COINCIDENTAL COLLISON 5.1

[23rd December 2009]

Two months had passed since our sexual rendezvous, and since then, I had managed not to get trapped in any more tense situations with him. Even though I had seen him several times when he was at work, in the end, I never plucked up the courage to call him. I'd taken the time to save his number in my phone as 'The Stranger'. After all, I still didn't believe that his name was Cole.

A few times, he had caught me off guard at the bar and slipped me a few more napkins. He never asked why I hadn't called him. They were usually just compliments. As charming as his pursuit was, I'd taken them and still ignored his request to get in touch. If I was honest, I was enjoying keeping him hanging. It wasn't often I got that sort of attention from someone out of my league in the looks department. Although I found my past lovers attractive, they were decidedly average looking compared to him.

The next time I would share anything other than stolen glances with my fake-named not-so-secret admirer would be on possibly the worst day of my life.

It was Christmas, and the school holidays had begun. It was the loneliest, saddest festive season I would ever have to endure. I should've been home enjoying the festivities with my parents, but I was burying them instead.

That's right; my beloved parents were dead.

There had been a horrific car accident, and they had both died on impact. The police thought nothing about the event was suspicious; it was just an utterly tragic event that had orphaned me.

Other than myself, only another ten or so people turned up at the crematorium to see my parents off. Besides the circumstances of their death being utterly tragic, it added insult to injury that none of their friends and barely any of our relatives had made showed up.

Sitting on the front pew, I watched the minster read a meagre elegy as well as the small piece I'd written for her. The thought of getting up there to deliver the words myself turned my stomach. I'd imagined I'd be a lot older, more mature and having had more time to come to terms with the fact that one day I'd lose them by the time I'd find myself in this position. Yet, here I was at the tender age of twenty-one, saying my final goodbyes to my beloved parents.

As the blue velvet curtain sailed closed before the pair of coffins, I didn't care what anyone thought of me as I sunk to my knees and wept my heart out.

What am I supposed to do now without you?

Outside, the empty hearses drove away, and smoke billowed from the crematorium chimney. It was all over. Their final rite of passage had been fulfilled.

As darkness fell, the rain had not let up. As dreary as the grey clouds above me, I got off the train and walked to my flat instead of taking a taxi or bus. Though I had an umbrella, I left it collapsed at my side, using the torrential downpour to disguise the fact that I was crying uncontrollably. Drowning in my grief, I let the cool rain wash away my tears and soothe my reddened and puffy eyelids.

The two people I loved the most, who I adored and looked up to, were gone. Not to mention that I wasn't convinced that the car crash was as accidental as the police were making it out to be. Something just felt off. I was mulling it over, running through all the dark and twisted possibilities, when I was startled from the depths of my murky imagination.

"Ana!" I cast my bloodshot eyes both left and right to see who was calling out my name.

By the curbside, a familiar car pulled up; it was Cole's black saloon. Just like the night, he had first picked me up, he had the window down and was leaning over the passenger seat to call out to me.

"Why are you walking in the rain?"

Of all the people I would rather see right now, it had to be you, didn't it? Just my fuckin' luck. Still, at least someone is here...

How had my life gotten so bleak that I was actually happy to see his lying face? Everyone else I knew was back home enjoying Christmas with their dear ones. Lindsay, Theresa, and Benjamin were doing just that, at least.

Without answering him, I grabbed the door handle and slunk down into the vacant passenger seat. I resigned to the fact that my day couldn't have gotten any worse, so what was I going to gain from refusing a lift? - if that was what he'd been offering. Liar or not, his company was better than being alone with my misery.

Much like the first time I had gotten into his car, I pulled my coat tighter around myself, though this time, it was a black woollen duffle that I had worn to the funeral. I kept the hood up. Firstly, to hide that my eyes were puffy from crying and second, to conceal my other secret, my ears.

The moment my father had passed on, the concealment spell he had cast upon me as a child was undone. In the middle of the night, while I slept sound in my bed, my ears transformed. When I woke up to the knocking on my flat's front door and checked my appearance in the hallway mirror by force of habit, I immediately noticed something different. My ears - the tops of my lobes had become pointed and distinguishably Elven-looking. Honestly? I quite liked them, but I knew that they could paint a target on my back if anyone saw them. I hid them from the two police officers who gave me the horrible news by keeping my hair down, even if their mutation soon got bumped down on my list of priorities.

I still hadn't spoken a word, but I watched out of the corner of my eye when his hand fiddled with the heating controls on the dashboard's centre console. With the hot air blowing, Cole reached over and adjusted the vents in front of me. The hot air blew past him, making it impossible to ignore his delicious-smelling cologne. Whether it was pheromones or what, the scent somehow made me feel safe.

I had mixed feelings about my feelings on that point.

On the one hand, it was nostalgic and reminded me of how my dad would comfort me when I was little and scared. Seeing that I was currently mourning my father, that realisation made my eyes sting. Even though it made me sad, I still wanted to relish that feeling. In my already pitiful state, it made it hard not to reach out for Cole and hold him close so I could breathe him in and revel in the illusion of security.

But, on the other hand, Cole's scent made me feel different things, erotic things, so it was in my best interests to keep my distance.

I'd been trying not to look at him too intently, but I still turned my head to watch him lean back into the driver's seat. I was surprised to find him dressed more formally as well. Clothed in slim-fitting black jeans that weren't faded or torn like the ones he tended to wear to work, and also in contrast to his usual style, he wore a dark blue-grey blazer over a charcoal turtleneck.

"You look cold." He stated, his eyes locked onto the wing mirror and checking for a space in the traffic. He spoke again once we had pulled away from the curb. "And sad..."

Cole acknowledged my silence, but I felt no pressure to open up to him because he said, "I guess you'll tell me where you want me to take you at some point... I'll just drive around 'til then, yeah?"

"My parents died. I've just got back from their funeral." Making my situation clear was the least I could do, but I didn't want him to drop me off anywhere just yet. I was comfortable in his quiet company. "And I don't care where you take me. I was heading home to waste the day away, watching until I fell asleep. Just anything to not think about-..." I paused. I could feel hot tears filling my eyes again.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry." He sounded sincere, and the sympathetic smile he pulled only made him more convincing. I cursed myself for doubting that he actually meant it though my better nature knew he probably did not lie about everything.

"I-..." I started, only to look away from his face and into my lap. My emotions betrayed me and caused the tears that had welled up in my eyes to trickle down my cheeks. "Thanks..." I whispered, defeated.