JUST ME
Paul Diaz
Chapter 7: Just Ask
It was a chilly day on December; they have just finished their preliminary examinations. Jonathan was busy taking pictures of Kathleen as she was playing with the stream water.
“Kath I think I want to buy a phone like this one, could you accompany me today?” Jonathan asked her. Kathleen turned around and looked at him “That model is old there are new ones available you know” she said. She stood up and fixed herself then they both went to the mall.
Once they arrived at the mall Jonathan saw the poster of a new movie, he turned to Kathleen and asked her “Would you like to go and see this movie?” Kathleen looked at the poster and then took a look at the other poster and said “I want to watch this one” and he agreed. They went to watch the movie and after two hours they came out laughing.
“I’m hungry; would you like to grab something to eat?” Jonathan asked Kathleen. “Me too, I know a great place here, come on you will like it there.” She said as she led Jonathan towards the fast food area. After they have eaten Kathleen decided to have the photos in her camera phone developed. They had to come back after an hour to claim them so they strolled along the mall to kill time. “Hey Jon lets go get your phone already” Kathleen told Jonathan. “Okay but let’s walk slowly I’m kind of full” he said and Kathleen laughed. Along the way Kathleen stood still for a moment as she saw something she liked from a store window. Jonathan stopped too and asked Kathleen what it was but she just continued walking forward. “It’s nothing I was just admiring the design of that dress” she said as she glanced back at the store window.
They reached a store where mobile phones were sold but Jonathan was unable to choose one. “Maybe next time, I mean I will just wait until a good phone comes out” he said. “Oh, I thought you were going to buy one now. Anyway let’s go back maybe the pictures are done” Kathleen said. They both went back and claimed the pictures. They sat on a nearby bench to look at the pictures and Jonathan noticed that there were two copies of each picture. “Hey, they gave us two copies each” he commented. “I really had them make two copies, so one set goes to you and one is mine” Kathleen said. Jonathan became shy all of a sudden and just smiled.
“So which among these pictures are you going to place on the picture frame in your room?” Kathleen asked him. Jonathan browsed through his set of pictures and set aside three pictures but did not show them to Kathleen. “It’s really difficult to choose, maybe I will choose once I get home” he said and Kathleen just nodded hiding her frustration since she wanted him to choose the picture where she was leaning on his shoulder. “It’s getting late we should go home now” Kathleen said and Jonathan started to panic. “Oh can you wait here a moment, I forgot to buy something for my mother. I will be right back I promise.” He said. “I can come with you if you want” Kathleen added. “No, please wait for me here.” Jonathan said and ran off.
A few minutes later, Jonathan came back hiding what he bought in his back. “Sorry to keep you waiting, we can go home now” he said. Kathleen was curious and tried to take a peek on his back. Jonathan was fast to react and kept it hidden. Kathleen gave up and started to walk towards the main entrance. “Hey Jon, I’m kind of tired so I will just take a cab from the entrance” she said. Jonathan kept silent and just walked beside her. As they reached the main entrance they waited for a cab and Jonathan started mumbling. “Oh there someone’s getting out, I have to go now” said Kathleen as she walked towards the cab. As she was already near the empty cab her phone rang, she immediately searched her bag and took out her phone.
“Hello?” she said.
“Hi” the voice on the other line answered.
“Who is this?” Kathleen asked.
“Turn around” the voice ordered her. Kathleen was quite spooked but still turned around. There was Jonathan holding a phone in his ear and Kathleen ran to him.
“You have a phone! Is that what you bought when you made me wait?” she exclaimed.
“No, I actually bought this the other day” Jonathan said and she looked at him curiously.
“But you told me to accompany you to buy a phone today, isn’t it?” she said.
“I just wanted to go out with you, sorry” he said softly and looked the other way. “You really are funny” she said and she laughed. Jonathan looked at her slowly and asked her “Are you mad at me?”
“No I am not mad, come to think of it I enjoyed being with you” she said and Jonathan blushed and bowed his head. “There!” Jonathan said and hailed a cab and it stopped at once. “Let’s share a cab, if you don’t mind, I want to see where you live” he said. Kathleen could not believe what was suddenly happening but she got inside the cab and Jonathan followed.
As the cab started to move Jonathan could not hide anymore the thing that he bought, he just clasped it in his arms. They were both silent but Kathleen was hiding her smile. As they reached her house the cab stopped, Jonathan went out first and waited for Kathleen to step out.
“Thanks for bringing me home, I really enjoyed today” she said.
“Ah, this is for you” Jonathan said and he handed over the thing that he bought from the mall. Kathleen was again surprised and was totally speechless. “I have to go now, thanks for today too” he said and went inside the cab and waived at her. The cab started to move and Kathleen was still standing there, as the cab was already out of sight she took a pick inside the store bag and suddenly ran towards her home. Once inside she went straight to her room and brought out the dress Jonathan had just bought for her. It was exactly the same dress she was looking at in the store window. She held the dress in front of her and stood in front of the mirror, it was a perfect fit and she definitely was happy.
Jonathan reached home and went straight to his room. Once inside his phone rang, he just received a text message so read it at once, it was from Kathleen.
“Thank you so much for the dress. It fits perfectly. You are so mysterious. You always keep on surprising me. There are so many things I would like to say to you but for now all I can say is thank you”
Jonathan read then re-read the text message before he replied with a short “You’re welcome”. He sat back in a chair smiling and feeling good about himself. After a few seconds he received another text message.
“By the way, next time just ask” the message read and he laughed loud and jumped on the bed smiling.
