Technicolor, Ophelia

July 7, 2012
02:51:17 PM

Silas Bates did not necessarily expect his mother to do everything for him until the end of time. He did not live with her with the intention of leaching off of her food supply and generous cleaning habits. He simply loved her very much and couldn’t imagine a life without her. That sort of life came a lot sooner than he expected, though. She warned him that once he’s been graduated from college for a year that she would kick him out, but he didn’t really expect it to happen. She was his mother and he needed her because he loved her. He did kick her out, though, and when that happened he went to live in the same town his uncle lived in. Evergreen was a small little town, but he had a nice job there and the people were kind. At least, most of them were. Some of them were grumpy because they were doing things they shouldn’t be in the movie theater and he had to tell them to stop or report them to his boss. Silas always had good intentions, even if some people couldn’t see that. He was obedient and protective of what was his. Sometimes his protectiveness didn’t get him very far because he wasn’t exactly a tough guy, but that didn’t keep him from trying.

Silas had been living in this Evergreen place for a month or so now. It wasn’t so bad, but he missed home and he missed his mama. He got to talk to her on the phone a lot. She seemed well. She was traveling like she had always wanted to. Anyways, back to the point. Silas signed up for the town’s matchmaking service after his husband encouraged him to. The only woman he’s ever loved was his mother and he’s never really been with a girl. At least not in that sexual-physical sense that people keep raving about. Silas was awkward. He was always the friend, at the most, but most pretty girls didn’t look twice at the curly-headed boy. He was not muscular and he was not quite as polished as other men, especially in this town where everyone looked like a movie star. He didn’t mind being overlooked. He preferred not to have the attention on him.

Today was a very important day. Silas had woken up, made his tea, and then picked out his outfit, an ensemble that was very similar to everything else he owned. Even his work uniform resembled his everyday apparel somewhat. He sat on a park bench with some flowers in his hands. The bench was under a crooked tree that was well rooted in the ground, but looked like it could tip over at any moment and the flowers in his hands were peonies: his favorite. Silas glanced at his watch nervously. He was exactly nine minutes and forty three seconds early. He didn’t want this mystery woman, the woman the town thought he might be able to marry, to think he didn’t care enough to be on time. Silas fidgeted and his knees bounced in anticipation. He had sent the woman a note, asking her to meet him at that bench under the crooked tree that looked like it might fall over, but was perfectly stationary nonetheless. As the clock ticked on, he wondered if she would really show. Or, if she did show, he wondered if she wouldn’t mind that he was, well, Silas, and not some movie-star looking tough guy.

THANKS ♥ OUTFIT

Silas was beginning to think this girl wasn’t going to show. It wasn’t that she was late. In fact, if she showed up now she’d be early. He had been stood up enough times to just expect it. He didn’t understand why girls would ask him out and then leave him hanging. He got called weird a lot, but he really was a nice guy once you got to know him. He didn’t mean to be weird or awkward, it just kind of happened. He was still sweet and caring, too, and shouldn’t that count for something? His skin was frightfully pale, he didn’t have much muscle mass at all, and his hair resembled a dried up mop, but he had pretty blue eyes and a huge heart to match them.

Silas barely noticed a pretty woman walking around the tree nearby. There were a lot of pretty women in the world. He didn’t necessarily think that there were any ugly people out there, but they lived in a superficial culture. If you didn’t look unnaturally immaculate, you weren’t attractive. Most of these women with their slim figures and pounds of make up on didn’t even glance in his direction. He was used to being invisible. It wasn’t so awful. He tripped a lot or said the wrong thing at the wrong time. At least when he was invisible, that went unnoticed sometimes. When he was lucky. He didn’t think he ever be matched to a woman as beautiful as the one circling the tree. That wasn’t the way the world worked. Pretty women just didn’t end up with guys like Silas.

As he waited for his potentially future bride to arrive, Silas’ knees bounced up and down nervously. Yes, he was very nervous. He would be just as nervous if he was on any normal first date, but this wasn’t a normal first date. This was a first date/pre-marital meeting. Everything would be accelerated which meant that the level of awkwardness would be ten times as much. This was awful news for Silas. He was already awkward enough. Silas brought the flowers up to his nose and breathed in the sweet scent. Peonies were his favorite. He didn’t care if they were girly. They smelled good and they looked nice. They were simple and sweet, just like he hoped his date would be.

Silas’ nose was buried in the flowers when an even sweeter voice called out his name. It must look strange for a grown man to have his nose shoved in a bouquet of flowers, but he was always getting caught doing the strangest things at the worst times. It wasn’t even that what he was doing was particularly odd. It was just the timing that was off. A couple of seconds later and Silas would have appeared as a normal guy occupying a park bench. It was just his luck that he hadn’t been caught a couple of seconds later, though. Silas glanced up, his cheeks turning red immediately. He was expected a nerdy girl or, at least someone as average as him. Instead, one of the most beautiful women he’s ever seen was standing in front of him. He was sure she was the most beautiful woman to ever speak to him. His jaw hung open and he became flustered. How in the world was he supposed to speak to her? She was clearly way out of his league.

Anyone else may have reciprocated with a bit of playful banter, but Silas, being Silas, had no idea how to even begin flirting. “M-me. Y-yes. That’s m-me.” He had a terrible problem with stuttering. He stood up quickly and thrusted the bouquet of flowers in her face with one hand and wiped his other hand on the side of his shorts before extending it with the intention of shaking her hand. “You’re O-O-Ophelia. You m-must be b-beautiful.” He said, mixing up his words. He closed his eyes, realizing his mistake. “Erm—I mean—” Silas’ lips trembled. He was a ball of nerves. “I-I’m sorry. I’m n-n-not very g-good at th-this.” He swallowed and tried his best to look her in his eyes, his pale blue eyes wide.