Admit It

4; ghost of her

Shawn silently rested his back against the bookshelf as he watched the girl walk in. She walked quietly, like she didn't want to disturb any of the silence that blanketed the library so heavily it was as if it was pressing down on your shoulders, and her eyes darted back and forth to look for something in the shadows. Clearly, she was new. Anyone who'd lived there long enough wouldn't even think of coming up those stairs- washed of all evidence that anything had ever happened there. But memories couldn't be washed. And with a city as big as this one, everyone knew what happened. 

But she didn't know. And now she was here. 

Debating how he could sneak out without her seeing only lasted a second. For the most part, he'd been completely still. But then she looked. And he shuddered. 

Her hair was long and black and framed her face in natural waves. Her skin looked tan, but he couldn't tell when it was so dark in this room that seemed to be closing down on the two of them by the second. She was beautiful. His stomach turned at the sight of her. 

Shawn couldn't seem to move his eyes from her, and every second he stared he felt like throwing up a little more. She stared right back, a mistake of the highest degree, because now their gazes seemed tied together by an invisible string, weaving in and out of the deepest parts of his being until his soul would tear out of his chest if he ever tried to break their stare. 

But it couldn't be. 

It couldn't be her. 

His feet began moving under him without thought, one hand tucking in the belt loop of his jeans and the other in his pocket to hide how much they were shaking. She always made him lose control like that. Her laugh, her smile, her words as she betrayed him one last time. 

Only inches were in between them as he drew his eyes over the warm caramel of her skin, his thoughts spinning in his brain until he felt dizzy. It couldn't be. He blinked once, twice, but she was still there. 

His eyes traveled under the balanced curve of her cheekbone, down to the edges of her fingertips, over the shine of her luscious brown hair, scanning up and down her body until he was sure. Her eyes were like big brown almonds, unlike the upturned hazel ones that had stared into his eyes as they tore his trust to shreds. Her lips were too plump, her features were too mesmerizing, and the look on her face was too much like a work of art to ever be the girl he used to know. 

Shawn tried to control his hand as he slowly brushed a loose strand of silky, black hair from her face. He had already determined the two girls looked too different to be one, yet he was still checking to see if she really was a ghost. 

He noticed her eyes closed when he touched her face. Her lashes were so dark and framed her eyes perfectly. He trailed his hand down the side of her neck and her arm until he could gently cup her small hand in his own. She was so beautiful, but the way she shrunk herself down, as if to not be seen, made his heart drop in his chest. 

Suddenly, his breath faltered, coming out shaky onto her neck. There was something in between them that he swore had nothing to do with her doppelgänger, something that made his heartbeat speed up and his chest feel like bursting open. It was something he hadn't dreamed of feeling since that first heartbreak. 

"I'm Shawn," he whispered, looking down at her hand in fear of what her reaction would be. "I'm sorry," he confessed. The words fluttered out of his mouth before he could grab them back. His voice shook. "I just looked at you and felt something." 

She didn't answer, but rubbed her throat with her spare hand. He raised an eyebrow. 

"What's your name?"