She said "Stay". He mistook it to be "Go away".
Suzy was waiting for the pressure cooker to whistle. And as she waited, her thoughts drifted back in time to a moment that perhaps changed her destiny.
Her first high school dance was coming up. There was so much excitement everywhere. She was a shy, quiet girl, chubby, awkward and timid. She wanted to go but didn't want to be the one who no one danced with. Tickets were selling fast and she still hadn't bought hers.
They were lining up for assembly, supervised by school prefects. Each class had 2 allocated. They were both standing near her. All was quiet, then she heard the dreaded, "Suzy, I hope you bought a ticket 'cos I've sold all of mine." Relief, tickets were sold out, she had an excuse not to go. Suzy shook her head. "Oh, he'll be sad if you don't come," she said, looking at him cheekily. Suzy glanced at him quickly and caught his eye. "I've kept one for you," he said quietly. Then a ticket shot out at her. How could she refuse? She took it slowly and muttered that she would pay for it the next day. He wouldn't take the money.
There they were, in the school hall, nervous 13 year olds, excited and scared. Suzy hid behind the girls in her class hoping no one would see her. And then she saw him, making his way towards them. She slowly inched behind the pillar praying, "Not me, please not me". He wove his way through the throng of classmates and then he stood in front of her. "Would you like to dance with me?" he asked softly.
They danced quietly, not a word was said. And then a slow number came on. They stood looking at each other for a few minutes. She had no idea what to do, but here he was, the boy of her dreams and she wished with all her heart they would keep dancing.
Her eyes held his. "Stay, please stay" she whispered silently in her head. He was confused. Was that excitement or fear he saw. Did she want him to stay or go? The questions went around in his head. He didn't want to scare her nor did he want to do anything that she didn't.
He didn't make a move. Suzy panicked. She looked around to gauge what the others were doing. His heart sank. That movement sent a signal to his brain. "She wants me to go", he thought. So quietly he backed off and moved away.
He never asked her to dance again. She watched him dance with one girl after another. Her heart sinking and wave after wave of sadness washing over her.
The cooker let off a shrill whistle and jolted her back to the present. But the sadness in her heart made it ache with renewed intensity. "I wanted him to stay, why did he go away", she thought despairingly.
Moments change destinies or do they?
The tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood. ~ Henry David Thoreau
Do share some of your moments that seemed to alter the course of your destiny.
Warm Regards
This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda
The prompt
She said ____. He mistook it to be ____.
The words used in the blanks have to rhyme and your post should revolve around the confusion thus created as a result of the miscommunication.
Check out some more WoW posts here
