[interesting]

I was in the bath when the phone rang. I decided not to get up. By the time I would reach the phone, my answering would have picked it up. It had a been a grueling day at school and I was in no mood to entertain anyone. After four rings, the machine picked up - but the caller did not leave a message. No problem. It wasn't important.

I finished drying myself before going over to the phone to check on the caller identification. Unlisted number.

It had been over a month since I had seen Danielle at the mall. Although I had not forgotten about our encounter, I had cast it aside as the pleasant memory that it was. Life went on. For the first few days, I had hoped to hear from her again, but eventually things had happened and my mind had turned to other concerns. I had no reason to think it was her trying to reach me, and I didn't, not at the time.

Around nine in the evening, the phone rang again. This time I was able to pick up.

"Hello."
"Hi."

A simple word shattered my stability.

"Danielle..."
"Hi Frank."

I wanted to speak up, to say something clever, but I just froze. I felt like I was seventeen again. Six long years later, the sound of her voice, the idea of her existence still affected me to the same extent. I didn't like it. I wasn't really sure why.

"It's... I called earlier but you didn't answer..."
"I was... in the... I was busy."
"It's okay. How are you?"

My eyes darted to the clock. Nine. It was early in the evening. What did she want?

"I'm good... I... what can I do for you?"
"Nothing much. I just... wanted to chat a little."
"Okay. What about?"
"Nothing special. How have you been? What... what have you been doing?"
"School. Pretty much. Acting."
"Acting?"
"Well, theater. I've got a play coming up in a few months."
"Play? Acting or..."
"Directing actually. Amateur, really. I'm... the troop director."
"Wow. That's cool."

The tone in her voice made me believe that something was up, but I was too absorbed in my own mind to focus on it. Danielle was calling me. Everything else seemed irrelevant.

"And you?"
"Oh... same thing. Well, school. Really, I'm... great. Doing good."
"Glad to hear it..."

Already, the conversation was taking its toll on me. My mind was going blank. I wanted desperately to talk to her, but I ended up remaining quiet.

"So... when is the play?"
"Three months. I could... give you the details?"
"Sure, I'd like that."

I gave her the coordinates to the playhouse and the representation hours. The thing was already planned and I had the numbers memorized.

"Do you like theater?"
"I do. I'm no good at it though. I can't act if my life depends on it."
"You used to be pretty good."
"Thanks... That is a compliment, right?"
"Yes..."

There was a first moment of silence on the phone. It did not feel awkward, but it made me reflect on how much we had missed of each others' lives. A tear came to my eye, though I didn't notice it at first.

"It's so good to talk to you..."
"I'm glad... would you like to meet again?"
"Oh no!"
"I'm sorry."

My heart skipped a beat.

"Oh! I mean, not right now... tonight... I have..."

It was the first moment I noticed the uneasiness in her voice.

"Danielle?"
"Yes, Frank."
"Do you want to meet, sometime? Any time?"
"I'd like that... but... I'll call you. Okay?"
"Sure."
"I... I gotta go. I... take care."
"You too."
"Bye."

She hung up as I was saying my own goodbye. I felt the tear and I wiped it away. My heart was shaking and my stomach was in knots. Her voice had filled my entire being with hope, but her tone was that of someone in need of help.

There was so much I didn't know. I had last seen her six years prior, at her father's house, in the swimming pool area, as we lay naked beside each other. We had kissed twice. I had caressed her naked back. It hadn't gone any further than that physically, but emotionally, we had connected on so many levels it had been frightening and exhilirating. Never had I felt such a deep spiritual and psychological connection. She had led the entire event, and I was glad for it. I couldn't have handled the pressure back then. But we were six years later, I had grown more confident in matters of relationship, if not love. I had shared my existence briefly with two girls; one relationship had lasted but a week and the other had lasted a month. It had gone as far as kissing and petting; one of them had also performed manually on me. But that was three years ago. I did not meet anyone between then and now, and Danielle's emergence into my life brought back all sorts of pleasant and uneasy feelings.

I had loved Danielle. I wasn't afraid to say it anymore, given the distance that separated me from those events. I had thought of her many times after that last visit to her house. And it had been a last visit. Paul and I had parted ways: his music had taken precedence over our friendship. I was sad. We had kept in touch for three more years, and then things went silent on his end. I let him go. I regretted it once in a while.

Danielle had been completely lost to me. And now she was found. And she needed help. Or maybe I was imagining things.

I stared at the phone for a whole minute before moving elsewhere in my lonely room. In a few weeks, I would be moving out of my parents' place, and heading into my first apartment with a new friend I had met through my theater group. My life was about to change; it seemed somehow fitting that Danielle, my first real love, and the girl who had meant so much to me in a single night, should manifest herself in that hour.

That night, I didn't sleep well. My mind raced back to that swimming pool, to her naked yet too young body. But she was a woman now, and the image shifted, though it became blurry as she stepped out of the water. It had been a while since I had remembered a dream, let alone an erotic dream.

Danielle had changed my life, and somehow, I knew she would be doing it again. But what her return to my circle entailed, I could not fathom. It would be a trip into the past and into the present, that would ultimately lead me into the future. A future of endless possibilities, punctuated by moments of joy and sadness, pain and healing, but mostly change. What does not change cannot grow, and I had not finished my journey, six years ago. I was picking up where we left off, although I didn't realize it as I lay in my bed awake, thinking of her blurry form in the waters of the swimming pool.