Second Breath of Us

SECOND BREATH OF US

A Short Story

by J C Neel

I get off the bus at my usual stop, just as I have for the past six years. But this time, deep in thought, I trip and nearly lose my balance. I manage to regain my footing before falling, hoping no one notices. When I look up in embarrassment, a beautiful young woman is smiling at me. It isn’t a mocking smile, more like a friendly one. As I make my way into the small group of people waiting for the next bus, she walks up to me.

“Don’t you hate when that happens? Maybe you should lighten your load a little bit,” she says, with a voice as beautiful as her long blonde hair. I imagine her to be around the age of thirty, a year shy of my thirty-one years.

I was carrying my usual baggage, a laptop case, a large briefcase for paperwork and textbooks, and a knapsack on my back.

“Yes, that would help, but I do need everything I’m carrying for my job. I’m a teacher at Brentwood High. I think I was a little distracted today by something that happened with one of my students,” I say to the beautiful blonde standing in front of me.

“Oh, really. I hope it wasn’t anything serious?”

“No. He’s just a troubled young man.” I wonder why I’m telling a stranger about something that happened at work. But there’s something about her; an openness that makes it easy to share.

“Well, maybe we can talk about this further at school tomorrow,” she says, in a casual manner.

“What do you mean?”

I knew she was too good to be true. Why will she be at my school tomorrow? Is she following me? Does she want something from me?

Maybe she’s crazy.

Maybe a stalker.

“You can come to my office tomorrow, Theo, and we can talk about this student that’s troubling you. I mean we could talk about it at my place tonight, but I thought we both agreed to keep our personal lives separate from our work lives. So, do you still want to have a light dinner at the café tonight?”

Once again, “What do you mean?” I ask.

“Since I wasn’t at the office today you asked me to meet you at the bus stop this afternoon so that we could walk around the corner to the café and have an early dinner. You said you had a lot of papers to grade tonight. Look Theo, it seems like you’ve had a rough day. We don’t have to do this tonight; we can talk later.”

“I think that’s a good idea. I’m not feeling like myself right now. I’m going to walk home now, to my place, right, and you can walk to yours, okay?” I say very slowly, because do we live together? Do we live in the same direction?

Do I know you? Who the hell is this person? This gorgeous, compassionate person; the type I’ve dreamed of meeting my whole life. I decide to go along with her little charade, because maybe she is crazy, and I need to get away from her as soon as possible. Hopefully, she doesn’t try to follow me. I’ll let her leave first.

“That’s fine, Theo. I hope you’re feeling better, later,” she says, as she reaches up and gives me a soft kiss on the lips.

She smells as incredible as she looks. Whoever she is, she comes from a place where dreams do come true. I’m just not familiar with that place.

“Do you need me to walk you home?” I ask. If you lead the way. Because I don’t know where the hell you live.

“I think I’ll be okay walking two blocks by myself, baby, but thanks for the offer.”

“Even so, will you text me as soon as you get home, please?” If I see her name on my phone, it might jog my memory. Is she in my contacts?

“Sure, Theo, if it’ll make you feel better. I’ll talk to you later,” she says as she walks away, her long blond hair gleaming in the sunlight. I really am in a dream.

I start to walk home to my apartment building hoping it still exists when I get there. I’m feeling a little strange now, not just confused, but a little sick to my stomach and very warm. Everything around me looks the same, the bus stop, the nail salon across the street, the convenience store next to that, the apartment buildings lining the street, some of the older ones marked with the same faded graffiti. Six blocks later, there it is. My building. Phew! I walk up the stairs to the second floor and to my apartment. Number 201.

As soon as I open the front door, I hear a familiar sound.

“Meowww?”

Apollo comes bounding out of the kitchen at the sound of my keys jingling in the door. I bend down to greet him as he rubs his whiskers against my legs. He seems real, too.

“Hey, Apollo, how was your day? Not as freaky as mine I hope.”

My phone suddenly pings with the notification of a text. I pull it out of my pocket in anticipation. Maybe it’s her.

Gala: I’m home, baby. Call me later.

“Gala? What a beautiful name, and beautiful photo, but I still don’t know who she is. Crazy! Apollo, do you know who Gala is?” I say aloud to my cat.

