by Amber Heart
Silas arrived in the main vicinity of the museum about ten minutes early. Though he had expected to wait for her, he immediately saw Chance sitting on a bench nearby when he walked through the entrance. As always, she looked amazing. This time, her golden hair was in fluffy curls, framing her face, and bringing out the loveliness of her eyes.
“Hey, Chance!” he called out, eager to get her attention and trying – somewhat successfully – not to let on that he was attracted to her. She responded by looking up and quickly gathering the bag and notebook she had just sat down sat beside her mere moments prior.
“Hey, you’re here early,” she said, walking over to meet him and playfully looking at her watch. “I like that!” she mused, thinking out loud, registering her approval almost in a whisper.
“Should we go ahead and get started now?” Silas asked, hoping to jump right in to the task at hand.
“Sure! Let’s do it,” Chance chimed, already in motion, walking toward the main exhibit.
Opting for something akin to an ad-hoc divide and conquer approach, Silas and Chance split up momentarily, charged to look for pieces that spoke to them individually. As Silas explored the gallery, scanning the well-appointed works of art, he was struck by the expanse of color, imagery, and meaning that surrounded him. While he found the realism of a few pieces quite stunning, he wasn’t really moved one way or the other by any one of them. From his perspective, he was swimming in a sea of plausible choices – all with their own merit, all worthy of review.
While their paths around the gallery meandered and only intersected now and again, Silas had been trailing her momentarily when he suddenly heard Chance gasp. He looked over to see that her eyes were squarely affixed on The Tragedy by Pablo Picasso. The painting featured a woman, man, and small boy, all with somber facial expressions, standing by the sea, awash in various shades of blue. This was one of very few times, in their limited interactions, that Silas saw Chance express an emotion that wasn’t rooted in disdain or contempt. That fact alone – that this particular painting could bring that kind of reaction out of her – drew him in and made him take note. He stood beside her and crossed his arms, trying to get a concrete read on his own initial reaction to the piece.
“Look at this!” Chance insisted, motioning her hand toward the painting and allowing her eyes to eagerly soak up every inch of it. “The blues, the pain in each of their faces, the realness,” Chance murmured, clasping her hands in front her and looking, momentarily, over at Silas. “I think we should go with this one! What do you think?” she asked, surprising Silas by leveraging a questions as if she was open to suggestion. He had expected a solid declaration more than anything else but played along nonetheless.
“Uh, I agree,” Silas said, nodding, his hand attached to his chin, his pointer finger now covering his lips.
“I guess that settles it, then,” Chance attested, her eyes still in motion across the canvas. “Here’s what I’m thinking,” she added shortly after, as if a light bulb had just illuminated over her head. “I’m actually quite interested to know the historical context of this piece. Do you think you can start that part of the write-up and have a draft ready by tomorrow evening?”
“Yeah, I can do that!” Silas said, thinking that he would get to it right after their Humanities class later that evening.
“Great, I’ll work on my draft and have it ready by then too. Can you meet Saturday afternoon? To go over the drafts and make revisions? I’d like to get this one in the can as soon as possible.”
“Ooo, Saturday I’ve got – I’ve got a prior obligation,” Silas stuttered, knowing that he would have his hands full with Ava.
“Ah, I see,” Chance replied, looking as if she wasn’t expecting Silas to answer that way.
“How about this?” he conceded, preparing to offer – what he hoped would be – a welcomed alternative. “We can still make good progress. Let’s keep try to create and revise the draft online. I’ll be able to add my parts, review yours, and suggest modifications – I just won’t be able to physically meet.”
“I guess that’s fair,” Chance shrugged, “as long as we have a solid draft by Sunday. Can you meet late Sunday afternoon? Say around 3:00 PM?”
“Uh, I should be able to do that,” Silas said, looking up momentarily as he processed the thought and remembered that Kalyn would be by to get Ava the day before.
“Cool, I’ll create a GoogleDoc that we can both edit. I’ll send you the link,” Chance announced. “Let’s just keep modifying it so that it’ll be in good shape by the time we meet.”
“That works for me,” Silas said, taking out his phone, and typing a memo to himself. Once he had successfully recorded his note, an idea jumped into his mind. “Hey, I’m going back to campus now,” he mentioned, looking at his watch and realizing that their class would start in a little over an hour, “are you riding the train back to campus? I’m going that way.”
“No,” Chance uttered, tucking her notebook back into her bag. “I’m going to hang back for a little while! I’ll see you there, though. OK?”
“OK, sure,” he affirmed, unsure if he was being rejected or – simply – deemed less of a priority than some other task on her agenda.
As he prepared to leave, Silas stole a moment to get one last look at Chance. He had been careful not to stare at her since they had been paired together – but at this point, he couldn’t help himself. As his eyes brushed over her fact, she looked a little different to him. Silas couldn’t quite place why, but wondered if the difference he had detected wasn’t physical at all – and if the change he had noticed actually had more to do with him than her.
