LOVE IS A BULLET TO THE HEAD

Final Semester

I didn't know then, but the first time I met her, I was gone.

It was the beginning of the end, as they say. The first night of the semester of my final year. Most shops were still closed for the holiday; the streets were dark and the stars even darker. On this august occasion, I was walking around school with Jake—a towering hulk of a man to my 5'6 frame—when he ran into some people he knew and moved to say hi. I was detained for a few minutes by something or the other, and by the time I caught up they were all laughing about something I missed. Cocky guy that I am, I joined in like I actually knew what the fuck was so funny.

We were—including myself and Jake—four in the group, now standing in front of Kukulang (a sweet joint that sold the second best fries and egg you will ever taste), and as I've said earlier, most stores all around were closed and the night dark, so the only light around came from the shop itself and a quaint little noodles shop on the opposite side of the road.

And so it came to be that with this make-shift stage light I caught my first view of her. First, I noticed her lips—both full, though the bottom was lighter—and how she bit it while toying with her hair. She was a head taller than me, radiant in dark pencil jeans, a white top and cute little flip flops. Her roommate, Clair was beside her in some gown or the other, but it was her that intrigued me. The quintessential female. My thoughts shouted at me: Who was she? Where did she come from? And finally, most pressingly...

How was she so beautiful? Because she was. Utterly, and completely she was.

No introductions were made, and so I took matters into my own hands.

"Hey," I said, stretching out my hands, "I'm Leo. Pleasure."

"Hope," she smiled, taking my hand in a firm grip. "It's was rude of them to not have introduced us, right?"

"My thoughts exactly." I said with a huge grin on my face.