C'est la Vie: Mardi Gras: Ch. 02

The school had transformed into a circus carnival for her biannual Mardi Gras event. Unlike the conventional celebrations, this event held by the school was meant to showcase their performing arts. 

Even under the lucent full moon, her eyes sparkled brighter than the stars that night. They sat on the soft field, enjoying the cool breeze and entertainment on the make-shift stage at the running track just ahead of them. Within the open field scattered with people, they managed to settle for their own private spot. Nothing mattered to them except for this rare moment they were spending together alone.

Though the much awaited ‘Can you feel the love tonight?’ by Elton John was not played by the Chamber Ensemble that night, the gentle locks in the winds seemed to orchestrate their own musical repertoire for them.

They had just made a detour to the music studio through unlighted corridors to retrieve her violin. He was merely a naive schoolboy hoping to impress the girl of his dreams whereas she was barely exposed to the matters of love. Security and stability did not cross her mind when she chose to be infatuated with him. For the boy, he was a hopeless romantic who thought that this beautiful world would grant him happiness as long as he worked for it. Neither of them were ready. They were just innocent youths chasing sparks and thrills. 

They were both frogs in wells, protected from this cruel world. A harsh world where one’s past would eventually bite him in the back. A bitter world where one would be betrayed by his past self…

C’est la Vie…

They sneaked peeks at each other and awkwardly glanced away when their eyes met. This only succeeded in building up tension between them. The boy finally broke the silence. He shifted his torso towards the young lady and suggested, “let’s play a game.”

“Okay! What game?” she replied enthusiastically.

“We’ll each write a word on each other’s palm and guess what word it is,” he explained.

The truth was that he didn’t know what he was doing. He simply let his instincts take over. Apparently, he read about “breaking the skin barrier” tip online and was following the dating advices online religiously. Such simple methods could effectively build rapport between couples and bring them closer together, or so the ‘experts’ claimed.

“I’ll start first!” she initiated.

The boy gleefully stretched out his left palm and closed his eyes. Her index finger tenderly pressed on his sweaty palm and began to trace the letters of the alphabets, forming a single word. The back of his head tingled. He put in his all to identify the letters and form the word inside his mind. Yet he was distracted by her soft touch on his flesh. It was only five letters long but it felt like five years had past. 

“Music?”

“Yep!” 

On another round, she wrote the word “ducky” on his palm. Another five years had past…

They played rounds of this self-invented game. It was a simple game, but they enjoyed it.

“It’s too simple, let’s do sentences now,” he suggested confidently.

This time, he felt his hand being scooped up and cupped by her left palm as her right index finger traced on his palm again. His brain tingled even more. He could feel the warmth emitting from hers.

“My turn,” he said.

As he held her palm, a crazy idea struck him. He did not know how far to take it. He looked into her eyes and hesitantly asked, “don’t freak out, okay?”

“Okay…” she assured him with her eyes closed.

“Erm… Be honest, okay?”

“What are you trying to do?” she giggled softly.

He finally did it. He plucked up his courage. Using his index finger, he traced the letter “D” and “O”.

She answered “do”.

He did it again, tracing the words “Y”, “O” and “U” on her palm again. This time, his whole body was shivering inside.

She answered again.

Testing the waters, he glanced up at her to see her reaction.

“No reaction… That’s a good sign…” he thought to himself.

Then the letters “L”, “I”, “K” and “E” came out consecutively.

His breathing became light. His head was going fuzzy.

As she responded, he asked, “do you know what’s the next word?”

“Ducky?” she replied innocently.

Her smile was mesmerising. Her sweet voice froze his brain.

“Nope.”

She took another guess.

“Music?”

The boy simply smiled.

“Promise me you won’t freak out.” He repeated doubtfully.

Her pinkie hooked onto his and their thumbs pressed against each other, a gesture symbolising that a promise had been made.

No verbal assurance was needed.

He took her palm and finished his sentence.

She felt the letters “M” and “E”, finished off with a question mark symbol.

This time she didn’t respond. She merely covered her mouth with her other hand and giggled.

She snatched his palm to her side.

The young boy stared at his palm while he awaited the verdict.

She started with a diagonal line from the top left corner of his palm down to the middle and did the same for the right. Finally, a vertical line down from the middle where the two diagonal lines intersected.

His heart roared in triumph. The worst was over. The remaining letters were like delicate strokes of the brush. It was not merely letters of the alphabet, it was art which conveyed her truest emotions.

She looked up to look at the young boy. Her eyes sparkled together with the galaxy of stars above them.

“Is it that obvious?” she squeaked.

“Maybe?” He shrugged her question off.

It was no longer important.

For the last time, she wrote the exact same question on his palm. She too was curious to know if the fondness was mutual.

He uncrossed his legs and stretched it outwards. He smiled slyly and pointed his index finger at the stars in the sky.

“That’s Cancer, Aquarius, and Scopius over there,” he said as he traced out random constellations in the sky.

“Are you avoiding the question because you don’t want to hurt me?” she questioned shyly.

The boy turned to look at her.

“My answer is in the stars. Look closely.”

He traced the constellations again. This time, he repeated his words slower.

“The stars there. That is Cancer.”

“Where?”

“The one which looks like a stick man without the head and the hands.”

“Just the body and the legs?”

“Yep, that’s Cancer. And that is Aquarius.”

“The stick man sitting down?”

“Yeah, you can say that… And that’s Scopius, the snake-like curve.

“Oh…” she murmured in disappointment.

She knew nothing about constellations. Maybe that was his subtle rejection to her – that they were not compatible.

The boy prompted her once more, tracing the sky as slow as he could.

“That’s Cancer.”

He drew an inverted “Y”.

“That’s Aquarius.”

He drew something that looked like a shrivelled “E”.

“And finally, that is Scopius.”

With a flourish, he drew a compacted “S”.

“That, is my answer to you.”

She finally caught on. The young girl moved herself closer to the boy and rested her head on his shoulders. That moment, a bright light shot down from the sky rapidly. In a blink of an eye, it was gone.

They spent the rest of Mardi Gras drawing imaginary constellations in the sky. Words were no longer necessary.

But just like the shooting star that crashed onto Earth that night, their love was short-lived. The letter “Y” she drew on his palm had represented two individuals meeting each other and walking down life together. The single vertical line split eventually. The impact was so great it created a crater so deep in the young boy’s heart… 

Mardi Gras was French for “Shrove Tuesday”, derived from the word shrive, which meant ‘confess’. It would have been a perfect confession on a perfect night. They simply did not know how significant that night was. Yet maybe the magic lay in them not being together. It was a dream-like memory which would forever remain a magical tale with no one to verify its occurrence. After all, an event like that was too beautiful to be true…