Chapter 18
2095 Words
18
(page 25 of 126)
Eureka working, me and Matt studying as the middle of the semester was fast approaching. It became a routine now. She and I hadn’t talk much ever since she became dedicated on her job, but I tried to compensate it when I visit her at her work.
I always joked her about getting a day-off and I’ll cut classes and we’ll meet so we could hang-out. But I never thought she had taken it seriously.
“C’mon Luke, you wished for me to take a day-off and now I did.” she said waking me up on my afternoon nap.
“I thought you went to work earlier in the morning?” I asked groggily.
“Yeah, and then I realized this is the only day you might not be busy studying so I took a day-off.”
“A half-day-off” I corrected.
“Right, a half-day-off. So yeah, get your gluteus maximus up.”
“My what?”
“Just get up!” And I did. But my head still feels heavy that it longs my soft pillow.
***
“Where are we going anyway?” I asked. We were already at the gate, walking. She was walking in a zigzag manner while she was filming me with Iris.
“I don’t know, you’re the one who’s studying here.”
“But you’re the one who asked me to get my glutinous maximus up.”
She turned around to look at me then smiled widely “Correction one: its gluteus maximus not glutinous maximus. Correction two: you’re the one who gave me the idea to do this.”
“Oh. Then follow me...” I walked past behind her and she followed.
I decided that we shall go to the park, to the freedom park. .Its lush green grass covers the whole vast ground of the park. I figured it was named that way because people here could do anything they want. They could sing, dance, shout, sleep, run, roll around, frolic, and break someone else’s heart
“Oh at the freedom park?” Eureka panned Iris so it could capture the whole landscape.
“Yup, I guess this would be the best place to hang-out.”
“I remembered what you have told me in the tour, that it was named after a guy named Freedom.”
I scratched the back of my head “Yeah, I was just bluffing.” But come to think of it, it was such a viable theory, right?”
“I know.” She brushed her silky hair with her fingers “So, what are we going to do.”
“Hmmm, maybe we should just sit down and stare at people.” I opted to take a seat already and she followed. Then she held out Iris that was laced in her neck and started to film.
“Honestly? That’s weird.”
“What? That’s not weird. Look...” I pointed at a girl sitting at the grass just across us. “she probably was feeling sentimental and feel like she was all alone in this world.”
“That’s mean! What if she got a date and she was just waiting for him.”
“But the guy she was waiting for did not come?”
“No! Luke, why do you hate the world?”
“I do not.”
“Then why are you making up these negative scenarios”
“I’m just being...realistic.”
“Realistic?” she eyed me dubiously. “Okay, mister negative, look at them.” She pointed at a bunch of people in a circle playing Frisbee. They look really happy and sweaty.
“I’m looking at them.”
“Yeah? Then we’re going to play with them.”
“What? No! We don’t know any of them.” It came out panicky.
“Then we’ll introduce ourselves.”
She was already on her feet brushing dead grasses off her pants. “Eureka...”
“C’mon Luke.” She held out her hand for me to grab it but I just looked at it.
“Eureka, this is a physical activity. I hate physical activities.”
“Luke, please, just trust me. Just do this for me.”
I wanted to say no but her stare has this effect on me. It was like she was giving me this spark of electricity that runs on my nerves. I wanted to disagree with her but rather I reached for her hand and stood up and we were walking, hands together.
“Hey!” Eureka waved at one of the guys that were playing. He was wearing a black tank top with a semi-muscular biceps. The guy in return gazed at her perplexed. He looks kindda old for a student. I doubt that he’s a student here.
“I’m Eureka and this is Luke, and we wanted to play with you if you like.”
“Of course, of course but I don’t know about your friend there, he looks kindda... weak.”
I felt my eyes widen and my mouth slightly opened ready to object but I looked again at his arms and decided not to anymore.
“No, no, I’m sure he’s not that bad.” She grabbed one of my slender arms and wobbled it on the air “See, he’s tall, he has this long arms... and long legs and look at his gastrocnemius, oh wow!” She firmly pressed the part she calls the ‘gastrocnemius’ which I call the calf.
The guy appears to be convinced but still looked at me unimpressed. “Yeah, maybe you two could join.”
“Thank you, um?”
“Tony.” The guy introduced.
“Thank you Tony. Now could you hold this and um film us while we play” Eureka gave the guy, I mean Tony, Iris and he reluctantly accepted it.
