With All My Senses

the sociolazing street

to observe / verb

notice or perceive (something) and register it as being significant

His place feels familiar as if I already walked past these walls and felt the floors with my bare feet, touched the surfaces and scraped my knees after a fall. But not in real life, yet in some strange faded dream. Like the weakest of memories, that's sewed to your skin, your muscles, and your being. I turn around towards him and my thoughts stop. I feel like I was grabbing on to something special but lost the connection. My eyes gaze up at him and the memory slips away as if dissolving into thin air. I watch the space around me and snap out of it, not understanding what just happened. Déjà vu? Perhaps, all was possible in my case. I smile at Charlie and attempt to act like a normal person. Well, I try anyway.

Nice apartment. Clean and organized ...

I say, but don't really focus on my own words. I ask him for some orange juice, tease him a bit and disappear into the hallway. Third floorboard on the left, next to the window squeaks - a sudden thought runs through my head and I frown. I walk in the bathroom and shake my head in frustration, feeling foolish. The morning pains must have been stronger than I assumed. My eyes wander to the mirror and I forget everything else. I groan so loudly that my reflection in the glass starts to shake. He's there in just a moment but I quickly brush off the whole thing. He leaves and I use the time to get back to anything that might help me resemble a human being again. I looked so worn out. The bags under the eyes, pale skin, hair in a mess - a true sight for sore eyes.

I return after some time, and we talk in the kitchen. I start to relax when our conversation is quickly brought to a halt. I hear a key in the lock and turn my head to see who it is. My mind always expecting the worst possible news; by now it's a habit, an almost involuntary reflex that I can't control. I hear amused voices and the door finally opens.

My gaze is carefully set on a young woman as she walks in, smiling and chatting with the guy that opened the door first. My eyes narrow and scan her as fast as any woman's eyes would when judging another woman. She has long red hair that goes past her waist and appears to be around my height, but a tad shorter. She's slim, wearing black leather leggings and a long green sweater, it looks soft and good quality. She has dark red sneakers and a big bag hanging from her shoulder. I judge her at being around 20 years old. Less than three blinks of an eye and my eyes wander to the guy - similar height to Charlie's if not higher. It must run in the family, good gene pool. He's well-built with impressive shoulders. Short brown hair and blue eyes, a big smile that suddenly turns into shock and disbelief.

Mmm, my keeper really must be a loner if a woman in his apartment causes such a reaction. I look at the key in his hand and then at Charlie's unhappy face. Obviously, the famous brother that I heard so little about. There is a moment of awkward silence and finally, the girl breaks it.

Hi, I'm Jenna. And you must be...

She walks over and outstretches her hand; I smile and take it.

Eleonore, Charlie's nuisance and the reasons for his cheap thrills.

Oh, really?

She doesn't seem to bothered by my words, on the contrary, she seems to be interested in what I had to say. Hmm, I might just like her.

Yes, though I think he prefers to spell it as 'friends'. He chooses to be in denial about my bad qualities and focuses on saving me from the big bad world, and sometimes I even let him.