She could have sworn she had put her favorite pen on her desk but it was gone. Where could it be? Could Jonathan have taken it? No, he wouldn’t do that and why would he need to use her pen when there were dozens of other pens in the house. Maybe one of the cats dragged it away. Jennifer sat at her desk looking at the piles of papers and notes and mail. It looked a little messy but there was a certain order to it and she knew where everything was. Usually. Her pen was not on the desktop where it was supposed to be. Of course she could have used any other pen but this this one was special. Jonathan gave it to her years ago and she did not want to lose it.
If it wasn’t on the desk then maybe it was in one of the desk drawers. It couldn’t hurt to look.
She opened the first drawer but there was nothing but pencils, notepads, scissors and a stapler. The second one was full of batteries, chargers, flash drives, cat treats and a cat toy in the shape of a fish. Drawer number three contained a bad of hard candy, chewing gum, empty folders, CDs and a small calendar from 2012. Still no sign of her favorite pen but she realized she should throw out some stuff and her pen was probably not in any of the drawers. She still had one more drawer to check though. Of course it wasn’t in there but she found something else. 3 books. One was a French to English dictionary, one was a cookbook which hadn’t helped her, she thought she was a hopeless case and would never be able to cook. The third book was a worn copy of Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. She hadn’t see it in a while but it was very important to her.
Jennifer took the book out of the drawer, leaned back in her chair and looked at it.
It as old and the corners were bent a little but it brought back a very special memory.
It must have been 20 years ago, she was 14 and an exchange student in Vancouver.
It was late September and Thomas had invited her to a party, someone’s birthday party. She didn’t know them as she was new to the school but she thought she should surely be able to make some new friends and get to know her classmates. Thomas was one of them. He loved to entertain people and brought life into their classes, was very popular and outgoing and seemed to be friends with everyone. Jennifer thought he was cute.
The party seemed fun but Jennifer felt a little lost and just observed everyone for a while. They were in the birthday boy’s living room, music was playing, there were balloons and tables with drinks and snacks. She saw Valerie from her history class dancing with some friends and Bruce from biology talking and laughing. Katie looked like she could be Thomas’ girlfriend but she wasn’t sure.
She decided to go say hi to Thomas.
“Hey, having fun?”, he asked her.
“Yeah. I’m trying to. You seem to be quite the entertainer.”
“You think? I don’t know, I just want everyone to have fun, be happy and enjoy their time, at school or at parties.”
“You’re very good at that.”
Thomas smiled. “Thank you. I’m glad to hear that.”
Jennifer looked around one more time and noticed someone she hadn’t noticed before. There was a boy sitting on a couch reading a book in a quiet corner of the living room.
“Who is that over there? He looks just like you.”
Thomas turned his head. “Oh that’s my nerdy little twin brother Jonathan.”
“Why is he sitting there all alone?”
“He’s shy and a little complicated. Also very smart, he’s two classes above us. I think he just came because I asked him to. Just let him read his book and he’ll be happy.”
“You know what? I think I’ll go say hi. He sounds interesting.”
“Well, good luck. But don’t scare him or I’ll come after you.” Thomas said and winked.
Jennifer was a bookworm herself and had started to write some short stories and fan fiction and becoming a writer was a dream of hers, or a doctor. Maybe both.
As she walked towards him she took a closer look. He was wearing jeans and a black hoodie sweater, she was wondering what book he was reading. He was too lost in the book to notice her taking a seat next to him on the couch.
“Must be a great book.”, she said, hoping to start a conversation.
Jonathan looked up shyly, trying to avoid eye contact. “Yes, he replied and got back to his book.
“What are you reading?” Jennifer didn’t want to give up but she also didn’t want to make him even more uncomfortable so she was ready to back off if he really didn’t want to talk.
He seemed surprised that she was still there but still showed her the book cover. “It’s Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman.” He had a quiet voice.
“Really? That’s awesome. I’ve read that, it’s one of my favorite books.”
“No spoilers, please.”, he said with a hint of a smile. This time she caught his eyes, they were deep blue but there was something else. Something deep down seemed sad and broken.
He quickly turned his eyes back to the book in his hands. He had noticed her look.
“I’m Jennifer.”
“So you’re the exchange student my brother talked about.”
“I guess I am.”
“I’m .. uhm.. my name is Jonathan. Please don’t call me Jon”
“Okay… Jonathan. Nice to meet you.”
That’s how it all started. Jennifer was still in her desk chair holding the book, pressing it to her chest. They had spent a lot of time together after they met at the party. They talked about books and TV shows, went to book stores and libraries. He taught her things about the universe, space and time that she had never heard of, she taught him to laugh and smile and not to be afraid of being who he is. She smiled softly, still lost in memories and didn’t notice Jonathan coming into the room.
“Hey, how was your day?”, he asked her before bending over to pick up something off the ground and put it on her desk “I think you dropped something.” It was her pen. She never thought to look on the ground.
“Oh my gosh, thank you. I was looking for it everywhere. What would I do without you?”…
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