A Promise Fulfilled
"Georg, in the twelve years you have known me, have you ever gotten me onto the Ferris Wheel?"
"No, but I'm still hopeful. You never know. This could be the year," Georg smiled at her as he pulled her through the crowd of people.
"No. Sorry. Not happening," Serenity crossed her arms defiantly as she tilted her head back to gaze up at the ride.
Georg turned his head to look at her. The neon lights danced across her face. "You never cease to amaze me, Serenity. You will allow a 48 kg woman to throw you 200 feet in the air with the expectations that she'll catch you, but you won't ride the Ferris Wheel?"
"Those 48 kg girls know how it feels to fall. It happens often in high school cheering, so once they go pro they know how to make sure it doesn't happen. Four tons of man-made steel and fiberglass just doesn't have that same empathy," Serenity backed away from the line, pulling Georg with her.
Hand in hand, Serenity and Georg made their way through the crowds of people which gathered every year for the town fair. For as long as they could remember, it had been their tradition to attend together, and now these occasions were even more precious to them both. No matter where his life seemed to take him, he always managed to slip away for these few precious hours. Since his career had skyrocketed, Georg had been forced to spend more and more time away from home, leaving behind his family and friends. Serenity had always tried to understand how much this all meant to him, and she tried to be content with the time she was allowed. Absence truly did make the heart grow fonder. When he returned to her, she cherished each and every moment they shared.
"C'mon. Let's have some real fun," a coy smiled formed on Georg's lips.
"What do you have in mind?" Serenity's eyebrow raised in question. That smile had gotten her into enough trouble throughout the years to realize the looming danger.
Georg laughed at her knowing expression. "It's not bad. C'mon! I have always wanted to do this."
Serenity allowed him to pull her into a small, darkened tent. "Georg, what is this?"
Suddenly, a light flashed and the canvas was illuminated by a dozen burning candles. Serenity jumped in surprise and grabbed Georg's arm tightly. Georg laughed as his eyes adjusted to the light and focused on the woman who sat behind the table awaiting them.
"Come forward, young ones. Madame Lenormand knows all, sees all, tells all."
"Come on, Georg. This is silly. Let's go," Serenity tugged on his shirt lightly but he stood firm.
"No, wait a second," Georg and Serenity sat down across the table from the mystic and waited.
"There is, of course, a fee."
"Of course," Georg pulled the money from his pocket and held it toward her.
She shook her head, "No. On the table. Madame Lenormand must never touch the money. Now give me your hand."
Georg rubbed his hand down his thigh and lay it on the table. He watched as Madame Lenormand clasped it in her own. She ran her finger down his palm and nodded. "This is your lifeline. Very strong. You will live a long, healthy life."
"That's good to know."
Madame Lenormand narrowed her eyes and peered closer. "I see that you are very musically inclined. You show much promise. I see marriage in your future." The old woman looked up and her gaze passed knowingly between the young people who sat before her. "The two of you share a great love affair." Georg and Serenity looked at one another in surprise as she continued, "Yours is an endless love. A love for time and all eternity."
Georg shook his head and looked down at his hand. "Maybe you should look again. We aren't lovers. We're only friends."
Madame Lenormand shook her head and released his hand. "Madame Lenormand is never wrong. Another lifetime perhaps? When we leave each realm of consciousness and enter the next, we make a promise to our loved ones we leave behind. A promise of continuing love. A promise that, in the next life, we will return to them. It's God's greatest gift to never be truly parted. It just takes some of us a little longer to find one another."
"Make yourself at home. I'll be right back."
Serenity disappeared into her bedroom as Georg examined the photographs that adorned her walls. He smiled at the photo of the two of them on a Halloween years before. "I had fun tonight."
"What?"
Georg turned toward the hallway and raised his voice, "I said I had fun tonight."
Serenity emerged with a smile covering her face, "So did I. We always do. Want something to drink?"
Georg froze as he suddenly saw her in a new light for the first time. He could see the woman she had become when he didn't seem to be paying attention; her delicate face, full bosom, the intricate curves of her perfect body.
"Georg?"
Georg snapped back into reality, "Huh?"
Serenity laughed, "I asked if you're thirsty."
"Oh. Yeah, sure."
Georg followed her into the kitchen and watched as she poured their beverages.
"That gypsy woman was crazy, wasn't she? I always thought that kind of thing was a rip off. Imagine! Her thinking we were a couple!" Serenity laughed as she handed Georg his drink.
He nodded in agreement as he accepted the frosted glass. "Yeah. That's crazy. After all, I have a girlfriend."
"Yeah, I know."
Georg and Serenity stood inches apart. Their eyes searched one another intently. Reasoning gave way to impulse, and their lips joined in a long awaited kiss. Confused and overwhelmed by the emotions which engulfed him, Georg tore himself away in an attempt to regain a sense of himself. "Damn it, Serenity! I have a girlfriend!"
Her lip quivered as she watched him pace the floor. "I know."
"We are friends, Serenity! Nothing more!"
"I know, Georg."
"There is nothing between us and there never will be!" Georg's body trembled in the out pour of his frustrated indecision. His eyes glazed with tears that threatened to spill forth at any given moment.
A tear slid slowly down Serenity's cheek as she struggled to speak, "Who are you trying to convince, Georg? Me? Or yourself?"
Georg stood unmoving. His fists clenched at his side. "I have to get out of here. I have to go."
Serenity folded her arms, "Then go."
Georg shook his head helplessly as the tears began to fall. "I can't."
He turned his back to her. He took in a deep breath and willed himself to say the words he'd held inside for so long. "I've loved you forever, Serenity, and I don't know what scares me the most; the possibility that you just don't feel the same, or that somehow I failed to show you how much you truly mean to me."
Serenity approached and wrapped her arms around his waist. She pressed her forehead against his back. "I've loved you for as long as I can remember. I've seen girls come and go and wondered what they had that I lacked. I was waiting for the day when you'd see me and love me. I was waiting to hear you say the words."
Georg turned and wrapped his arms around her, "I love you, Serenity."
She buried her face in his shirt and pulled him closer, "Say it again."
"I love you, Serenity." Georg kissed her tenderly as they finally fulfilled their promise.