Chapter 12

TO EASE THE pain of the shudders and the improbabilities she had yesterday, Margaret went for a walk around to catch up with the wind coming in and out her lungs. During her jog, she stumbled upon why she got so unsure with her previous decision to marry Charles—Albert! The moment he showed up at the mansion tour, her Baudelaire suddenly yielded his Flowers of Evil while she herself became the Alchemy of Sorrow too invested in brewing this potion of uncertainty. This realization of hers stayed afloat as hours went by.

They’ve had graphene-thin levels of narrow escapes throughout the years, but she wondered why they...or she, didn’t even try to walk that very fine line that would’ve led to a life where she probably would have no qualms. She also asked herself why, of all times, she got so invested in realizing these apparently-been-here-from-the-start feelings? Why now that her leash is so close to the hitching post, she could smell it? 

These are the thoughts that came with her throughout the tireless day she had. 

And as she hit the dusty road on her way home, she spent the rest of it relieving the greatest hits he had with Albert; like “If I’m John Watson, You’re Sherlock Holmes”, “It’s the End of the World as We Know it (And I Don’t feel Fine)” and of course the one she felt Albert’s reliving— “Breakup with Your Fiancé, I’m Bored”.

But finally, the fact that she’s thinking a lot of these may be a sign of her succumbing and just blatantly accepting that he has stronger feelings for him, rather than her fiancé!

Oh crap!

She almost fell to her knees with just a short thought of being true to herself. But she swung off from that path still, lest she hit the tree in front of her head-first like a George. “It’s just my shivering feet talking,” she said. However, she still wondered where he is now that she slowly walked down the road trying to dodge the lines as she played hopscotch around the bush with her Rosetta stone; she threw a curve with her vacillations.

False it may be, Margaret felt as though the streetlights dimmed every time she passed the sidewalk towards her house. She’s unsure whether they mock her in contempt or empathize with her condition. In the end though, the game around the town in her mind got put to a halt as she reached her home.

Remembering that her bed missed a lot of her that morning, Margaret rushed to hug, and to let hug, her bed thingamajigs. Just when her lazy Garfield-imitating cat turned up to join her in that wonderful sensation of sleep, someone knocked at her door.

Could your timing BE any better?

After calling back what she said the other night, she rolled out of comfort and back towards the hallway leading to the door. Now that she’s realized who it might be, she choked. Still, she slowly opened it.

...

The door opened to an animal-behaviorist wearing a black sweatshirt and white long-sleeves as an excuse for a formal look. Albert does not believe in overly formal looks as a norm on dates and tie parties. 'It don't fit me,' he says. So, every time he thought he needed to dress, he never overed nor undered and just picked his go-to look. This time, a pretty tepid summer night, he risked the semi-thick wear. 

Ana was nodding inside her head while scanning Albert's y-axis until she reached his origin. She wore a disbelieving face as her eyes met with Albert's innocent look in his.

"Yeah, I need to buy some leather shoes," Albert said. His feet hid inside some pretty fresh out-the-box rubber shoes.

"I take it you've never been in a date for a while." Ana said while closing the door behind her.

Albert started walking to the car. "Three years. I actually bought this the night my ex dumped me. A gift. Supposedly."

Ana bubbled up in laughter, "You have a really cute side when you're telling stuff."

"Should I be offended with that? I feel like I should be offended." If you don't know Albert, anyone would've taken that statement negatively. But a straight-faced banter is the one street that Albert grew up walking in. So, when he finally got his driver's license, he was a natural at it because it was just right up his alley. He opened the door for Ana and they drove off to their date with more repartee exchanges.

At the restaurant, the two continued to exchange lexical outputs in a manner that is unusual for Albert. He's not one to talk normal, but he's warming up to the idea of doing it with Ana. Those chronic flirting maybe finally did something to his small, cold heart. Although, he tried his best not to get overtly attached when she dropped a bucketload of exposition about her character.

"I know I won't have time to watch it a different month, so I did," Ana proclaimed as she reached for the menu.

Albert had that look of amazed and puzzled awe confusion in his face when he said, "But still, 30 times seeing Hamilton? Won't that get too socially exhausting?"

"Honestly it's kind of draining," she smiled and waited if he's going to get it.

Instead, he paused for a while then took a small notebook from his pocket and wrote something in it. Ana was legitimately confused with the whole ordeal but she just waited for something with her politeness.

"Here,"—he showed her the contents of the page—"you name is officially written in the list."

Ana looked at the small rectangle where several names were written. She was still searching with her hands in the dark when she asked "List of what?"

"List of people I like." Albert took it back his pocket.

Ana's left eye glimmered and the right one shone as her jaw dropped only to be caught by her hands. It was like all her birthdays docked themselves into one thunderbolt of a statement with just that sentence from Albert. She couldn't muster any full words with the blue-escaping adulation so she just went for a short vowel, "Oh?"

"Yeah, believe it or not, you've grown on me a lot more during this week alone than in the last 2 years of flaunting your, albeit beautiful body."

Her brown cheeks blushed as she tried to apologize. Ana could've started with the Hamilton references 2 years prior but Hamilton didn't come out until 2015. Albert never saw it in theaters but there was a cam copy on YouTube that he downloaded and that's where his healthy addiction started. He didn't go to Broadway because of his hatred of large crowds; that's also the reason why he chose this 1-star restaurant because fewer people go here. 

When Ana finally got over that bootlicking, she threw one back towards the present company. "You're really amazing. I've even heard from GD that you've memorized the entirety of th—oh the waiter's here." Ana got cut off by the second coming of the food-bringing Messiah.

They ordered the specials and spent the first part of their date talking about the usual stuff. Now with her newfound confidence in showing her nerdy side, she asked him how fun it is working with cute animals. She even shared some fun facts she learned about biology. Not something new to Albert, but he found it really endearing.

When Albert got more into the conversation with Ana, he asked to learn more about her life rather than what the olden wrinkles asked him to know about. He unintentionally asked her how fun it is working with Charles.

"Oh, he's boring," she answered while taking a bite from her smoked salmon. "He seemed like an interesting guy at first, but boy do the hills go down." Albert nodded in comprehension.

To keep the ball rolling, she also asked him about his relationship with Charles. Although even before he can answer, Ana swerved to a lane that caught Albert’s ear more.

"I'm pretty sure you know that hearing that you grew up with him, but he’s very moody. I’m sure your girl told you about his mood swings as well."

Albert almost sizzled out the wine dawdling inside his mouth, but the temptation to talk pressed him on to swallow the fermented grape before talking. "My girl?" He asked.