I unload all my baggage onto the floor of the foyer and go into the kitchen to get a beer. I need to sit down on the couch and retrace my steps from the moment I woke up in the morning. What happened? What caused the change? I haven’t been in a relationship since my last breakup three years ago, when my fiancé decided to hook up with my best friend; your typical betrayal cliché. Did I fall in the shower this morning? NO. Nothing happened, but now I’m suddenly in a relationship with a beautiful woman named Gala.

I get up from the couch and start walking around every inch of my apartment looking for some sign of a relationship. A picture? A piece of woman’s clothing? Nothing anywhere. I need more information. Is Gala her full name? She said she worked at the school. I go back to the couch and pull out my laptop.

Wham! A beautiful picture of the two of us sitting on a park bench in City Park appears. It’s my screensaver. I put that image aside for a minute and started searching the school directory. I’ve been teaching English at Brentwood High for six years. I’ve loved English Lit since high school, but it’s Greek mythology that truly caught my interest. My parents had sparked that interest early on with their bedtime stories about gods and heroes. They even named me Theseus, Theo for short, after the legendary Greek hero. In the same tradition, I named my cat Apollo.

Maybe if I have children with this beautiful woman, we could name them after Greek gods and goddesses. Gala sounds like a name that you would find in Greek mythology. It has a beautiful, calming sound to it. Where are my thoughts going? Am I going crazy? I don’t even know her. I searched the entire school directory, and I didn’t find her name anywhere. It was time to make some bold moves.

Theo: Gala, how do you spell your complete name?

Gala: Are you okay? You know my name. What’s this about?

Theo: I’m filling out some important paperwork and I need the complete spelling of your name. Please.

I don’t get a text response, instead my phone starts ringing. It’s her.

“Hi, Gala.”

“Theo, what’s going on? You know my full name because it’s part of the reason that we connected. My name is Galatea, after the statue created by Pygmalion that came to life because he loved her so much. With your love of Greek mythology, you thought that my name was a sign that we were meant to be together.”

“Your real name is Galatea? I’ve never heard anyone in the real world named Galatea.”

“This is the real world, Theo.”

“Gala, why aren’t you listed in the school directory online?” I ask.

“Because I just started there four months ago when the previous guidance counselor quit. They don’t update it that quickly. Any more questions?”

“Why don’t you have any clothes or personal items at my place? If we’re in a relationship, shouldn’t you have something over here?”

“Theo, I’m worried about you, but you know I can’t come over there.”

“Why?”

“Apollo.”

“You don’t like cats?”

“I’m allergic to them, Theo. That’s why we hang out at my place. Didn’t you notice the lint rollers in your foyer? I can take a few hairs on your clothes but not the full cat. Why don’t you take some aspirin and go lay down. I’ll come check on you in the morning before I leave for school. Goodnight, Theo. I love you.”

“Goodnight, Gala.”

I was rushing down the stairs to the first floor when I almost bumped into her. The girl of my dreams.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

“Theo, I said I was coming to check in on you this morning. But you must be feeling better because you’re dressed for work. Everything okay?”

“I’m fine, Gala. You were coming upstairs to check on me? You can’t be around Apollo.”

“Yes, you were really talking out of your head last night. You must have had the same bug I had a couple of days ago. And I know it only made it worse that yesterday was the three-year anniversary of your break-up with your ex-fiancé, Eris. You usually have a hard time with that.”

“Not anymore, Gala. You’re the girl of my dreams, because you are the girl of my dreams,” I tell her.

“Maybe you’re not ready to go back to work yet, Theo.”

“I’m fine. Whatever I had last night, a fever, a dream, it doesn’t matter, because I’m fully awake now in every sense of the word. We are meant to be together. I’m going to call that friend of mine who has been offering to take Apollo for a while now and let her have him. She’ll give him a good home and then you and I can start looking for our own home.”

“I love you, Theseus.”

I only have vague memories of the fog I was in yesterday. I treated Gala like she was a stranger who just happened to appear when I got off the bus. But the truth is, she’s been by my side for over two years, ever since the devastating breakup with my ex-fiancé. She stayed with me through the light and the dark, helping me piece myself back together after the rejection and the insecurities it left behind. And how did I repay her? By putting her second to my cat. It’s heartbreaking how someone else's rejection can cloud our ability to truly love the people who are there for us. Gala deserves to be worshiped, like the Greek goddess she was named after. It’s unfortunate that it took a fever, a dream, or a journey outside of myself to finally see the incredible person standing right in front of me. She’s not just special, she’s the girl of my dreams.

“I love you, Galatea.