The women in my life, pt. 2

Maia, now seventeen years of age, catches the eye of a young man named Stefano, who was two years older than him and went to the same school as her. She is infatuated with his deep brown eyes and sheepish grin, but hesitates to acknowledge his advances out of fear of being made ridiculed for it. He stares at her at every chance he gets whenever she passes by on her way to class at school, and a slight tingle in her body informs her senses of his stare weighing on her. The realisation dawns upon her that this would be the precise moment she would consider her act of first love.

One time, as Maia was at the library consumed by the need to study, she finds him at the opposite side of the cubicles minding his own thoughts. She watches him intently without alerting him of her presence, but he notices her anyway, and she has to look away pretending not to be made aware of herself caught in a flagrant act. Moments later, he slowly stood up from his chair and makes his way towards her direction. Maia reacts by reading a book on psychology, of which she was very much passionate about.

"Hello," he nervously mumbles, "My name is Stefano. I thought I should introduce myself."

She looks at him with a smile. "My name is Maialen. Everyone calls me Maia."

"I know," he whispers. "Can I sit here with you?"

"Sure," but Maia wonders what he means by him saying he knows her.

An awkward silence stood still for a minute. She pretends to study, waiting for him to act first before saying anything.

"You have a plan over the weekend?" Stefano finally asks.

"I'm going with my sister to a place she wants to visit," she responds.

"Your sister's Matilda, right?" he asks, his eyes brim with delight.

Maia supposes that Mati might know him too. "Yes. She actually hates being called that. Only here in school."

"She's a very smart girl," Stefano quickly interjects.  He fidgets on the table before continuing. "Can you do me a favour?"

"Sure," Maia is not actually sure, but says it anyway. "What is it?"

"I was hoping to speak to your sister about something important, but I... she doesn't want to speak to me. Could you pass me a message and say I want to talk to her?"

In that quick few seconds, Maia feels something was off, but cannot pinpoint exactly what it is.

"Yes," she whispers, hesitantly. "Of course, I can."

The love she feels for him is defused by that single request. She cannot tell why.