My lover is weird

Anita met Kennedy while in high school. Though she considered him weird, something drew her to him. What was it?

The holidays, for Anita, were great but they also appeared to be too short.

She had sent text messages to Kennedy as promised.  Their conversations turned out to be interesting and deep.   They talked about poetry, books, their lives and beliefs. In a way, she just couldn’t help but want to get closer to him.  She wanted to be the first person he could trust with all his heart.

On the last day of the holidays, Anita called Kennedy. She wanted to hear his voice and she swallowed when the line started ringing.

He picked up the phone and said, “Hi”

“It is Anita…” she started, but could not find the right words to continue.

“Kennedy,” he said. The line was silent. Anita sensed she was breathing too hard. “Uh, I just wanted to hear your voice,” she blurted.

He laughed a little and said, “I noticed.”

“So, er.., are we hanging out tomorrow?” she asked in a cracked voice.

“Yes. We’ll hang out,” Kennedy replied. “Anita, I need to tell you something,” he said.

Kennedy was silent for a moment.  “You are the first friend I’ve ever had in my 17 years on earth,” he informed her.

“Oh! Really?” Anita wondered.

“Yes. I want to thank you,” he told her. “I want to thank you for letting me connect with you.  You have given me permission to share my thoughts and feelings with someone else other than my diary,” Kennedy said.

Anita felt uncomfortable. “Don’t thank me. I enjoy getting to know you.  I think you are the most interesting and wonderful person I’ve ever known,” she confessed.

Kennedy was silent again. Suddenly, Anita started hearing a strange noise.

“Kennedy?” she called him.

Then came a shuffling sound, followed by sniffing. It sounded like a stuffy nose. Anita felt her heart race. She gripped the phone closer to her ear. “Kennedy, are you crying?” she asked him.

“Yes,” he whispered, his voice shaking. Anita heard him sniff again. She felt her eyebrows pull together.  At that very moment, she also felt like crying, simply by listening to him. That noise was depressing, especially coming from Kennedy.

“Please don’t cry,” she murmured, “I mean what I say. I think you are wonderful.” He cried softly a little longer, then his sniffing stopped, and he spoke. “Anita”

“Yes?” Anita held her breath.

“When we meet tomorrow, I must tell you something very important. “Is that okay?”

“Yes,” Anita agreed.

The line went dead. Kennedy had ended the conversation! The first day of the second semester went by slowly. Anita reunited with her friends again. She shared five classes with Kennedy. She was happy. That way, she could connect with him more. But it didn’t turn out the way she thought it would be.

During each class she had with him, Kennedy hardly exchanged words with her. She  tried to converse with him  when she  had the chance, but he  would give her  extremely short answers or tell her  that he  could not concentrate on his  school work. Anita gave up and decided to leave him alone.

She was going to make her way to the canteen one day, when she felt somebody coming close to her. It was Kennedy. He followed her and grasped her wrist.  She turned to look at him. He looked the same, dark hair, dark eyes, dark clothes and dead expression.

“Come,” he said to Anita before letting go of her wrist. He led the way towards the direction that was the opposite end of the canteen. Anita looked behind her shoulder and saw that her friends were already sitting at a table eating. She followed Kennedy.

Kennedy ended up taking her to the back of the school. No student or teacher was around. “Why wouldn’t you talk to me during our classes?” she asked Kennedy.

“I don’t know. I just felt bad about the people around me and I was not in a talking mood,” he responded in a gentle voice.

“What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?”  she asked him. “I…” he began.  “I want us to be more than friends.”

“You are not saying anything,” he mumbled as Anita lapsed into silence.

“Sorry,” she shook her head. “Well, don’t you think it’s too soon? We should get to know each other a little bit more, don’t you agree?” she asked him.

“But I feel like I know you already,” Kennedy whispered, and then moved closer to her. “You think I’m wonderful. I think you are wonderful as well. Anita. I want you to be mine and I want to be yours.”

He grasped Anita’s hands and whispered, “I have fallen in love with you, Anita Maxwell.”

That was all too sudden she thought.

She liked him a lot but she was not necessarily “in love” with him.  She wanted to connect with him more, to know a lot about him and possibly try to fall for him. But she discovered that she was not. She just liked him.

His eyes were still staring at her and his voice was so hypnotic that she couldn’t resist. She closed her eyes and let him kiss her. His mouth tasted of sawdust and fresh wood.

Moments while they kissed, Anita opened one eye to peek at Kennedy. His eyes were still open, and he was studying her intently. It was strange to see him so close.  She couldn’t help but pull away. She wasn’t quite ready to be his.

•Names and events are fictitious

Concluded.