[wattys2015] Omega

Elias

The first time his supple lips grazed along the sensitive spots on the nape of my neck, was the first time i had contradicted the arithmetic that was my world. He was wrong, i was wrong, and the act we were committing was, putting it at best, very wrong. Yet everything in that moment felt utterly right. It seemed when our two ends of wrongs met in a little confusing knot, the world slowly unraveled all of it's own knots. As we became tighter, the world around me loosened all of the strands i had spent my whole life trying to undo, and finally I understood. Life was just an 'x' in an equation, only, to find the answer, you had to stop trying to solve it.

When i first met Elias Crispian i thought maybe he was part roman. After all, i had read most roman myths and his name certainly resembled something out of one of those books. But his name was of a latin origin, meaning curly haired and it amused me at the time considering he had a full head of short blonde curls, lying imperfectly on the top of his perfect head. He looked (to put it gently) like a fish out of water, although to me he was more of a misplaced thought in a world of dictionary syllables. He didn't fit the definition of his surroundings. We were at the Cambridge library in a small town tucked away in rural Manhattan and it was quite facile to tell amongst the sea of glasses and lanky bodies, that he was the more attractive one. His back was bigger than the chair he was attempting to fit into, and every time he flipped a page, you could see the muscles in his arms working like intricate clockwork. You see, from the moment my parents stopped being parents, i had a thing with enigmas. Until that very point in that hushed library i had solved every riddle, test, mystery, and equation that life had thrown at me. Elias Crispian was not about to be an exception.
"Rose you can't just walk up to him" My friend Morgan had whispered, tugging at the hem of my skirt.
"Why not! Is there some qualification she has to fit to talk to a hot guy Morg?" Erin my other friend shot back. Somehow something always seemed to lead to a dispute, but at times it was nice, having the devil and angel sitting on my shoulders to take human form. Sadly this was not one of those times.
"Yes i'm talking to him, and no i don't need qualifications guys. It's a library for god's sake, it's literally a thousand page book of excuses to make small talk" And so i marched right up to the hot backed figure one table ahead of ours. Before i could steer in front of his table to see his face and introduce myself; he shot around.
There are many things people notice at first glance, and for me, it always seemed to be lips. But as Elias turned around, for the first time he had already broken one of my many casualties, little did I know that may more were to come. When Elias Crispian turned around to face me i noticed his eyes, and as far as noticing goes, i was completely and utterly engulfed in them. Maybe they were grey, or green, maybe they were blue, or yellow, but whatever they were they looked like someone had taken a color wheel and spun for the hell of it. He was a question mark I had to find the answers too. There were only so many times i was drawn to a guy, and I needed to know why, why my instincts were blaring.
"What color are your eyes?" i found myself blurting out before i could process any normal coherent sentences to start with
"Excuse me?" he laughed
"Sorry" i chuckled nervously "I'm Rosemary" he shook my extended hand politely and smiled
"Nice to meet you Rosemary, i'm Elias Crispian" He said his name like it belonged in a bottle of stars, and as i heard it escape his lips, i couldn't help but agree.
"Well Elias Crispian i was wondering if you could help me,"
He cocked an eyebrow as a response; ushering me to continue
"You see, i have an assignment due for this class, about--" i peeked over for only a second at the paper back book lying on it's back on the top of his table "-- about The Great Gatsby, and i was wondering if you had read it" he ran the peak of his tongue over his pillow like lips and smiled "Is this class perhaps english literature"
I returned the smile "Depends, have you read the book?"
"I have-- actually I was just re-reading it"
"Then yes" i beamed "AP literature...to be precise"
I walked over to the chair facing him and sat down making sure my cardigan wasn't crinkled beneath me and my long wavy brunette hair fell to the side it looked best on.
"Ask away" he grinned folding his hands like he was on some talk show
"Okay then, hm, let's start with an easy one" I wandered my hazel eyes upward searching for the fake question i was about to ask "What meaning does this book encompass?" I placed the tips of my thumbs on my phone as if pretending to write his answer down.
He breathed out a small airy laugh "That's the easy one?"
"Well-- yes, i mean, usually the book's message is the easiest to figure out, right?"
Elias leaned in over the table as if telling me the world's secrets right there in that very library.
"The thing is Rosemary" he whispered "Sometimes those easy questions are just hard ones in disguise, think of it as a chocolate almond"
"An-- almond?" i asked bewildered
"Yes, you see, you melt the soft creamy cover, but right as you bite down on what you think is chocolate-- you end up cracking an almond instead. People are the same way"
I didn't understand it at the time, and i hated how that enigma seemed so much more confusing than the rest.
"But" he sighed pulling away back into his seat "I suppose i can answer anyways, you see this book has many meanings, don't all of the best books? It underlines materialistic love, lust. The author showcases a man's success in 1922 America, which at the time, was measured in terms of how much money he was worth, and not on what kind of person he might have been morally. It's one of the greatest love stories because it tells the truth" he folded his arm and closed the book he had been fiddling with. How could it be that he could answer one question and open up yet a million more?
"What truth?"
"The truth that love has a sweet beginning, a soft middle, and a sour end."
I stayed quiet as he mumbled the last part, it seemed fitting, like the silence persuaded him to talk more, and at the time that was all i wanted; for him to continue and never end. We stayed like that for sometime even after i noticed the waving hands of my friends leaving me behind and the crowded library slowly became empty bit by bit. I asked questions, he gave answers, ones that would only untie new ones. I thought if this was a real assignment, i would have surely scored an A. It seemed we were unaware of the concept of time, conversation flowed so naturally people might have mistaken us for lifelong friends. It was as if with every click of a second passing by, i was grasping more and more at the labyrinthine vindications Elias Crispian made so effortlessly, it seemed like he had the answers for everything, and i was, after all, a girl who liked to answer questions; but the more i watched him laugh with his brilliant smile, and brush his hair back with his masculine hands i couldn't help but wonder if the boy with all the answers was a question himself.
"Well Rosemary," he sighed with a smile, it was a sigh i had not been wanting to hear, one of those wrapping things up sighs' that people so unawarely did when finishing something.
"Elias Crispian" i chuckled "It seems we've lost track of time" he stood up from his chair in sync with me and held my gaze "Who said we were keeping it in the first place?" I gave him a warm smile in response, but inside i was fuming with heat, i placed a cool hand on my alabaster skin as if trying to wipe away the blush that was coursing across it by then. I watched him sling over a backpack across his broad shoulders and it was when he started walking away that i noticed how tall he really was.
"Oh -- and their ultramarine!" he yelled with a hearty laugh as he neared the door of the exit. No one was left in the library and his voice echoed throughout the large place.
"What?" i yelled back in confusion. As the door creaked shut harmonizing a large bang that jumped within the large cream colored walls behind him, i heard one last echo "My eyes".