A dance with a stranger

I shoved some crumpled dollar bills into my pocket, put my headphones on, and walked out the door. Nothing like a serious dose of frostbite to warm your toes.

Stepping out into the bustling chaos of Eos Ophir was like diving headfirst into a technicolor explosion after staring at a blank wall for hours.

Skyscrapers did their thing and scraped the cloudy sky, flashy and bright billboards burned holes in my eyes and cars honked and screeched, which, by the way, didn’t help my poor ADHD ears in any way.

I pulled out my phone and put in an earbud before calling my sister. “NO. I am not coming over to help you clean.” Melanie’s voice crackled through the receiver after three rings.

“Good morning to you too, glorious sister of mine. Thanks for not contacting me for twenty-four hours after asking me to go to a billionaire’s gala. How ya doing?” I grumbled, finally reaching the relative peace of Chan Road.

I heard Mel sigh. “Does annoying people bring you joy?”

“I guess you can say it’s a hobby.” I shrugged, smirking at her groan in the background.

Amid my enlightening conversation with Melanie, a figure suddenly materialized before me. A tall, striking individual with shoulder-length blue hair streaked with white. The embodiment of a radiant sunshine boy, Mr. Perfect, bumped into me as he appeared.

“Whoa.” He exclaimed, green-gray eyes wide with what seemed like remorse, the blue flecks in his eyes seeming to dance. He ran a tanned hand through his curly hair. “Seriously, I’m so sorry. Clumsy oaf award goes to me, hands down.” The boy muttered the last bit, seeming like he didn’t want me to hear it.

“It’s fine.” I mumbled, embarrassed, glancing around and getting a bit self-conscious. “Just watch where you’re going, lamppost.” I should have never come out today. Operation: find a way to retreat without being rude. “Sorry Mel, I gotta go.” I turned off the call. Ok, ok. Plan Glitter puff Aqua Mermaid is in action. Escape as soon as possible and continue actively procrastinating cleaning up.

He smiled and rubbed his neck. “Alright. My name is Koen Reve, by the way. And as an apology for my clumsiness, how about I buy you a coffee-” He stopped mid-sentence, “Have we... met before?”

My breath hitched. “How…” My voice trailed off, my mind racing. (Ok, cross our plan, Glitter puff. Time for the plan to follow along. )

“You’re the girl from the gala!” He exclaimed," the one I danced with!" “Malantha, right? You look… different.”

“Blue haired boy right?Yeah, I’m not in a fancy dress.”

As I scanned the crowd making sure Rune didn’t mess crap up, my eyes landed on a guy with blue hair leaning on a wall across from me, about a 200 feet distance. I tilted my head as I looked at him.

The blue-haired guy looked up and our eyes met. He tilted his head slightly, mimicking me. A faint smirk played on his lips before confidently approaching me.

My heart pounded against my ribs. Oh, shoot, oh shoot. I glanced away, blushing furiously. I tapped my foot nervously, hoping Rune would appear and we could make a quick escape.

The guy stopped in front of me. He extended a hand towards me, his smirk widening. “Dance with me?” he asked, his voice smooth and confident.

I looked up at him, meeting his stabbing gray eyes. My mind went blank. All I could focus on was the intensity of his gaze, the way his blue hair seemed to shimmer under the soft lights and the faint scent of cinnamon that clung to him.

“Sure,” I breathed, my voice barely above a whisper.

A grin spread across his face, and he gently took my hand, leading me to the dance floor. As we moved to the rhythm of the music, I felt a strange sense of calm wash over me. The blue-haired guy pulled me closer, his hand resting on the small of my back, drawing circles with his thumbs.

“So,” he murmured in my ear, his breath sending shivers down my spine, “what’s your name?”

“Malantha,” I replied, my voice still barely audible. What’s going on with me? I thought as we did a quick turn.

Before he could respond, a figure materialized beside me. Rune, wearing a mischievous grin, extended a hand towards the blue-haired guy. “May I cut in?” he asked, his voice smooth and playful

The memory ended as Koen said, “I see,” his gaze lingering on me for a beat too long. “So, still want that coffee?” he flashed a finger gun, winking.

