wanted to get laid. In truth, I like her presence. If she was calmed by the waters, I felt like she calmed me. “My mother left me with my father a day after she gave birth to me,” I said, filling in the silence with the story I never told anyone but had the urge to divulge to do so now, “I never knew her. I didn’t feel the need to ask about her while I was growing up because my father’s family gave me everything I needed as long as I never asked about her.” “My father died when I was six. He was killed. I don’t know why. It was one of the things my family told me not to ask,” I noted the faraway tone my voice took and when I glanced Evangeline, she seemed to hang onto my words, “When I turned eighteen, I thought maybe I should find her. My uncle helped me. We agreed that he’d give me updates about her. The recent update was she’s dead.” Evangeline didn’t respond for a moment and then she turned to me. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t exactly like the words ‘I’m sorry’.” I nodded. “I’m not exactly sure if I should grieve her.” She surprised me by reaching for my hand and placing it in hers. “Death gives everyone a reason to grieve, Everett.” “How can you grieve someone you barely even know?” “She’s your mother.” “But she never acknowledged me as her son. She didn’t even come back for me,” I shook my head and sighed, “She doesn’t deserve my grieving.” “Don’t let hate consume you. Neither should your anger. I know firsthand where it leads you,” Evangeline said quietly before standing up, “It was nice talking to you, Everett.” She began to walk away and I hastily stood up and caught up with her, “Hey, can I see you again tomorrow?” She smiled. “I wasn’t even supposed to see you tonight nor talk to you. Don’t push your luck.” I walked beside her and asked, “Are you telling me now that you’re not like most girls?” She laughed and it was the first time all night that I heard her laughter. Just like her voice, I wanted to keep hearing it. “I have a rule not to just talk to strangers but you looked like someone who needed company. And your staring did bother me. It’s a good thing you were cute.” The last comment made me stop and take her by the arm. She spun around to face me, her eyes glinting under the moonlight. “You’re making me want to kiss you right now.” “That’s kind of the point.” I stepped closer to her and took her face in my hands, leaned down and captured her lips with mine. I never thought that at this time of the day, from 2 AM to almost five, I would find out that my mother was dead, that I would stare like a perverted creep at a girl perched at the edge of the pier, go swimming with her, have a good conversation with her, and end up kissing her. I never thought a start of a day would be that bad and still somehow end up on a good note. When she pulled apart, there was a lazy smile on her face. “Thanks.” My eyebrows furrowed. “For kissing you?” “For giving me this moment. It’s a luxury for me to actually talk to someone else. For a fleeting moment, you made me feel normal,” she whispered and then placed a hand on my face, “It was nice while it lasted. I’ll be leaving this island later today.” “We can see each other again. I can get your number. I could text you where we could meet.” “Don’t bother to try, Everett. This is a one-time thing and that was a one-time kiss,” she said with a shrug and then with one last smile, she said, “I hope you learn how to control the emotional turmoil that’s going on in you. I don’t want you to turn into a bad guy because you couldn’t control your emotions.” She spun around again and it was then that I had come to a realization that she was right. This was a one-time thing. Sometimes you just meet someone for the briefest instant but at least you were given the chance to. But there was a part of me that screamed to stop her and ask for another hour, for another minute, for another second. She was a stranger I barely knew yet I had told her the anger that had snaked in my heart. She listened to me when she could’ve slapped me for being a creep and talked some senses to me yet she had managed to sober me up from the turmoil I was in. She calmed me the way being in the waters stilled her and since life was cruel, it made her be the one-time girl in my life. I refused to let that happen. “Evangeline!” I called out, my voice echoing. In the distance, I saw some movement in the houses nearby, families already awake and ready to start the day. Mine started way too early and it was ending way too soon. She stopped and turned, “Yes?” “If by any chance, I get to see you again someplace else,” I began to say, walking closer to her but stopped at a distance, not trusting myself. If I took a step further, I would end up kissing her again and who knows where that might lead, “Would this become more than just a one-time thing?” She tilted her head to the side and I watched as her teeth sink into her bottom lip, nibbling. She contemplated for a moment and flashed me a coy smile, “We’ll see.”