"So, do you come to the mall often?" Ryan asked me.

We walked pass a jewelry store.

I looked at her and shrugged, with my hands on my coat pocket.

"I don't do much shopping, unless I'm like forced by my Mom to buy a couple pair of pants and shoes for school, I guess."

She nodded as though she understood. And smiled at me.

I didn't give her a smile in return. I kind of frowned.

♢

I hadn't asked her out.

Again, we were eating at lunch. And she let me have one half of her sandwich and this time it was tuna salad.

It wasn't bad tuna salad either. It was pretty good.

As I consumed the whole sandwich in practically two bites, Ryan smiled widely at me.

She then looked down at he lap, like she was too shy to tell me something.

I decided to say something. "Where's your sister and your friend?"

Ryan shrugged, but still smiled at me. And I didn't know how to feel.

Was she hiding something?

"We've been doing this for a a week and a half."

I raised my eyebrow. "Doing what exactly?"

She giggled, and took a tiny bite of her sandwich. "Eating lunch together."

It was my turn to shrug, and I didn't make eye contact with her. What was she trying to get at?

She sounded like she was taking a deep breath. And finally she came out with it. "Would you like to go out on a date with me?" She sounded a little nervous.

Honestly though, I should have been more nervous than she. I hadn't gone out with anybody in a long time. The last girl I went out with was this one girl named Gwen, who was currently going out with the new exchange student from Canada.

I was going to decline Ryan's offer because of that very thing, and don't get me wrong, Ryan was attractive, and pretty cute. It's just that I didn't want to start dating again. Especially when I was some friendless loser.

But then again, I didn't want to stay home tonight and watch Netflix with Mom. If I watch one more movie with an ambiguous ending, I wouldn't be so happy.

Consequently, I accepted Ryan's offer.

"Yeah, sure. What do you want to do?"

Her eyes grew wide out of surprise, and she was speechless for about a couple of seconds. I looked down at the empty ziploc bag awkwardly.

She finally spoke.

"Uh, good...wanna go to the movies, and see Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children?"

"Sure."

♢

As we were watching the movie, I couldn't but start to feel indifferent towards the movie.

I was starting to feel this sort of envy I couldn't describe.

It was there inside my bones, or more-so in my gut.

What did I envy about those kids—those characters—in the movie? Especially the main guy?

Was it because he had a place to run away to?

Was it because he had a place where he finally fit in?

Could I call myself peculiar?

Was there something wrong with me?

At one point while I watched the movie, Ryan leant her head against my arm. I flinched a little at her touch. A subtle warmth radiated off of her.

I wanted to push her off of me, but I didn't.

Instead, I surprised myself by putting my right arm around her.

♢

After Ryan dropped me off at my house, I felt the need to run to the park to see if Aisling was waiting for me, because we were practically meeting everyday at the park.

She told me about this one old film she loved. The title of it was "Portrait of Jenny".

She told me the whole storyline: it had to do with a starving artist falling in love with a girl he meets at a park.

I unlocked the front door to the house, and the feeling of loneliness hit me big time once I stepped foot inside.

Aaron texted me, saying he was spending a night at his girlfriend Irene's house.

I'd sort of forgotten he had a girlfriend.

Then my Mom said she was going to take the shift offered to her at the bar tonight. So, it wasn't a Netflix&Chill kind of night for her.

I set the house keys down on the kitchen counter, and grabbed a bag of potato chips from the pantry.

Maybe, I should have invited Ryan inside. It wasn't like she had anything better to do, and honestly, she wasn't a bad girl to hang out with. And she seemed happy and comfortable in her own damn skin.

I crammed a couple chips in my mouth, and sat in front of the tv in the living room.

I didn't turn on the tv.

I just sat there, eating the big bag of potato chips.

Eventually I fell asleep on the couch, with the empty bag of potato chips on the ground.

While sleeping, Aisling appeared in my dreams. She was glowing, and she kept on saying to me, "It's me, I'm Aisling."

I looked at her and touched her face. "I know it's you Aisling."

"I've come home," she whispered.

A tear trailed down her face. And I gently wiped it away with my thumb. "Yeah, I know that Aisling. Havendust is your home."

She shook her head, and touched my hands. "Joey, you don't understand."

"What don't I understand?"

She started to cry again, and stopped holding my hands. She took a step back away from me, and covered her face using her hands.

"I never wanted to leave. I wanted to stay."

She was now on one side of the white space we were in, and I was on the other.

It now did seem like we were far apart now. And because of that, I had to shout over to her, "Aisling, you haven't left!"

I attempted to walk over to her—even run. It felt like a force was preventing me from doing so. A powerful force.

"I will be leaving! I was just passing by!"

"What do you mean you were just passing by?!"

She threw her hands up out of frustration. "Joey, why didn't you meet me at the park?! I waited all day!"

I put my hand on my forehead. "I- I'm sorry Aisling! I was going to..."

Then, very abruptly, she faded away.