When Confined

© 2024 Diane Ascrit

The quote "Would you mind if I waited with you, just to keep the womanizers from bothering you?" was last week's hidden reference. It comes from the show Scent of a woman. I am in my old movies era, there is just something about them 🥺

Onto the next chapter and Easter egg...

~~~~

☎️CHAPTER 31: Fist bump? ☎️

I look nervous, I thought as I stared at my reflection in the mirror of the bathroom.

But I wasn't nervous.

Not nervous at all.

I only looked nervous.

Today had passed in a blur until I was finally able to dash home and get ready for the closing ceremony of our guessing game.

The coffeeshop where we were supposed to meet was a mere twenty-minute walk from my place. It was easy to determine when I had to leave home to arrive right on time. I didn't want to arrive too early. Waiting alone in an unfamiliar space would be dreadful.

Just imagining the whole "Table for one? -No table for two -*inquisitive look* -I'm waiting for someone" dialogue made me shiver.

Noah would deal with waiting alone in a much better way than me, given his lack of nervousness or uneasiness, but still I didn't want to make him wait too long. I had to arrive on the dot because I knew how uncomfortable waiting was.

As of now, I was just waiting in the comfort of my own bathroom for the right time to leave, and that alone was putting me edge.

I had already changed of outfit twice.

Once because the skirt kept riding up and I didn't want a repeat of the time I didn't bring it back down soon enough. It happened at school, if you were wondering and not too long ago to be shrugged off as a normal kid life occurrence.

The second time because the colour of the top was too light. Given my current mental state and my usual skills, I wasn't safe from pouring the milkshake I planned on ordering all over me. It would be less evident with a darker shirt.

There was no trace of Ilana the cool-bro or wild Ilana for miles around. Only insecure jittery Ilana.

Should I put my hair up or down?

Up. I tied my hair in a messy bun with a few loose strands but quickly abandoned as my reflection in the mirror looked like that of a crazy woman who ran around announcing the end of the world and the extinction of nuggets.

Why was it that, when I didn't care, when I was staying home with no one to see me, my bun would look amazingly gorgeous but when I actually wanted it to look good it would be a disaster? So unfair.

Down it was, then. I huffed and ran my fingers through my hair, flattening the weird waves that my attempted bun had created, then smoothed my outfit, for the fourth time—and that was only for the third outfit.

Not nervous.

Now that I had nothing to busy my hand with, I couldn't stop my brain from wandering. I was going to meet Noah today. Not even today in-a-few-hours today, but today in-less-than-an hour today.

Not nervous at all.

How was I supposed to greet him?

Hand shake? I stretched out my hand towards the mirror. It looked too formal, this was a casual closing ceremony, not the real Olympic Games deal.