JESSICA

RICK

Today is the day I talk to her. Today I won’t chicken out. I will walk up to her and say hello and she will say hello back. Then I will introduce myself and have a nice little conversation with her. It would be perfect.

I am still in bed. There’s water dripping from the ceiling again. It must have rained during the night. I’ve complained about the leak quite a few times but no one seems to bother. I’ll have to fix it myself.

I get up from bed and walk over to the window. It’s foggy outside, but not as much as yesterday. I push open the window and the cold morning air hits my face. I am not sleepy anymore.

It’s time to get ready, today is going to be the best morning run ever.. Because today, I will talk to Jessica.

I enter the bathroom and look in the mirror. A skinny nineteen year old boy stares back at me through his blue eyes. Like always, my black curly hair is a mess. After staring at myself for a few minutes and wondering what Jessica would think of my appearance, I start getting ready. Once I’m ready, I step outside and realise its colder than I thought. But that’s okay because I’ll be warm after a few minutes of running.

The park is about two miles away from my apartment. I jog to the park everyday and when I reach there I sit on the bench by the lake and wait for Jessica. After my plan to talk to her fails I continue my run in the park. But today that plan will not fail. Today I will talk to her.

I arrive at the park and now I don’t feel cold at all. I ran here faster than usual today. It’s still pretty early in the morning so there aren’t many people here. I make my way to the lake and stand by the water for a few minutes. Then I walk over to my usual bench and find someone sitting there.

*-----------*

DANNY

Programming is fun, but not if you have to do it for ten hours straight. It’s kind of my routine now to work during the night and sleep during the day but it’s still pretty exhausting. Even though I get tired of sitting for long hours in front of the screen, I make sure to go to the park every morning.

Yes, I go to the park to get some fresh air and to exercise a little, but the main reason I go there is because I get to see Rachel. Rachel is perfect, there is no other word to describe her. Although I see her every day I’ve never really spoken to her. But today I will surely do that. I plan to do this everyday but I just get nervous. I’ve never been so nervous to talk to any other girl before. I guess she’s just too pretty or has some powers and she makes all boys around her nervous so she doesn’t have to deal with them. Whatever it is, today I won’t back out. I’ll ask her out today. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself and should talk to her for a while before doing that but I can’t wait any longer. I’ll just go for it today.

I get ready to leave my apartment which is really messy right now. My half eaten pizza from last night is still lying on the bed. I should’ve kept it in the fridge but now its all ruined. The thing is that when I’m wired in and working I forget about everything that’s going on around me and that’s why my apartment is messy most of the time. I grab an energy bar to eat on the way and step outside.

It’s pretty cold and I start shivering. I go back inside to get an extra jacket and then come back out again. I lock the door and take out my phone from my pocket. My mirror broke a few days ago and I haven’t brought a new one yet so I have to make my hair and look at myself in my phone camera. Surprisingly, I look decent today. My brown hair is standing straight up like I want it to. My eyes don’t look tired and the scar across my cheek which I got last week is barely visible today. It’s definitely a good start to the day. I put my phone back in my pocket and start walking. I notice that the pavement is wet, it must have rained during the night.

I arrive at the park which is about mile from my place. I don’t run, I just walk around for a while and do some exercises at the open gym. But all that is after I see Rachel. I start walking to the bench where I wait for Rachel. When I reach the spot the bench isn’t there anymore. I don’t know what they did with it but now I have to find another place to sit. I could stand too but I fear that I’ll end up looking really creepy that way. I know there is another bench along this path by the lake, I’ve seen it before. So I walk towards the lake. I find the bench I was looking for and sit there. Rachel will be here in about fifteen minutes.

Five minutes go by, I see a man approaching from the direction of the lake. He looks about the same age as me and has bright blue eyes which are the first thing I notice about him. He stops as he nears the bench and looks at me.

*-----------*

The two men look at each other for a moment, Danny says, “Would you like to sit here?”, “Yes” comes the reply from Rick, who smiles back and sits beside him.

“I’m Danny”, Danny says, extending his hand

“Flendermen, Rick Flendermen” Rick replies as they shake hands.

“It’s quite cold today” says Danny.

“It really is, probably because it rained last night” says Rick.

“Yeah, so you come here often?”

“Every day, what about you?”

“I also come here every day, it’s a good place to spend the morning at”

“I agree, actually I come and sit right here everyday”

“Oh even I have a particular bench I sit on daily. It’s along this path only but it wasn’t there today. Someone might have moved it for some reason so I came and sat here instead”

“That’s okay, it’s nice to have some company” says Rick.

Danny smiles and nods.