I chuckled (why did I do that?), then hesitated. The coffee sounded great. Free food in general was amazing, but what if I seemed too much, desperate, or-… “Fine,” I said even as my brain screamed the mission!

Koen smiled quietly. “Well, sorry I bumped into you.” He paused, “Well, not that I bumped into you but that -I…you get it.” He sighed.

“It’s fine Lamp Post.” I glanced to the left.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Koen spoke up. “I’m from California, Malibu!” 

“Nice. France, Annecy. ‘’

“Wow, France!” He gasped slightly smiling

“Yeah, it’s a beautiful city.” I lied. Well, not really lying. I knew enough that the city was beautiful, but I’ve only seen it through photos.

A bit more silence before I decided to take a turn. “What’s your favorite restaurant?”

“Well, I like Mexican food. One of my friends makes these really good Chilaquiles.”

“Cool.” I didn’t really know how to respond to that.

We walked a few more blocks in somehow comfortable silence until we reached the shop. The name ‘Ukiyo’ shone in a dim purple glow. The little brown building -actually more of a shack- looked like it had seen better days, but Koen walked right on in. I pulled my hood up before following.

The inside of the shop was packed with shelves and shelves of random objects. Small tables were set up everywhere. If it weren’t for the shack-like interior, I would have thought that I had just walked into a retro diner.

As I took in the shop, Koen confidently made his way to the back, humming a tune. Ghostbusters. I followed close behind, trying to ignore the strange looks I got from the other shoppers.

“Oh! Hello Koen dear!” an elderly woman greeted us. “Who’s your friend?”

“Good morning Ms. Eunoia!” Koen replied. “This is Malantha. I accidentally bumped into her on my walk to apologize I’m getting her a drink. We also met at that charity show.”

“Aww, that’s sweet of you!” Ms. Eunoia gushed, her smile wrinkles stretching. “Nice to meet you, Malantha dear!”

“H-hi M’am,” I stammered out, “Nice to meet you too.”

She smiled and turned back to Koen, her gray hair and eyes glinting in the sunlight filtering through the windows. The shop was mostly made of wood, with small fairy lights and regular light bulbs above us. Some parts of the shop were made of concrete, and children and teens were drawing on it. The framed art displayed a mix of pop art, the Mona Lisa, and even a version of The Great Wave of Kanagawa featuring Cookie Monster. There were also famous paintings turned into memes and vice versa. A sign in neon orange and purple reminded everyone not to draw on the walls elsewhere.

Ms. Eunioa’s Western accent pulled me out of my admiration. “The usual caramel latte with whipped cream, Mr. Koen?

Koen nodded his head with a small smile. Ms. Eunioa turned to me. “And you, precious?”

I looked at the small menu. “I’ll have…” I hesitated, unsure what to choose. “Um…Koen can choose. It’s his money, anyway.” I fidgeted with my hands, tugging at new hangnails.

“Oh ok, uh sure.” Koen drawled, his green-gray eyes scanning the menu. “Well, the caramel dragon frappe is pretty good. You seem like someone who likes caramel.”

“Ya, I like caramel. It sounds good.” I said nonchalantly, even though caramel is my favorite sauce ever.

We sat down in a window seat while waiting for our drinks. “So how old are you?” Koen had decided to play random questions again.

“16.”

“Nice.” I could TASTE the awkwardness in the air.

“What about you?”

“I’m 17.”

“Cool.” I looked anywhere but his face. Koen rubbed his neck again before launching into a detailed conversation on ‘Voltron’. I’d never seen it before but had joined the fandom.

We chatted a bit more on it (and some random topics I don’t remember) before a girl with blond hair and baby blue tips came over. Her purple shirt had the words ‘Ukiyo’ printed in white,

“Here’s your drink! Made by Ms. Eunoia herself.” She chimed. Koen smiled as she came over. “Hey, Wendy!”

“Hello Koen! Who’s your friend?” she smiled at me, looking curious while I tried to keep eye contact with her.

“Um-.. I’m Malantha.”

Her eyes widened. “Whoa that’s such a pretty-”

“WENDY DARLING GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE!”

Wendy sighed as she rolled her eyes. “I swear. PETER JUST GIVE ME A MINUTE.” She turned back to us “So sorry for that…here are your drinks!”

