one

It was early September and it just wouldn’t stop raining. I was sitting on my sofa reading Breaking Dawn, the fourth book in the thrilling Twilight series. I was almost done with the book and I just started it a few hours earlier.

“Angelina”

That was my mother calling for me from upstairs. I chose to ignore her and continue reading my book. It’s funny, when I first heard of Twilight I thought, why would I want to read a book about blood sucking vampires? But as they say, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Because hear I am reading the fourth book to the series and I love it.

“Angelina!” she called again, sounding a little annoyed.

“What?” I called back.

“I’ve been calling your name, what are you doing?”

“Nothing.” I said placing my book mark in between the pages.

I headed to the stairway so I didn’t have to yell. I hated walking up them, because there were twelve and then a platform, and then they divided, three on each side.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“Come up here.”

So I did, walking up each individual stair. It felt like forever when I made it to the top. My mom was in the bathroom so I sat on the floor leaning against the door. A few seconds later she opened it and I tried hard not to fall over.

I looked up at my mom, she was truly beautiful. She had full deep brown hair that was big and wavy from rollers. Her eyes looked as if you were staring into a sea of chocolate. And she had the best shaped face. High cheekbones, small nose, perfect lips. She used to be a model and she did some acting in commercials and extras in movies. She could have probably been famous, but she decided to have a family.

“Happy birthday” she said giving me a small box. “My little girl is growing up.”

“Mom I’m only fifteen, wait ‘til I’m twenty-five.” By then I’d be long gone, in New York hopefully. I placed the little box in my bag to open it later.

“So what do you want to do for your big day?” she asked, putting on mascara.

“There’s not much we can do, it’s pouring outside.” I personally would like to finish my book.

“So you’d rather read all day, than do something for your birthday?” she asked looking incredulous.

Oops. Did I say that out loud? “I don’t know there’s nothing to do.”

“Let’s go to a movie or out to eat. We can go to Uptown Evanston.”

Ha. The only reason she probably wants to go there is to get materials from Blick. It’s an art store that she shops at more than a regular store. This past year she started taking an art class because she’s really good at drawing. But I like going with her. We always have some kind of weekend rendezvous. And Evanston is so cool, with their little shops and boutiques; they have a world market and a movie theater that is connected to a Wolfgang Puck restaurant.

“I’d love to.” But then I realized something, “It’s raining.”

                “Who cares.” She said with a glint in her eyes.

 

The rain was coming down hard, but neither of us cared. We ran inside the little Italian ice shop across the street from Blick. Of course we were just in their getting more paint and brushes, as if my mom didn’t have enough already. But she loves to paint, who am I to stop her? As we walked into the shop a small bell went off and this extremely gorgeous Italian guy walked to the counter to take our orders. My mom looked at me as if saying cutie.

“Hello,” he said politely “would you like to try some samples?”

Can I try you? I thought, as I smiled back at him. He looked at me strangely for a second, and I was scared I might have said that out loud, like I did earlier.

But I knew I didn’t when my mom didn’t give me a look and instead looked at the flavors. I looked back at him and he was waiting for my mother’s answer, as if nothing happened, which of course nothing did.

“I’d like a small cup of coconut.” I said looking into his warm brown eyes. He smiled at me as if we shared some secret. “Coconut’s my favorite, too” He said filling me in.

“Yeah?” I said, feeling a blush come to my cheeks. I turned to look at my mom so he wouldn’t see the sudden pink in my cheeks. How did he know it was my favorite though? She looked back at him and ordered a large orange swirl. When he handed it to her she said “Today is my daughter Angelina’s birthday. I looked back at her baffled, why would he care?

“Well happy birthday.” He said smiling at me; damn he has perfect white teeth against his tan face. “Thank you.” I said giving my cutest smile.

“Yep, she just turned fifteen, my little girl’s growing up.” She said all corny. I looked back at her shooting death glares. Is she trying to embarrass me? I looked back at him trying not to look so embarrassed and he just stared at me confused.

“You’re only fifteen?” he asked, clearly surprised.

I smiled back at him and tried to act older, “Yep. Why, how old did you think I was?” I asked back flirting. It was a just a little strange because my mom was just standing there basically encouraging all this.

“Honestly, I thought you were at least eighteen.” He replied back, sounding stunned. I don’t know why, but most people think I’m much older than I really am. It doesn’t really make sense because it’s not like I’m super tall nor have a body of that of a twenty-year old. I always thought I looked older because of my thick, long blonde hair, but it’s basically chopped off now.

“How old are you?” my mom asked, the same question on the tip of my tongue.

“Just turned twenty.” He replied. I was shocked; he looked like he was at most eighteen. We were both fooled, I looked older, and he looked younger. He smiled at me shyly as if he were embarrassed for hitting on a fifteen year old. Damn that was practically rape now-a-days. Ha, at least my mom seemed to approve of him, well not really anymore after hearing his age. “Well,” she said, clearly avoiding the awkward silence. “Thank you for your help, how much was it?” she asked pulling out her big bulky wallet, mostly cramped with receipts and credit cards.

“It’s on the house.” He replied almost unsure of himself. “Happy birthday Angelina.” He told me with a bit of regret in his eyes. I wonder if that was because he really wanted to get to know me, or if it is because now he’s going to have to pay out of his own pocket for our treat.

“Thank you” I said as my mom tried handing him a ten dollar bill and he refused. She thanked him also, and we walked toward the door, surprisingly it had stopped raining. I heard the bells jingle again as we walked out into the dark, damp night and I stole one last glance at him. He looked almost sad watching me leave, but still looked at me though as if we shared a secret. Oh, if only I were a few years older, and I actually asked him for his name.

As we were walking down the sidewalk, I remembered something. I handed my mom my dessert as I reached into my bag and pulled out the little blue box that was given to me earlier. “Can I open this now?” I asked, excited to find whatever it was inside. She nodded and smiled. As I slowly opened the box I saw a silver chain. There was a thick heart shaped pendant on it. I looked at my mom confused, and she laughed.

“It's a locket, open it up.” she told me. I did as I was told, and as I was about to open up the heart, I noticed there were angel wings floded into it. I thought it was so beautiful, and inside was a small picture. I looked closely at it and realized it was a picture of my mom holding me when I was a baby. It was the most beautiful thing I ever saw. I looked up at her and tears were coming out of my eyes.

“I love it so much.” I said hugging her “It's beautiful.”

“I saw it and it reminded me of you, my angel.” She replied also tearing up. In case you didn’t know already, Angelina means Angel in Italian. And I am my mom’s angel because she had been wishing for a baby girl all her life, and only got boys, until finally after nine more anticipating months, I popped out.

I asked her to put the necklace on me and she gladly did. Now everywhere I am, my mom will always be there with me close to my heart in my angel wings. She handed back my Italian ice and placed a single black candle in it. As she lit it she said "Happy Birthday, make a wish." I did as I was told and blew out the flame.