Dainty and Dauntless

Girl and the boy:

Young Mars, strong and confident, adorned by ego. Pure Venus, eloquent and smart, graced by beauty.
Locking eyes only to whisk away their necks on command of vulnerability. But Cupid asks, scratching his neat brow, "why are their hearts still staring at each other".
 
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Natalie was on fire.
She, thirteen and burning, was dazed by an inkling that troubled her mind. Sera had said she thought she and Ethan would make a good couple.

Couple? What a word to use! She had wanted to find the humor in that statement and laugh out loud at how absurd it sounded.
All she had was a crush, a tiny one. She emphasized with her finger, almost caving the gap between the tips of the thumb and pointing finger.

"Too overboard" she said recalling the statement.
She did find Ethan Valer quite attractive, but she thought other boys were attractive too. He wasn't special to be honest.
"Drew Barns has better hair, dimples too and_ and,"she stammered, "Chase Thompson has better physique."
Ethan Valer wasn't exciting. All she ever saw him do was read books, pass assignments, excel in tests and read more books. He was some nerd.

After lunch period was done, students headed back for their classes.
Natalie made her way to class and took her seat as many still made their way in. Her eyes darted across the room, registering each person.

"Oh, Illai Watts is quite cute actually"
She recalled Sera mentioning the name Watts yesterday.
The boy looked towards her and at her. Natalie hadn't looked away fast enough. She stared back and then looked away at once.
"Yup, am definitely not looking around anymore."

She plopped a book down and was ready to open it when a laugh caught her attention.
All things weird happened. She could hear her heart beat hard and fast. The beat was all the way up to her ear drums.
She burned, the heat spreading miles all over her skin. The nerd was at the front, cracking his ribs almost to death.

Do nerds laugh out loud? She asked herself.

His laugh was similar to that of a baby. It felt pure and wholesome. His eyes crinkled up beautifully each time he cracked up.
How was he overwhelmingly cute?
Her windpipe became tight, and she struggled to breathe. Her brain was screaming out in the most anti-calm way. Her palms crushed into each other and squeezed tighter each second.

Natalie watched the former nerd walk on and find his seat at the front of the other column. He was still smiling when he took his seat. Then he searched for what to do next, nervously.
It was like all things interesting had come to an end and he had a task to find something to occupy him in the meantime. Looking at him from where she was, he looked desperate.
The glory he had earned a while ago was now crumbling.
He went on to search through his bag then through his books and finally deciding on one to scan through.
He fumbled with getting it out of the bag, closing the bag then setting it down. His composure was all over the place.
He spread the book, placing both arms on top and raised his chest, inhaling and let out a sigh with the drop of his shoulders.

Ethan stretched his arms then threw his head back, slowly cracking his neck.

Her eyes could trace out his side profile, his nose, lips, chin and down to his neck. They went over his small Adam's apple that swayed under his skin, gently piercing it. Then she moved to his bare arms. They were long and smooth.

His fingers!
Natalie awed at them. His hands looked gentle and fragile while his palm appeared soft. She found them very pretty.

When he was done, he stared at the book for some time, reading not even one sentence. She wondered what he was up to.
He looked up from the book to the front. His eyes not focusing on anything in particular, just nowhere. Then he rested his head on his arms, still staring, perhaps thinking. Natalie found herself curious about what he was getting at.

"What is he doing?" She whispered to herself while looking from him to see if anyone else was watching this scene.
He went on and turned his head to the right, the direction she was gawking from. She didn't flinch, too drawn in. He stayed still, staring at nowhere.

She studied his peach-colored lips. They were pouty a bit and full.
Then his eyes moved. They dragged on until they got to her. He looked at her and their eyes locked.

"Oh, my goodness-ah!" She screamed inwardly between clenched teeth.

Her body tensed and froze. Her brain crashed and she stared on. She held her gaze, a little longer than she had hoped for.
It was involuntary. She was glued there, by the pair of eyes that stared back longer than she was praying for.
The boy, after a while, cocky much, then smirked and looked back at his book, more concentrated than before.

She broke free finally. She felt exposed. She had been caught staring, gawking for Lord's sake!
He had stared back and that was screwing her up. There was no need for him to capture her ridiculous expression.

Seated three paces diagonally from her was a boy that now thought her a creep and yet, she longed to watch him more.

Class then began.

                                      💝⚡️💙