Since the moment he saw her on the trail, Silas’ view of Chance had evolved quite a bit. Yet, after interacting with her over the last few days, he had established a more in-depth view of who she was and how she operated. From what he could tell, Chance was the type of person with a hard outer shell and a sweet, marshmallow-y center. He deduced that she purposely came off as sharp or reserved just to protect herself. But, as he looked at her now, something about her came off a little softer. It was clear that he had been reading Chance wrong the whole time. This gave him a new angle to explore and subsequently a new hope: instead of attempting to crack Chance’s shell, and ultimately earn her friendship, he might actually get farther by eroding it layer by layer.
After exchanging goodbyes with his partner, Silas made his way back to the Metro station and, in the meantime, had a hard time getting Chance off of his mind. Her beauty, her cool, her total self-confidence, the whole package – including her aloof demeanor – was all just so attractive to him. He didn’t think that he would have much of an opportunity – anytime soon – to erode the proverbial shell she had built. But, he reasoned, that he could lay the groundwork for something more substantial in the future. For now, his plan was to make a good impression on their assignment by contributing solid work, on time, and to specifications. It wasn’t a fool-proof plan but, for now, it was the best way he could think to start.
No sooner than he got back to campus, Silas looked down at his phone and realized that Chance had already sent the link to a shared GoogleDoc. As they had discussed at the museum, this is how they would generate and edit their initial drafts. “She is on it,” he whispered, impressed by her punctuality and – once again – her focus.
After arriving to class, settling into his seat, and waiting for Dr. Byrne to arrive, Silas started diving into the history of The Tragedy. Ready to get the ball rolling on his contribution to the project, he launched the web browser on his phone, did a preliminary search, and started writing his draft using pen and paper. As somewhat of a techno-agnostic, it was normal for Silas to maneuver between traditional and contemporary methods for doing just about everything – taking and storing notes was no different.
Realizing that class would start soon, Silas actively searched the room for a glimpse of Chance. Coming up empty, he went back to working on his section, gathering key infor
mation, and sorting through the many returns that resulted from his query. When Chance finally emerged in the classroom, beating Dr. Byrne by a matter of seconds, he persistently looked in her direction. When her eyes finally met his, she waved, acknowledging his gaze. It wasn’t an earth-shattering exchange but, to Silas, it was progress. If nothing else, he was definitely was making progress in the right direction.
Chapter 4
It was Friday night, the end of Silas’ first week back in school, and the first of two days he would spend with his daughter. While awaiting her arrival, he worked frantically to make major leeway on his Humanities paper, realizing that once Hurricane Ava landed all bets were off. After hearing his doorbell ring and peeking through the peephole, Silas was beyond excited to greet his baby girl and make her feel at home.
“Ava!” he cheered, grinning from ear to ear, as he swung the door open to his apartment.
Hoisted on her mother’s hip, Ava smiled and then coyly buried her head into Kalyn’s shoulder.
“Oh, so now you’re playing shy!” Kalyn mused looking down at her baby girl. Ava peeped back at Kalyn and grinned like she was totally in on the gag.
Silas playfully nudged Ava, to draw her attention, and then held his arms out. She laughed as she reached out to him and made the figurative and actual leap from her mom’s world to her dad’s.
“Hi Pop!” Ava cooed after latching on to Silas’s hip and before sticking her thumb in her mouth.
“Hi baby!” Silas said, placing a kiss on her forehead. He then looked over at Kalyn. “C’mon in,” he said, inviting her into his apartment and stepping aside to give her enough space.
“Alright, little girl!” Kalyn said, carting Ava’s bags over the threshold. “It’s you and Daddy – I mean, Pop – again this weekend!” she continued, depositing Ava’s things onto the ground.
Silas closed his door and walked over to the couch steps away from the front door. After landing another soft peck on her cheek, he gently placed Ava onto the couch.
“I’ll be back to get her Sunday morning,” Kalyn said nonchalantly to Silas.
“Sunday?” Silas repeated, looking confused. “Wait. I thought you said you would be back to get her on Saturday,” he probed, this time with a stern look in his eyes. He couldn’t believe how Kalyn tried to casually change their original agreement, audaciously telling him that she would be back a day later instead of asking if that was OK.
“Oh, right!” Kalyn replied, her eyes darting to the floor. “I’ll need to be out of town a little longer than I initially expected.”
Silas’ eyes narrowed. He felt like he was being pushed into a corner and resented Kalyn for springing this latest development on him in front of Ava.
“I’ll try to get back as soon as I can,” Kalyn promised, looking at Silas with apologetic eyes.
Silas sighed. “I’ve got things I need to do too, Kalyn.”
“I know, and I’m sorry, for letting you know so last minute. I just found out about the change in plans myself.”
“Well next time you need to – “
“Pop!” Ava interjected, distracting Silas. Apparently, quite proud of the latest trick she had learned, Ava triumphantly held the shoe she’d just unlaced and removed from her foot in her left hand.
Kalyn diverted her attention over toward the couch. “You guys don’t have too much fun, now,” she said, walking over to Ava. “Love you, Love bug,” she chirped before giving Ava a hug. Kalyn reluctantly looked back over at Silas. “She should be ready for bed in about an hour or so,” she mentioned while Ava was hard at work unlacing the other shoe
“OK!” Silas sighed, walking over to open the door and then motioning Kalyn towards it. “Listen,” he said in a whisper, as she crossed into the hallway, “don’t spring something like this on me again – especially not in front of Ava!”
