“𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲— 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞?”
“calista reis cerva” the girl states, pressing a book against her chest. she peaks at the spelling, standing a little on her toes, wearing gucci black pumps, “no that’s r-e-i-s, do write cerva? with a c and a v”. a nod, somewhat satisfied with the work. “i’m 22, history... uh heterosexual, female– what’s this for again?”.
“𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞? 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞, 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐬, 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡.”
"well...” she tilts her head prettily, swaying her body slight to one side, “i think acts of service most of all? a diamond necklace is cute but i’d like for people to be there when i really need them, not just when... it’s convenient, does that make sense?”.
“𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞?”
“are we getting a gift from the psychology department?” a chuckle, fingers tap against the book cover, considering. truth is, the brunette has not the slightest idea. “oh you know what would be pretty cute? for someone to name something after me like, their favorite boat or that comet they just discovered. something like that would be nice.”
“𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮?”
“well now all i can think about is a star with my name.” a playful roll of eyes and a pause, “i don’t think there’s such a thing as nicest, but i guess i’d like to hear that i’m the brightest part of their day...” cali muses over both the question and her answer, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “as for the doing... maybe learning my likes and dislikes by heart. i’d like that”.
“𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮?”
“how many questions are there in this thing?” she complains, though it doesn’t come out exactly as mean. a perfect day, she can’t think of a day she’s lived that meets said criteria, but the sound of the ocean sneaks into her mind, the memory of wet sand and a sunny sky– “a day at the beach”, she finally states with a small nod, “not rye’s beach, that thing is crowded and cold. but a private one maybe in the spring, tanning under the sun, somebody by my side willing to read to me" a shrug, “definitely with some watermelon and vinho verde”.
“𝐈𝐟 𝐚 𝐜𝐫𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰?”
none of those options sound remotely interesting. “i don’t know...”, a hand mindlessly makes its way to the ‘c’ dangling from her neck, “future maybe?” except that is a lie because the truth about her future could very well be plagued with disappointment. honestly, what lousy options, why on earth would she want to know a truth about herself isn’t that what shrinks do? she thinks about giving a different answer, a more genuine one but that would be telling too much to a kid whose name she doesn’t even know “like what i’ll be doing in...10 years?”
“𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩?”
“oh that’s easy”, the girl perks back up, hand still fidgeting with the diamond ‘c’. “sincerity more than anything”.
“𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐠 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧?”
“dog person”, she states quickly though she doesn’t really own either, growing a little impatient with the length of this mandatory interview.
“𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞: “𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐦 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞…”
a chuckle, lips pressed before beginning to state a reply: “i wish i had someone with whom i could share...” oh, this was hard. life? a hug? a bottle of wine? “sunday mornings i guess?” the picture of the possible scene growing warm, sunlight spilling through her curtains on a lazy day. sure, the girl nods locking in the answer.
“𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧? 𝐁𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟?”
and then she frowns and hugs the books closer to her chest, a wall between the pair, “that’s really none of your business, i should think”. the other then gives some lame explanation she doesn’t particularly care for, something about this being of vital importance and mandatory too. a roll of her eyes, “whatever. a couple of weeks ago watching my girl with lu” a truth, she rarely ever cried when anyone else was present. “and by yourself?” the other asks, earning a glare. “i did hurt my foot with the fridge last week so, then?” a lie, the answer should’ve been last night in her bed for no damn good reason but again, too much information she is not willing to give to a stranger, much less to an entire department.
“𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮?”
cali sucks on her cheeks, sensing the nice part of the interview is done and dead. “it’s not... a priority” she lets out at last. when the other asks with curious eyes for her to elaborate a little more, she refuses with a stern shake of her head “are we done?”.
“𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞’𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐲?”
‘no’ she almost answers because the alternative sounds alien. and yet it’s the truth. she is single for this valentine’s day for the first time in what feels like an eternity. calista’s yet to determine weather she likes that little fact or not, “i am, are you going to ask me on a date?”