“But, how would I...” Tony muttered.
“Just watch us and film us, okay sweetheart?” Sweetheart. She’s really pushing this isn’t she?
Tony then just nodded and backed away a little bit from the circle.
“Okay we’re good!” Eureka shouted. The group somewhat figured what just happened and threw the Frisbee to her. It went past her but she ran as fast as she could and caught it. She squealed with delight. Then she looked at me, raised her chin and threw the Frisbee at my direction. It went high above but I barely managed to get it by jumping as high as I could.
“Whew, better not mess this up, Luke. You should impress her.” I whispered to myself. A girl waves both her hands in the air signalling me to throw the Frisbee to her so I did with all the might my scrawny arms could muster. The Frisbee flew high in the air but didn’t cover much distance. If only genetics gave me a powerful arms. Genetics, what a jerk you are.
And the game was set. The process of throwing and catching repeated until we cannot literally breathe anymore. It was a good game, for them at least. Eureka confronted Tony after and regained Iris. Then they left afterwards and Eureka and I remained in the park. To my exhaustion, I lay down on the grass and tried to catch my breath.
Sweat trickled all over my skin, mostly on my chest. I started to get conscious about my smell, but I would like to trust this one with my deodorant. It hasn’t failed me yet, thankfully.
“You’re not so bad, huh?” Eureka said.
“Oh yeah, not bad with a guy with freakishly long extremities?”
She giggled but it sounded that she was being choked. “Yes daddy long legs. That gastrocnemius of yours, though.”
“My gastrocnemius, huh? Yeah I trained hard for having these babies.” I sat up and caressed my hairy ankle.
“Really?” she sarcastically asked.
“Yeah, I’m not one of those guys fond with their six pack abs or their chest. I’m more of a gastrocnemius guy you see” I thumbed my chin and looked at her goofily.
“Well that’s pretty hot.” She started to laugh and then I started to laugh at myself for being so helplessly pathetic. Her laugh was just so contagious; anyone cannot fail to even smile with her.
“How come you know of these?”
“What?”
“Those ‘gastrocnemius’ stuff.”
“Remember that my parents wanted me to be a doctor? Well they forced me to memorize those kind of stuff when I was just a kid.”
How come I haven’t read about that? It was never mentioned in the book. Was she making that up?
“Really, that’s terrible.”
“Yeah”
The conversation was cut. I don’t know what to say anymore and I feel obliged to be the one who should create a new topic so I panicked.
“So, how’s your work?” Then I realized that I blew it. I asked her like Darwin did in the book. Now I wonder if I am also under the power of the book’s plot.
“The job I got was not bad. Not bad at all.”
“Oh,” No, she’s quoting herself. I mean, ah, never mind.
“Yeah, about work...”
“What is it?”
“Yeah, my co-worker Kylie, and also my friend offered me to live with her.”
“Wait, why? Are you exactly considering it?”
“Don’t think bad of it. She said she needed help on her apartment. By that, she meant she needed a roommate to split with her rent and she was still student like you guys and I thought maybe...it would be better for me to be her roommate.”
I nodded to appear as if I liked the idea, that I agree with her but I don’t. But I still have no grounds of keeping her.
“Have you told Matt about this?”
“Yes, I did. He was fine by it but he mentioned that I should ask how you would feel about this.”
“Yeah, I’m okay with it. Just make sure she’s trustworthy and nice to you, okay?”
“Of course...”
“Do you know Helen Keller?” she asked out of the blue.
“Yeah, I know her.”
“Well, when I was juvenile I guess, I thought she didn’t exist. Like a myth or a character of a book or something.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, because she’s too great. She’s just amazing. How can a blind and deaf woman achieve such greatness? She perceived the world the best way possible even though the world was apathetic to her. I even read her short essay ‘Three Days to See’. She wrote there her plans if she was given three days to see the world and I thought it was wonderful. The ones she wanted to see was the faces of her loved ones, the books that she was guided with, the nature, the triumph of man’s creativity all of it, she would like to see and cherish it because it was beautiful. She said that people who could see might not actually see how beautiful the world is. And that’s how I aspired to become a videographer. Because I wanted to reveal the world and let the people see just what they are missing.” She looked up at the orange sky and closed her eyes, feeling the wind blows.
“I would even trade three days of my life without my eyesight so I can be just as wonderful as she is.”
“You don’t have to do that, Eureka.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re already wonderful.”
- Writer