She placed the two plastic cups on the table before walking away towards wherever this “Peter” was.

Koen chuckled. “Those two have been dating for a year now, but you wouldn’t know it from their conversations.”

I nodded as some words repeated in my mind, soon being interrupted by some 1900s music I had found a few days ago.

I looked down at our drinks, admiring the small cups with a 70s Indie theme. My drink had a purplish tinge with dragon fruit bits dipped in caramel on fluffy whipped cream. Koen’s was a pastel green with dark green caramel. I took a sip as we stood up. It was sweet with caramel and cream, with a twangy taste due to the dragon fruit. 

I took another sip while Koen tried to convince Ms. Eunoia that he couldn’t take the drinks for free. Key word: tried.

“Ms. Eunoia!” Koen whined “I can’t! Other people pay. Plus, you need the money to fix this place up”

I gazed around over the rim of my cup. There was no fixing needed. It looked great and had many 70s,80s, and even some 60s themes throughout the shop.

“No Koen. You tipped me more than enough last week. I’m surprised you haven’t bought the place yourself.” Ms. Eunoia smirked, hands on hips.

Koen pouted and I couldn’t take it anymore. I burst out laughing. Koen sent me a betrayed look which I smirked at before he sighed in defeat but he ‘tipped’ Ms. Eunoia a bundle of cash (Who keeps THAT much money in their pocket?!) to which another debate on Koen’s money-wasting skills erupted.

I walked over to the Art Wall, picking up a paintbrush and drawing a rose as Koen and Ms. Eunioa argued. “Koen Andre Reve. You take that money and spend it on yourself. Or even Malantha! Just don’t give me sympathy or pity. I’m doing just fine, thank you very much.”

I heard Koen sigh before opening the swinging door to the worker’s side and giving Ms. Eunioa a quick hug before approaching me. “Nice painting.”

I glanced at him before looking back at my painting. “Thanks, my sister used to paint roses for me all the time before work got busy.”

“What’s her name?”

Why does he want to know so much about me?

“Melanie.”

“That’s a pretty name.”

That was awkward. He picked up a blue paintbrush painting what I thought was an ocean. After a few minutes of peaceful painting, my phone chimed. Mel.

“Hey I gotta go, Koen.” He nodded silently, putting down brush and walking toward the exit. We said goodbye to the workers and Ms. Eunioa and walked out of the warm comfort of Ukiyo and out to the harsh cold weather of Eos Ophir.

“Well, thanks for the drink. Bye.” I turned to leave. That might have been rude, but hey, I was tired and just wanted to go home and lay in bed with one of my other hoodies.

“Wait!” I tensed as I felt a hand on my shoulder. “Can I have your number?”

I turned around and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Dude. We just met barely an hour ago. Also, please don’t touch me.”

He took his hand off and rubbed the back of his neck. “Ya sorry. I was hoping we could become friends rather than strangers who got coffee.”

I blinked a few times before registering what he just said. “Uh, sure.” Either he is really lonely or he’s crazy. We swapped phones.

I smiled while I punched in my number. “Huh, guess I know another thing about you, Mr. Lamp post. Making friends with random people.”

“Very funny.”

I looked up, raising an eyebrow (8-year-old me would be proud), “My specialty”

I just realized you have brown eyes!” Koen exclaimed, his voice filled with genuine admiration. “They're beautiful."

A faint blush creeping across my cheeks. “Thanks. I guess they are a kind of rare, aren’t they?”

Koen nodded . “Ya. I’ve only seen a few people with brown eyes in my entire life. It’s like finding a person with no powers, even that's more common. I say this as a person with no powers.”

I chuckled, a pang of both pride and self-consciousness tugging at my heart. “I know. It’s kind of strange, isn’t it? I’ve always wondered why they’re so uncommon.”

“I know! Some people think it’s a genetic mutation or something. But I think it’s just a quirk of nature,” Koen replied.

We gave each other back our phone and said goodbye. As soon as I rounded the corner, I got a text:

“Hey Malantha! It’s Koen. text me soon,” - Koen.

“Ello 😄. Ya, it’s me, Malantha.”–Malantha.

I smiled at my phone, glad I had made a new friend.