SWEET GREEN EYES, alex turner

(2) september 2002

"we'll waste away the evening
the afternoon and the afternoon's hat
together we'll find something to direct some laughter at"

———

alex scrambled through his school bag in search for his note book as the light he'd just turned on scorched his eyes.

seconds ago, he'd jolted up in bed as he suddenly realised he'd been given homework from his music teacher for tomorrow. well, judging by the sticky, black colour of the sky outside, it was probably today by now.

ending up tipping his bag upside down in frustration, the contents tumbled out across the old, worn carpet of his room. he spotted his notebook and opened it to look for the note he'd scribbled in on what the homework was.

instead, he found a small piece of paper falling out and settling on his lap.

lifting the scrap of paper up, he found a long number written on it in small handwriting. there was some writing beneath it too.

text me alexander, maybe we can arrange you borrowing a few of my cds to improve your music taste

alex felt a slight redness reach his cheeks as he realised who it was from and swore to himself at being so soppy. he didn't have a clue when she'd found the chance to slip the note into his book but he was glad she had.

forgetting what the time was, he instantly forgot about his true reason for spilling his things all over the floor and scrambled to reach his small phone from his bedside table. he typed the number in and then his excitement quickly diminished.

what would he say? it was the middle of the night anyway, she was probably asleep.

although, she did seem like the kind of person to be awake until the early hours of the morning. not that he knew her.

so he sat and retyped more messages than he could remember, knowing in the back of his mind that he'd probably never end up sending one anyway.

that was until he threw his phone onto his bed in frustration, much harder than he'd intended to, and it banged against the wall before clattering down the side of his bed.

swearing to himself, alex fished around with his arm against the wall before finally retrieving his phone and praying it wasn't broken.

luckily, it wasn't.

unluckily, the send button must have been knocked and the message he had typed beforehand had gone through.

alex
hi it's alex. i found your number in my book

his heart dropped. not only had the message gone through at what he now knew was 1:47 in the morning, but it was one of the worst ones he'd typed out.

was it too long? did it sound stupid? she'd probably just ignore it anyway. maybe he sent it to the wrong number. he wasn't sure if he'd be pleased or not with that outcome.

but the anxious boy's question was answered when a reply popped up on the screen.

ellie
hello alexander, what are you doing up so late

he definitely hadn't sent it to the wrong number.

now he had to think of a reply quickly or else she'd probably fall asleep. alex was half asleep himself but managed to come up with a somewhat decent reply despite his nerves and grogginess.

alex
i forgot we had music homework for tomorrow

alex
anyway, i could ask you the same thing