"What's Your Name?"

     After much contemplation, I went out to find her. I knew where she'd be. I imagined a thousand ways the meeting could go.

      She was the girl I had written so many love songs and poems about. She was perfect and I had fallen in love with her. We had never met. She didn't even know my name. I longed so desperately to meet her. I knew she wouldn't be as perfect as I portrayed her, but I didn't care. I wanted to know the real her. I wanted to be her friend.

      I had heard stories about her. I knew of her cursed love life and wished for it to get better. Her parents were recently divorced and, from what I heard, she took it badly. She was a tragic figure, a damsel in distress. I wanted to be her knight in shining armor.

     It was winter and an abnormally cold day, even for winter, when I want out to find her. It took a half-hour before I got to the coffee shop where I knew she would be waiting. I couldn't feel my toes anymore, but I didn't care. I searched the crowded coffee shop for her familiar face. I sighed in relief when I laid my eyes on her.

      She was my Dorian Gray and I was Basil Hallward. She was the very embodiment of art to my writer's soul. I wished to have her sit for me so I could capture her very essence for all eternity.

     She was crying. I knew it was my chance. Feeling quite confident, I walked over to her and sat down across from her. She didn't notice me. I painfully watched her tears fall onto the table. I took careful time to memorize her every movement.

     "You know you look so much nicer when you smile." I commented calmly. Her head jolted up and her red eyes looked into my white ones. "What's wrong? I'm here for you." I assured her in a caring tone.

       She was in too much of a distressed state to care who I was. "My boyfriend just left me for my best friend." She muttered between sobs. It was the ideal situation for me to be her Romeo. I got up and sat beside her. I put my arm around her and held her tight as she cried on my shoulder.

     "There, there, one day you'll find your Romeo." I said softly as she sobbed.

     Two hours passed before she stopped crying. "Thank you..." She whispered gently. I pulled away and smiled at you.

     "It's my pleasure. Everyone loves to see you smile." I replied sweetly. I took it as my chance to enter her life. She smiled faintly and blushed. An employee came by and told us that the coffee shop was closing for the night. I thanked him and led the girl out into the cold. It had been dark for quite some time.

      She looked at me hopefully. "Do you live around here? I'll walk you home." I told her, acting as much like Prince Charming as I could. She pointed down a long street and I escorted her through the dark streets until we reached her home. She looked up at me with thankful eyes.

     I was about to go in for a kiss when I realised that I would just be another pain in her heart. All of my fictionalizing made it impossible for me to truly love her as she is. I would love her not as she is, but as she fills my dream. I would be yet another reason for her to cry.

      "Take care and don't forget that your Romeo is out there somewhere. It was a pleasure meeting you." I told her in the most caring and sincere voice that I could and then turned to leave.

    "Wait!" She called out when I reached the street. I looked over my shoulder at her. "What's your name?"

     I let a saddened smile break across my face. This was a wish better left unfulfilled.

     "Basil Hallward." I replied.

     She never saw me again, but I was sure to check up on her from time to time. I needed to make sure that the choice I made was right.

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      Two references are made in this short story. In order to provide you, the reader, with the tools to fully understand the references being made (as even I did not know of these pieces of literature until I studied them in class), I will tell you the titles as well as the author. First, a reference to "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde is made. Second, I make a reference to Christina Rosseti's "In An Artist's Studio". They are wonderfully written and I do recommend that you take the time to read them. Until next time,

-Zero