Two Sides To Every Story: Part One
Originally posted on January 10, 2010
Demi is returning home after her date on New Year’s Eve
Darius: You’re a lot earlier than I expected.
Demi: *sighs* It’s after midnight.
Darius: But it’s New Year’s. You must have left right after the countdown.
Demi: We did. There didn’t seem to be any point in staying… after that.
Darius: You two didn’t hit it off? Wait… he didn’t try anything, did he?
Demi: *impatiently* No, he didn’t “try anything”. He was a perfect gentleman.
Darius: Well, then?
Demi: Come on, Darius, just quit with the mildly curious act and give me the third degree. You know you want to.
Darius: You’re unhappy – that concerns me.
Demi: Yes, I’m unhappy, what did you expect? A perfectly nice, perfectly cute guy asks me out, takes me dancing… me…. dancing…. what I love to do most in the whole world. It turns out he’s a decent dance partner. He said he learned at prep school, told me it was a requirement and then… he is just too sweet and considerate…. he tells me he’s glad that he had been forced to learn since it meant he could keep up with me on the dance floor.
Darius: He sounds nice enough.
Demi: He was attentive the whole time, paid me several sincere compliments, and seemed to know instinctively that I wanted to be on that dance floor as much as possible. So for the first part of the evening, we didn’t talk a whole lot, but then they cleared the dance floor to set up the buffet… Neither of us was very hungry, so we had plenty of time to do what most people do on first dates – get to know each other a little better. Only…. when he asked me questions, simple, basic questions anyone might have asked….
Demi: …I wasn’t able to answer him. Where did I move from? Did I have any brothers or sisters? Were my parents still together? What did they do for a living? Did I like it here in West Virginia? What did I want to study in college? I know we rehearsed over and over, what I was supposed to say for this kind of situation, but when it came time to reply, I couldn’t… I just couldn’t lie right to his face. So I mumbled a few non-answers but then it didn’t seem right to ask any questions of my own. He was obviously put off by the way I acted, and I can’t blame him.
Darius: It gets easier, Demi. It does.
Demi: Maybe it did for you.
Darius: Don’t think of it as lying; think of it as ….a survival tactic. It makes the consequences easier to take.
Demi: Why should I have to take the consequences? Answer me that, will you? I didn’t volunteer for this, Dare! That’s the difference, don’t you see? You knew the deal before you ever signed on, so did Dad, and my mother…. probably even yours…. Me? All I ever wanted was to be a normal girl in a normal family, maybe have a normal boyfriend. Please... tell me this isn’t going to last forever…. I don’t think I could stand it.
Darius: It won’t last forever, Demi. Someday you will be able to retreat back to normal, if that’s what you really want.
Demi: When?
Darius: I don’t know, Dem. The only thing I know is, everything that can be done is being done. It’s impossible to put a time frame to it.
Demi: Meanwhile my whole life is in limbo. It’s all so unfair.
Darius: This young man, he appeals to you? If you were able to be “normal” would you go out with him again?
Demi: No, Darius, I wouldn’t…..I couldn’t.
Darius: Then why all the fuss?
Demi: I couldn’t…. because he’s not going to ask.