The Delivery and the Ballerina

The Delivery and the Ballerina

Kevin was a young man of twenty-four years of age. He was a street delivery guy working in the rain and scorching sunshine of the city. He was accompanied everywhere by his motorcycle on busy city streets, taking orders from restaurant to restaurant. But in his heart, all he yearned for was to find a spot to alleviate his loneliness.

 

On a rainy autumn day, he got an order to deliver food to a fancy dance studio in the new part of town. There, in the smell of smooth wood and big mirrors, he met Lara for the first time. She was the same age as him, twenty-four, but her life felt very different. She opened the door with her blonde hair in a messy bun, wearing basic workout clothes, but her green eyes surprised him for a moment. She was wiping sweat from her forehead and saying sorry for being late as she finished a practice session.

 

After that, delivering to Lara became Kevin's favorite task. He made it a point to take all deliveries to the studio, no matter how far it was from his route. The rapid handing of goods at the door became brief conversations, then longer discussions. They discovered a special commonality in their souls, although they belonged to other worlds; Kevin, who struggled for his daily bread, and Lara, who wanted to be a professional ballerina and struggled immensely to attain that goal.

 

Kevin started waiting for her classes to end so that he could stroll her home, having ice cream or coffee together. In those moments, their social disparities vanished. He gazed at her while she discussed her aspirations with eyes of admiration and pride. She found in him stability and integrity that she lacked in the cutthroat art world. They fell in love with purity and beauty, something that enabled them to escape their worlds into their own world.

 

One evening, under the city's dim lights, Kevin confessed his love for her. Lara accepted with tears of joy, promising him they would be together forever, and that their dreams would soon come true.

 

But "soon" never materialized. Lara enjoyed one victory after another. She was cast for a lead role in a major show, and training and responsibility grew. The time that they had together came less often, and worry began to grow in Kevin's heart. He saw her slipping away from him, not because of how she was, but because of where she was, and he couldn't catch up with her.

 

The last straw was that Lara was accepted to dance with a major ballet company in a capital of Europe. It was the opportunity of a lifetime that she had waited for throughout her entire life. Kevin feigned being happy for her but was really miserable on the inside. He knew that she would never comeback.

 

At the airport, he held her for the last time. He could smell her shampoo, feel her tears on his shoulder, and hear her voice softly saying: “Wait for me, Kevin. I'll come back.”

 

He returned to his bike in a world that was alien to him. He continued with his job, day in and day out, but his eyes no longer sparkled. He waited for a message, a phone call, something that would give him hope. He read about her on facebook; she seemed to be happy, successful, radiant in a world that was not his own.

 

A year went by, and then came a message from her. It was extensive and emotive and apologetic. She said to him that she would never come back, that her world was there now, and that she wanted him to get on with his own world without hers in it. That evening, a light rain was falling, just like on the day they met. Kevin stood in front of the old studio, now an ordinary gym. He turned off his phone, which still showed her picture as the background, and started his motorcycle to ride through the dark streets alone. In his heart, he held the memory of a beautiful love story that could not handle their differences, and a promise that never happened. He was just a delivery guy, and his story with the ballet star was just a short pause in her journey, while she was his final destination.