1.1 | daunting medleys

two | roguish grey

The school day had started out normally, Tabitha had attended all her classes and was currently waiting for Talia's basketball practice to be over so she would drive her home, she really missed her car. It had suddenly stopped working and was in the shop waiting for repairs.

All she was doing now was listening to music while trying to read but it was proving futile since the slightly damp floor between the bookshelves in the library that she had occupied was being destroyed by the loud noise, in her ears and the rowdiness of her school mates. The song in her ears was by an artist she had just discovered, his words were loud and grating yet it was meant to be sensual. It wasn't. His words were chaos, loud against harsh instruments.

Drops fell from the sky to the ceiling into a bucket beside her, there was a leak in the roof that the school hadn't bothered to fix. They fell in accordance with the drum solo that was accompanying the brief silence. The cacophony of the noise that she created as she tapped her pen on the book that she was supposed to be reading didn't seem to drown out how fast her heart thumped when she had realized that someone had peeked his head through the two bookshelves. She looked up, and saw who it was.

Oliver Saunders was easily one of the most attractive boys in school, yet he didn't seem to be arrogant in the way teenage girls found attractive. He was quiet and only spoke when he was spoken to, and most of his conversation was focused on his best friend, Axel. Tight curls that bounced atop his head and light grey eyes coupled with his light brown skin was one of the reasons that most of the girls liked him.

Yet he had a penchant for staring at her, within peeks at the hallway and clashing eyes in class. His introverted nature made it even harder to understand him. Not much was known about him, even though half the school body worshipped the ground he walked on, and Tabitha understood. He was ethereal, princely even.

When their eyes met, it would always elicit the butterflies in her stomach to dance to unplanned beats, which almost confused Tabitha. She breathed music, it was her life and her soul, everything she did and everything she saw correlated with music yet everything was disrupted when roguish grey eyes found hers.

Tired of the torture she was placing herself through, she sighed happily when the song changed, and she relaxed when a familiar tune filled her ears. The melody of the instruments calmed her down, almost making her forget about how Oliver was closer to her than they had ever been, since passing each other in the halls.

But then again, she remembered.

His eyes danced. Like a storm with water and the rambunctious sky with all the accoutrements tinted grey. She placed her focus back on her book, even though she couldn't concentrate on it. Tabitha was currently reading on the reproductive system, a picture of a pregnant woman with the fetus curved in her womb.

It reminded Tabitha of things she had, things she lost. A smile, when her mother announced her pregnancy, then the broken look in her eyes when she announced in the solemn gathering of Tabitha, her sister and her father when she said she lost the child. Her belly was swollen like the woman in the diagram, Tabitha was in awe of her little sibling. She didn't know what she needed was a another addition to her family and she couldn't wait. Then on a night that had more bright stars than Tabitha could count, a shout of pain and the stars had lost their shine.

Tabitha slammed the book shut, as if the book was the receiver of the pain that was gripping her chest. A pair of sneakers that looked brand new came into view, the distinct smell of Axe that was similar to the ones her father always wore. She looked up and saw Oliver, already looking down at her.

Was she so into relieving her pain that she couldn't hear the sound of his feet? When meanwhile, the song in her ears had changed to Edge of Seventeen. She almost let the song take her attention away from him, but she couldn't. He was intriguingly annoying, like a puzzle that she wanted to finish but couldn't because it was too stressful but it always laid in the back of her mind.

Tabitha stood up and took her bag, slinging it on her shoulder and tried to leave when a voice stopped her. She pulled her headphones out of her ears and stuffed them in her bag.

"Do you have any recommendations?"

Tabitha rose her head to see if she was being spoken to, and when she saw Oliver's grey eyes fixated on her, she knew. She glanced at the section that they were in, gothic literature which was her one true love. Oliver was watching her intently, like he was searching for something on her face.

"Do you like reading these type of books or is this your first time?" She inquired, scanning the rows for books she thought he would like.

"I like gothic literature, mostly."

Tabitha tilted her head to look at him, Oliver was still looking at her, and she shifted her head away from him and his piercing eyes to the shelves that held the slightly dusty books.

"Have you read Wuthering Heights?"

He met her eyes again. Tabitha could barely hear the hurrying footsteps around them over the fast thumping of her heart. He seemed so unreal, especially when his eyes glittered in humor. Oliver glanced back at the novel that sat on the shelves.

"I wanted to. But a friend told me Heathcliff was kind of an ass." He said, his eyes glancing back at the book again. Tabitha couldn't hold back the snort that threatened to come back, she picked out the book and held it out to him.

Chuckling, she pushed the book in Oliver's hands, her cheeks burning. He gave her an almost shy smile and took it from her. "Everyone's got different impressions of him. While some hate him, others like him and some don't know how they feel about him. So why don't you read the book and tell me if you think he's an ass or not?"

"What do you think of him?" He asked, the book now held tightly in his hands. She hadn't realized their height difference, Tabitha's head grazed the tip of his nose which was a observation made truthful due to how close they stood. Tabitha was 5'10, yet he was even taller than her. She could almost hear his rhythm of his breathing as he collected the book from her. Oliver's fingers grazed her knuckles when he collected, for a second, Tabitha wondered if he had done it on purpose as he smiled mischievously. Her heart thumped almost painfully when his fingers lingered, his eyes still on hers.

The unexpected sunlight after the rain, shone on his face, making him seem so beautiful. He didn't look like the rest of the black students, he was mixed and that was obvious with the way his lighter skin opposed Tabitha's much darker skin. The rest of the school body looked at him like he was godlike, like his beautiful grey eyes and his smile that caused unsolicited reactions made him anything special.

"I can't tell you yet. Find me tomorrow and we can compare what we feel about him."

Oliver nodded, his lips pulled up in a tiny smile. He bypassed her, the conversation seemingly over. "See you later, Tabitha."

"Bye." She whispered, even though he was long gone.

********

what do you think of Heathcliff?