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When I finally came back to reality from my hazy meditating state, a girl was sitting on the swing beside me. She seemed to be about my age, with thick brown hair and these enormous eyes. She was beautiful, with this bubbly sense of innocence to her. “You ok?” Her voice, seemed so knowing, as if nothing really needed to be spoken.

“Yeah.” I lied.

She looked at me for a while, a look that compelled me to tell her the truth but I held firm.

“Listen…I know we’ve never met before and it might be awkward for you… but sometimes it helps to just talk things out before they manifest you.”

What was this? Who was she? “Why are you talking to me?”

She smiled slightly to show off perfectly straight, white teeth. “I figure we’re all in this world together, why can’t we make use of ourselves and reach out to others when they’re clearly hurting?”

I looked at her, she sounded as if she were 170 years old, not seventeen. “Look, I don’t need your pity, ok?”

“It’s not pity, I’m genuinely just trying to help you resolve your conflict. It’s what I do, I’m a problem solver.”

“Okay Miss Problem Solver, you’re freaking me out. I’m gonna go.” I got up from the swing and started to walk away. But then I thought of those innocent eyes, and stopped mid-track. I wasn’t able to turn around though, I couldn’t face the shame of trying to talk to her again after my harsh words. A few seconds later, she was beside me again, pointing at the top of the playground. “Let’s go up there.”

She bounded up the ladder and I followed after her, looking up at her bright neon converse shoes. I watched them disappear as she sat inside a tunneled slide. I sat across from her, my back up against the handrail. “What’s your name?” I asked, my words seemed so shallow after the previous silence.

“Mona.” She smiled. “You?”

“Oliver.”

“Are you from around here, Oliver?”

I thought of the small suburb town in New Jersey that my grandparents lived in. My parents lived in Pennsylvania, but they had sent me to my grandparents for a month or so while they stayed with my aunt and uncle in California. “No, I’m from Pittsburgh…well, a suburb of Pittsburgh. You?”

“I didn’t think you were, I’ve never seen you around at school. I’ve lived here my whole life.” She frowned slightly,“I’d like to move to New York City though, you know?”

“Are you going to?”

“Eventually, hopefully. I really want to, but it’s expensive.” She started twirling her hair with an index finger. After a long pause she finally whispered, “so are you really ‘ok’?”

I looked down at my hands, “I’ve been better. I don’t want to talk about it.”

She exhaled, “…alright.”

We sat there for a while, listening to the neighborhood sounds of birds chirping, dogs barking, and the occasional car driving by. The sun was getting lower and lower until the only light on our faces was a flicker of that honey color. I didn’t know what it was but just being there with this total stranger, Mona, I felt at peace. It was almost as if I had known her for forever, even though I had just met her.

“You hungry?” she asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

I thought back to the few bites of spaghetti and chicken I had managed to force down during that horrible conversation. “Yeah.”

She smiled this cute little crooked smile, “how’s pizza sound?” I nodded and she slid down the slide, following after her I saw her walk over to my bike. “Does it have pegs?”

I grinned and hopped on as she got onto the pegs and balanced herself on my shoulders. “Hold on tight,” I said as I rode us out of the park and into the road.

I biked a few blocks until we were downtown, it was a small downtown, only a street in length with a few shops and restaurants. Antonio’s Pizza Place smelled fantastic the closer and closer we got to it. I parked my bike in front of the Restaurant and we entered to be immersed by that delicious smell, my stomach grumbled and I realized that I was actually very hungry. A hostess came up to us, “how many?”

“Two.” Mona and I said in unison.

The hostess smiled and walked us to the back where there weren’t that many people. As we sat down, she grabbed some matches from her apron and lit the candle that was in the middle of the table then walked away saying “your waiter will be right with you.” I looked around, no one else had a candle lit at their table, she must have thought we were a couple or something. I smirked.

“What are you smiling about?” Mona asked.

“Nothing.” I laughed slightly.

Mona was looking around the place, her hand supporting her chin, and I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was. She looked at me, almost as if she knew I was thinking about her and I looked away quickly.

“So what brings you here, if you’re from Pittsburgh?” she asked.

I grimaced, I had almost forgotten about my parents. “Well, my parents were visiting my aunt and uncle in California for a month or so, so I was staying with my grandparents. But they came back today.”

“That seems odd, why didn’t your parents just have you go with them if it was for an entire month?”

I coughed. “Um, me- me and my parents don’t have the best relationship.”

Everything seemed to click for her as she said “oh,” in that knowing tone.

The waiter came in just the right time, “what can I get you guys?”

“Does pepperoni sound good?” Mona looked at me.

“Sure.” At this point, anything sounded good. I was starving.

“Can we get a medium pepperoni pizza with breadsticks and two cokes?” she asked.

