She looked at me just a little too much but not in an uncomfortable way; I just wasn't used to that happening, being looked at. I sat working at my laptop trying to focus but admit it unnerved me and the more I tried not to glance that way I glanced that way.
Idiot, I thought, as I forced my eyes back down to the laptop; we'd locked eyes for a split second on that occasion and...Well, I can't say I didn't like it but felt shy that I'd been caught out, even for that fraction of a moment. Damn being shy, and damn getting caught out! original im src
I'd seen her here many times and many times I've glanced her way, but never openly; they were fleeting looks now and then, when I thought she wasn't looking. She always looked good, casually-fine, attractive in what seemed an effortless way no matter what she happened to be wearing; activewear, jeans and t-shirt, even a business suit on one occasion, high heels and all, always good.
Her strawberry-blonde hair always seemed just right although never fussed over and the way she let it do what it wanted, stay in place or be moved about by the breeze, made it that much more attractive. She wore little makeup, just around the eyes and a hint of colour on the lips...She was simply simple all over with a minimum of fuss and effort - Comfortable in who she was. It was attractive, stunningly so.
Attractive, I thought, as I kept my eyes on the screen through a sheer force of will although I wanted to keep looking.
I looked at the spreadsheet not really seeing the jumbled numbers; it was her eyes I saw. Those beautifully expressive eyes that one moment seemed to smile and another seemed a little sad, wistful or maybe furtive. Either way they were captivating, incredibly distracting and compelling; and they looked at me sometimes.
I looked up.
She sat relaxed on her chair, open book held loosely in her left hand, steaming cup of tea on the table in front of her and Samsung Note phone next to the cup, car keys haphazardly sprawled next to the phone.
She wore a t-shirt with the words dream printed across the front in cursive lettering; the way it was arranged revealed a hint of the curves beneath. Her blue jeans had a fashionable frayed tear over the right knee and her pastel pink ankle socks were covered with all-white runners. Her legs were crossed, right foot pointing directly at me, chair askew from the table also turned slightly towards me, and a few stray locks of hair fell across her face which she'd absently brush away now and then...Not that I paid that much attention to the details of course. It was just a fleeting glance after all.
She was looking directly at me.
Damn it, why was she looking? I thought this even as I wondered why I was looking myself but in truth I knew the answer from my end; because she was alluring, distracting and the most beautiful women I'd ever seen. I was also a little embarrassed at getting caught out looking her way.
I had a nano-second to decide my next course of action; any longer and it would seem odd I figured.
I decided a small smile might be the best course of action and my lips turned upwards to the left in what I called a smile, slightly skewed to one side I guess but all I had at my disposal. I allowed it to touch my eyes though conveying a polite hey, how are you, sort of message - Or so I hoped. For all I know it was a freakish grimace that said, hey, I'm an axe murderer and want to peel your skin off and wear it. I hoped not though.
That's when it happened. Her smile.
Everything stopped and started in the same moment. The world around me seemed to instantaneously cease to be for a moment, it was just her and I, and then time resumed but differently.
I didn't seem to be the same version of myself; I was changed, felt more open, more alive and in place; I felt like I couldn't keep still, but wanted to stay in this place, the moment, forever and never move from it. The moment pulled and pushed, and completely captured me. In that brief series of seconds I was connected to the woman through that smile and her eyes which sparkled with an inner light, a million stars twinkling within; An azure sky in which I wanted to be lost and found.
I held my grimace smile a little longer as did she, then her head tilted slightly forward and to the right, eyes still fixed sidelong on me for a brief second longer before they dropped back to her book...And the light of the day seemed dimmer.
I remember that moment like it was yesterday although it was five years ago now, with so many moments in between. I wondered at times if I'd ever forget how that moment felt hoping I would never. I thought about those stolen glances I'd taken and wondered still about why she stole her own. Five years, and I still questioned why she looked, but was glad of it, that she looked at me as she did.
I came back to the moment, looked up and smiled because of the most beautiful woman sitting across the tiny café table from me, holding her book, right hand cradling the left, glasses on as she absorbed the words. Her lightly freckled face was stunning, even though she frowned slightly as she read, nose wrinkled up ever so slightly.
Her tea sat half-drunk before her, phone on the table, sitting atop my own; she always did that. I admired her shapely legs, crossed one over the other and my eyes lingered then made their way from shapely legs to t-shirted body...It said I'm a Unicorn on the front today and was pulled in a most alarming way accentuating curves I knew so well. The petite heart-necklace her mother gave her caught the light at her neck glinting and I smiled with happiness.
Five years after that moment we'd first connected through that smile and now I got to see it every moment of my life.
That's when it happened. She smiled.
Her eyes flicked away from her book as if she knew I was gazing at her, and she smiled; it still had the same effect on me. I reached and placed my hand over hers which she surrendered without hesitation. It was cool beneath my own and I sat there stroking the back of her hand with my thumb enjoying the intimacy of the simple moment.
Her eyes closed lazily as her head tilted to the right lost in the moment, the touch that was now so familiar to her. I was pleasantly lost as always, but comfortable that I had been found five years ago to the day - The day she smiled.
[Just some fictional messing around because why not. Prompt word smile.]
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind
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