Redamancy

by Olivia Bok

It happens when Lila is sprawledacrosshercouch,feetpropped up against the coffee table and the TV playing something like New Girl. She doesn’tknow.Shehasn’tbeenwatching for the past half hour. Instead, her eyes follow Joel as he paces around her apartment, always one to never be able to sit still for long. He’s opening drawers, taking out plates and utensils like he’s memorized her kitchen. It’s disgustingly domestic. A small smile settles on Lila’s lips when Joel makes hiswaybacktothecouchwithaplastic bag of takeout in one hand and utensils balancedonanother.

“Hey, I ordered us Thai food from that restaurant downtown. I got you Pad thai,” Joel says, sitting next to her in their fort of blankets and pillows and setting down her favorite dish in frontofher.

Lilagiveshimalookandasshe opens her mouth to speak, Joel beats her to it: “I know. No cilantro with extra shrimp and limes, the way you like.” And he grins like he’s proud of himself for knowing this tiny detail about her that she’s never verbally told him. He just saw her doing it once and has done it every Thai takeout night since.

Joel is offering her a fork now, but all Lila can think about is the way her heart is doing this weird inflating thing that makes her feel like it could implode inside of her. She meets his eyes again and wonders why she’s nevernoticedhowoffensivelybeautiful

Joel is. It’s not like he’s wearing anythingfancyeither;justaT-shirtand a pair of sweatpants, but she swears he’s glowing. It punches the air right out of her lungs.

Joel stares at her intently with an eyebrow raised, clearly confused on why it’stakingLilasolongtotakethefork.She forces herself to reach out, arm heavy and lipsmovingtoforma‘thankyou’.

“Yeah, I mean,” Lila swallows harshly then starts again, “Cilantro is gross.”

It’s like everything snaps back into place. Joel laughs loudly, shaking his head mumbling something about “the taste buds of a ten-year old”. It almost makes Lila question if that moment had even occurred, butthesqueezinginherheartlingers.

Lila knows that she’s slow at realizing her own emotions, but of course she has to come to this conclusion at the mostinconvenient,inopportunetime.

Because of course she’sinlovewith Joel.

They first met in a cafe. It was by chance that Lila’s friend was the owner of that cafe and had needed an extra hand. And it was by chance that there was a layoverinJoel’sflightinNewYorkandhe haddecidedtotrysomethingnewthatday.

Lila had watched Joel walk into the store, the first customer of the day. He had smiled at her politely, and a little awkwardly.

She took mental notes of him like she did with everyone. First, he was stupidly attractive in the kind of unignorable way. Second, he looked older than her, a dark beard running along his face.

La igualdad puede y debe lograrse a fin de garantizar una vida digna para todos. Las políticas económicas y sociales deben ser universales y prestar especial atención a las necesidades de las comunidades desfavorecidas y marginadas.