“Sure. I’ll be right out with your drinks.” The waiter said as he left.

It was weird to have somebody else order for me, especially a girl for that matter. She seemed to be very independent and outgoing. I smiled again, she had this affect on me, I just couldn’t stop smiling.

She was looking around again, her innocent and curious nature showing so clearly in her wide eyes. The waiter came back with our drinks but she was so zoned out that she didn’t even blink as he set her drink down.

A few minutes later he came back with breadsticks and the delicious smell seemed to bring her back. I scarfed down my portion hungrily as she took a few bites. “I’m guessing you were hungry?” she chuckled.

I wiped my mouth with a napkin, “very.”

“So do you have any siblings?” she asked.

“Nah, just my friend Amir, he’s practically a brother to me. I met him when I came here.”

“Amir Advani?”

“You know him?”

“Yeah, I go to school with him. He’s a great guy, him and I have hung out a few times.”

“Cool! Us three should hang out some time then.”

She grinned, “that would be fun.”

I nodded, taking a bite of another breadstick.

“So, what do you want to be in the future?” she asked.

“I’d love to be an artist for a living, but I know its difficult.” I thought of my father’s disapproving face and frowned, looking down at my lap.

She sounded excited though, “what kind of art?”

“I like to paint.” My grandparents loved my artworks, they hung them up all about the house so that there weren’t many blank walls.

“Anything specific? Like landscapes or something?”

“Um, all kinds of things really. Depends on what kind of a mood I’m in. Usually I do paint landscapes though.”

“What inspires you?” she took a sip of her drink.

“I don’t know really, I guess just how beautiful the world really is.” I couldn’t help but look back up at her when I said ‘beautiful’.

She noticed and blushed a dark red.

Suddenly, a large and steaming pizza was shoved in the middle of us. The waiter set down some empty plates and took our drinks to refill them.

Mona nervously cleared her throat “this looks delicious.”

“Definitely.” I wiped my sweaty hands on my shorts and went to grab for the spatula to put a slice on her plate, but she had already grabbed it, along with my plate. She set the largest slice on my plate and handed it back. “Thanks.” I grinned.

After a few bites I asked “so what about you? What do you want to be?”

Her face gleamed as she said “I’d like to be a folk artist.”

“Very cool.” I grinned. “What instrument do you play?”

She wiped her mouth with a napkin. “I sing and play the guitar.”

“Awesome! You have to sing for me.”

She laughed “right now?!”

I smiled, “yes! Sing!”

“Nah…you’ll have to come see me when I have a gig.”

“Aww c’mon.” I faked a pouty face. “When and where is your next gig?”

“I play Friday nights at around eight at The Purple Café.”

“I’ll have to see you play sometime then.”

“Yeah-” Suddenly, she turned pale white, her eyes widening. She pulled her hair out from behind her ears and seemed to hide behind it.

“What‘s the matter?”

She looked up at me slightly, “nothing.”

I snickered awkwardly, “it doesn‘t seem like ‘nothing’…”

“It’s my ex.” She whispered. I found myself looking around for someone who could be her ex-boyfriend, but then she said slowly and quietly, “please don’t. You’ll bring attention to us.”

“Sorr-”

“Mona?! Is that you?” His voice was deep and he sounded cheerful.

I noticed that her hand was shaking slightly as she pushed away her hair to face the inevitable confrontation. “Hi.” Her voice was hoarse, nervous.

“How have you been babe? It’s been so long.” He went in for a hug. “I was just thinking about you the other day.” He touched her cheek and then ran his fingers through her hair. I wasn’t sure what it was but this guy gave me the creeps.

“Yeah?” was all that Mona was able to say. At this point she looked like she was about to cry.

“Yeah.” Then he bent down to her level and whispered in her ear so quietly that I had to strain to hear, “I was thinking we should get back together.”

She almost seemed to shudder at his words. His mouth lingered there by her ear, then he slowly pulled away and looked into her eyes.

Then he realized that she wasn’t alone as his eyes drifted to meet mine. “Who’s this, Mona?”

She looked incapable of saying anything, her hands were still shaking. So, I spoke for her “I’m a friend.” I wasn’t trying to let it be; but it came out confrontational.

“Ah.” He grinned a crooked smile as he touched Mona’s hair again. “Think about it, babe.” Then he went in for a kiss on the lips, it looked rough, almost forced. I felt kind of queasy from watching all that was happening.

“Damien?” someone called out. It was a guy that looked about his age, he was typing on his blackberry as he spoke.

Damien hesitantly stopped kissing Mona and said “later”, as he walked away to meet up with his friend.

There was a long silence after that, Mona was just staring at her lap.

“You ok?” I asked.

“Yeah.” She lied.