“So why do you sit at the same place every day, I mean I’m just going to be honest and tell you that I do it because a girl I like runs along this path daily and I get to see her” says Rick.

Danny is quite surprised and says” Well that was out of nowhere”. Rick laughs a little and then says “I just wanted you to know because she is going to be passing through here soon and I don’t want to be rude by abruptly leaving you as today I will go and try to talk to her”

“What is her name?” says Danny looking a little concerned

“Jessica “ says Rick.

Danny’s face shows that he is relieved.

“Oh, well let’s just say I’m here for the same reason but a different girl” says Danny and they both start laughing.

“A girl can only be the reason why young men like us would come and sit on the same bench everyday so early in the morning” says Rick.

”I totally agree” says Danny and they laugh a little more.

“What’s your girl’s name?”says Rick.

“Rachel” says Danny and smiles as he takes her name.

“I see, anyway it’s almost six Jessica will be here anytime now” says Rick as he directs his eyes towards the running path.”Even Rachel arrives around six, that’s an unusual coincidence” says Danny as he also directs his eyes towards the path.

They both wait for about a minute until they see her. And then everything around them stops moving, except her. Her untied long auburn hair flies through the air behind her as she runs through the shade of the cherry blossom trees. Her hazel eyes are as mesmerizing as ever. She has a dainty nose and glossy skin which make her even more magical. It looks as if everything she runs past becomes more colorful and bright. Danny and Rick look at her in awe as she runs past them. They both try to get up but they can’t. They both want to talk to her but they can’t. They can’t move a muscle. It’s as if they are under a spell .She is just too beautiful and they aren’t brave enough to even say hello to her, in fact, no one is.

The girl is now out of their sight.“So that’s Rachel” says Danny whose cheeks are pink now.

“What?” says Rick and he gives Danny a surprised look.

“That pretty girl that just ran by, that’s Rachel” says Danny.

“That’s not Rachel what the hell are you saying, that’s Jessica” says Rick who is now a little annoyed.

“What’s wrong with you she is the girl I told you about, the one I come here to see everyday, that’s my Rachel” says Danny who is also a little annoyed now. “First of all, she’s not yours or anything, you haven’t even spoken to her yet and secondly that’s JESSICA! Not Rachel, so shut up!” says Rick who is quite angry now. “Okay I don’t want a fight or anything, so tell me, how did you find out her name?” says Danny who has managed to calm himself now. Rick thinks for a moment and then stumbles a little. Then he says,”Errrr …..I…. don’t exactly remember how I found out about it, but she is Jessica I’m sure about it”.

“Well Rick, I think Jessica is the name you yourself gave her a long time ago, because …...I don’t know, maybe you just saw her and thought, her name would be Jessica. Maybe you just assumed that her name was Jessica because to you she looked like someone whose name would be Jessica. I’m telling you this because I know her real name, it’s Rachel. A few weeks ago I was entering the park and her friends were talking to her and they took her name several times, so I’m sure about it”.

Rick looks at Danny with a blank expression. And then he says,” So what you are saying is I somehow forgot that Jessica was the name I gave her and not actually her name. But how is that possible? How can I forget such a thing? She has always been Jessica to me”.

“Well, what can I say. Women can do magical things to a man’s mind and heart” says Danny with a smile.

“I don’t know about other women, but Jessica sure as hell has done some magic on me. And now my brain is messed up…..oh sorry not Jessica, Rachel” says Rick as he starts laughing at how stupid he had been. Even Danny is laughing now.

“I don’t think any of us will ever have the guts to talk to Rachel, but I’ll still come here every day to watch her as it makes my day” says Danny.

Rick nods.”It makes my day too, even I’ll keep coming here every day just to see her” says Rick.

*------------*

That day had been one of the craziest days of Rick and Danny’s life. They had talked and laughed for a long time about what had happened and had ended up becoming good friends by the time they left for their homes.

Now, about a month later both of them are at a bowling alley.

“STRIKE!’ shouts Rick after he launches a bowling ball along the alley and all the pins fall down. “Good one” says Danny who is sitting by the table.

”Come on now, drinks are here” says Danny as a waiter places two glasses of beer on the table. Rick walks over to the table and sits opposite to Danny. They both grab their glasses and then Danny raises his glass. “Well, happy birthday to you. None of us ended up talking to Rachel or Jessica or whatever her name is, it’s Rachel only but I’m just saying. But that doesn’t matter because I ended up finding my best friend because of her. I know I’m being cheesy but it’s only for your birthday. I raise my glass to Rachel, cheers!”says Danny and Rick laughs as he raises his glass too. “Oh Rachel, you sure are magical, you put us in your trance and brought us together and now I have such a cool friend.”says Rick and both of them drink into the night.

*----------*