11/28 by uliaj06

twelve

"What happened with you and the guy? Did you ever see each other again?" He brings up.

"No." I sighed. "I don't know where he is now." I tell him quietly. "He was a good soul who had a shit life." I go back to that point in my life. "He offered to draw me." He mention randomly. "I didn't think I was pretty enough to actually look at it and be like, woah, I really am pretty. So I asked him to draw me a chicken instead."

"Why a chicken?" He looks at me confused, but with a small smile on his lips.

"They're cute." I love chickens. Oh! And ducks. God, they're so cute. Ducks are my favorite animal.

He hums, telling me to go on, surprisingly not telling me to shut up.

"I told him I liked his shirt. I think he got embarrassed, he gave me a cigarette, so I'd shut up."

"We usually don't know how to react to them." He explains.

"I remember what you said about guys not getting complimented often, so when they do, they don't know how to react."

"Yeah."

"I like your eyes." I compliment him, grinning since I know he hates compliments.

"Shut up." He rolls his eyes and tries to hide his smile.

"Anyways," I go back to what we were originally talking about. "I never caught his name yet he was one of my favorite memories.

Two strangers in a park.

"I went back there all that week in hopes to see him again but I never did."

I stared off, in thought of all the possibilities. Feeling gloomy and low.

I felt a nudge on my shoulder from the person next to me. I break away from my thoughts and return back to this moment.

I shift to face him, wondering what he wants. He has the fish book in his hand and I watch him open it to a random page.

I sit there clueless.

He takes a glance at me and turns the book slightly so I could see the pictures more clearly.

Then it clicks.

"Are you gonna read to me?" I ask him.

He winces. "It's... to distract you a little." He seemed slightly embarrassed that he could still interpret my expressions so well.

I stare at him suspiciously. Why the hell does he care if I'm sad or not? Why does he care enough to do something about it?

"My hat is old, my teeth are gold.

I have a bird I like to hold.

My shoe is off, my feet are cold.

I have a bird I like to hold.

My hat is old, my teeth are gold.

Now my story is all told."

I'm positioned with my knees up, while I'm leaning forward, hugging my frog for warmth and comfort. My head is rested against the stuffed frog, turned so I'm following along where he's reading.

"We take a look. We saw a Nook.

On his head he had a hook.

On his hook he had a book.

On this book was "how to cook"

We saw him sit and try to cook

But a Nook can't read, so a Nook can't cook.

So..

What good is a Nook is a hook cook book?" He continues reading.

The breeze blew the hair that was out of my bun in different directions, and I'm sure my nose is pink from the cold.