Kalyn sighed and left without acknowledging Silas’ final words to her.
Feeling a mix of confusion and resentment, Silas didn’t really know what to make of her behavior. He wasn’t sure if she had actually found herself in a jam at the eleventh hour – with little recourse – or if she’d just played him like a fiddle. Either way, they would definitely have a conversation about it later – he knew he needed to nip whatever this was in the bud and fast!
Silas stood at the door for a minute, just trying to get his mind in the right space before he dealt with his daughter. After counting backward from 10 to 1, he walked back over to the couch and took a seat next to Ava who was playing with his remote control.
“Who’s ready for bath time?” Silas asked a distracted Ava.
Somewhat oblivious, Ava smiled and crawled into her dad’s lap, handing him the remote control once she was snuggly in place.
“Let’s watch TV another time,” he gently coaxed. “For now, let’s get you your bath, OK?” Silas insisted, standing to his feet and switching Ava from his lap to his hip. “We’ll give the rubber ducky a bath, too,” he said, as they walked toward the bathroom together.
After a bubble-filled bath time, with tons of splashing and laughter, Ava’s eyelids began to get heavy and droop. As she valiantly fought sleep, Silas dried her off, slipped on her pajamas, and tucked her into his bed, surrounded by pillows. Once he had sung her a lullaby and turned out the lights, he sat down at his kitchen table, lifted the screen on his laptop and tried to get some work in.
Exhausted, and much more interested in taking a nap than starting a homework set, Silas bit the bullet and powered through. He began by working on a quick but intense Javascript Programming assignment where he created a small function, injected it into a codebase, and ran it to ensure that he got the right output. Thinking that he should do a little more work on the Humanities paper next, he opened up the GoogleDoc Chance created and made a few edits. Before long, Silas realized that he was much too spent to try and keep the momentum going.
“I’ll just have to get back to it in the morning,” he yawned as he lowered his laptop screen and walked back to his room. As soon as he closed his eyes, Silas found himself in the land of Zzz’s. When he opened them again, it was the next day and the sun was shining brightly through his window. He looked over at Ava and was shocked to see that she was still asleep.
He sprang up and headed to get breakfast started but doubled-back quickly when he heard a distinctive whimper. “I know, baby!” he said, going back into his room and picking up a groggy Ava, “I didn’t want to get up either.” After carting her off to the kitchen and placing Ava in her high chair with her favorite toy, Silas went about making her a bowl of cream of wheat.
While she ate, he resumed working on another one of his sections to the Humanities paper, proud to see that his parts were shaping up nicely. Though the near-final versions of his sections were a little behind schedule, as he was still in heavy edit mode, Silas considered what he had completed so far to be some of his best work. Although he wasn’t sure how she would react to him falling slightly behind schedule, he fervently hoped that Chance would understand.
“Who wants to go to the park?” he sang to a giggling Ava as he finished up his work and prepared to take a break. Hoping to have some fun – and tire her out so that she would sleep through the night again – Silas got Ava dressed and headed out to a nearby playground. As she ran around excitedly, trying her best to keep up with a few of the older kids, Silas got an e-mail from Chance.
“The paper’s looking good!” she wrote, shocking Silas in the process. From his perspective, Chance wasn’t the kind to render empty compliments and he was relieved that she appreciated what he had done so far. “Are we still on for Sunday afternoon?” the message continued in her attempt to confirm that the appointment they had originally set was still a go.
Reluctantly, Silas confirmed, slightly unsure whether Kalyn would return to collect Ava in time. “Sure!” he replied, “Let’s meet at the library on campus.”
After prying his baby girl from the jungle gym and treating her to McDonald’s for lu
nch, Silas could sense that Ava was well overdue for her nap. The next few hours of naps, dinner, sleep, and Silas’ intermittent schoolwork, were somewhat of a blur after they returned home. But, all things considered, Silas was quite pleased that he was able to make it through in one piece. So far, as he had suspected, being a dad and a student was far from easy. Yet, as he continued to take everything one step at a time, he grew confident in his ability to find the right balance.
The next morning, after he got Ava up, fed, bathed, and dressed, Silas packed her bags so that she would be ready by the time her mother stopped by the apartment. As Ava sat and watched cartoons, Silas got a call from Kalyn.
“Hey, are you close?” he asked, peeking at his watch and realizing that the late morning was slowly turning into an early afternoon.
“No, I got stuck in Maryland. I actually – I won’t actually be back until this evening.”
“Kalyn, you’re kidding me!” Silas bellowed, his blood boiling as he reached the end of his patience. “I was really counting on you to be back earlier than later in the day!”
“Listen, I’m sorry!” she barked, somewhat defiantly. “I don’t know what you think but this wasn’t planned,” she continued.
“…and neither was this weekend,” he said, “You know this was my first weekend back in school. I really needed this time to study – ”
“Look, I will be there as soon as I can,” Kalyn interrupted, clearly not in the mood to fight.