It was a quarter to 7 and Hazel hasn’t shown up yet. Mischa on the other hand had been at his house since 5. 30 that morning. She got acquainted with Lee’s parents and had a lot of good things to share with them about Lee. She spoke a bit of French so Lee could hear her talking to his stepmom in French as he loaded his stuff in the car.
He looked around his front yard to see if anyone was coming from the direction of Hazel’s house. There was still no sign. He checked his phone, nothing. If she didn’t show up that would be the end of it, he thought. She’s probably occupied with Theo and couldn’t care less about him. After all, Theo is single now, there could be something really going on between them.
“Are you ready to go?” his dad asked interrupting his thoughts.
He nodded, “Yeah … all set.”
“Okay, let me say goodbye to your mom,” then he walked back inside.
Mischa came over to him which made him a bit nervous, “I’m gonna miss you,” she said.
He couldn’t lie to her and say the same thing, they weren’t that close to missing each other that much. “Thanks,” he said.
She brushed the side of his arm, “Lee … about what I said yesterday … I really meant it, you’ve been a great friend, the perfect dance partner and I really want us to be together … you know?”
She wasn’t shy about expressing her feelings, something he should learn from her. But he didn’t want to lead her on either, he looked at her with a somber look on his face, he knew he had to break her heart.
“Mischa … you’re beautiful and a wonderful person, I’m happy to be your dance partner too, we had a great chemistry in practice … on the stage, … but I can’t say that I feel the same about you to be more than …”
“I know,” she cuts him off, “I can see that, I’m not blind, you know? It’s Hazel, isn’t it? But I just thought I let you know … sometimes you just have to let someone know how you feel or you’ll never know how they really feel about you,” she forced a smile.
“I’m sorry, please don’t take this the wrong way,” he was feeling remorseful.
“Hey, don’t worry about it … don’t feel bad for feeling the way you feel, but can I ask you one thing though? I promise this will be the last thing,” she giggled.
Lee waited for her next sentence.
“Would you … for just this once … kiss me goodbye and pretend that I’m Hazel?” she smiled sweetly with her hands on her back.
‘Pretend that I’m Hazel’ what a catchy phrase. Hazel really didn’t show up that morning. He was disappointed at her from the night before and for not showing up to say goodbye to him. But she was still the one he wanted to kiss.
He took one step forward and lowered himself to meet her face. He put his hand on the small of her back and pulled her close. He put his lips on her and closed his eyes. If Hazel was there, that would be how he wanted to do it and tell her how strongly he feels about her.
He kissed her long and hard, their breaths intertwined and she put both her hands on his face to keep up with him. He was picturing Hazel in his mind that it took him a while to realize that it wasn’t her. He broke away almost in surprise at how good that kiss was.
“Oh … wow …” Mischa was stunned, “I’ve never been kissed like that before.” It crushed her to accept that the kiss was not for her, it will never be for her. “She’s a lucky girl,” she chuckled.
“Sorry … I got carried away,” he blushed away. “I have to go now, I’ll see you around Mischa.” He slammed the trunk shut.
“I’ll text you,” she replied.
“Sure … thanks for coming, … see you,” he waved at her and got into the car.
“Is she your girlfriend? I’m confused, I thought you were with Hazel?” his dad was already in the car and saw the whole thing.
He threw himself back on his seat and puffed his hair, “It’s complicated.”
**********
She jolted out of bed and saw the time on the bedside table, it was 6. 35.
She hurried to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her puffy face. “Urrgh … I’m so screwed … oh my head,” she touched her head.
She didn’t even bother changing, she was still wearing the same outfit since last night. Her plaid pajama pants and black AC/DC T-shirt. She sniffed under her arms, they were fine, but she sprayed body mist all over her upper body just in case.
She ran out the door and started running to Lee’s house, then she remembered she had left her phone on her bed. Damn-it, forget it. She wanted to text him to wait for her. She picked up her pace, she was sure she will make it on time.
Lee’s house was just around 100 meters away when she stopped to catch her breath, she didn’t want to look like she was gasping for air when she says goodbye to him. She could see him loading suitcases to the trunk and Mischa was standing right next to him. She let out a sigh of relief in between her breaths.
“Okay … deep breath … deep breath …” she said to herself. Sweat was dripping off her forehead. She wiped them with the sleeves of her shirt and then she saw it. Her breathing stopped completely, the first thing she thought of was to get behind a trash bin of Lee’s neighbor to watch them kissing so passionately that her brows raised all the way to her hairline.
She sat on the ground, now she wasn’t sure what to do next. It felt like a dream. She was hungover but she was not dreaming. She felt something hard in the pit of her stomach, and then she just let go and laid on the grass of Lee’s neighbor’s house. She couldn’t show her face now. She didn’t want to be the one to interrupt his romantic goodbye. “Just stay here and be invisible,” she thought to herself.