Matches: Why We Burned Out

two // eyes lost in his surroundings

two // eyes lost in his surroundings (edited!)

It was a Monday lunchtime, when I was wandering aimlessly around outside and I saw the mysterious boy sitting beneath that tree again. I was still slightly annoyed about what happened a few days before, when he had nudged me and tried to turn Louisa and I against each other. However I was not one to hold a grudge.

He was wearing the same grey hoodie he wore all the time, and his hair was a curly mess as per usual. But this time he wasn't sketching, he was staring up at the clouds. His eyes were completely lost in his surroundings and it made me slightly happy that he was appreciative of nature. Not many guys were.

After taking a moment to decide whether I should bother him or not, I began to walk over to him. As I approached, I couldn't tell if he was smiling at me or not.

"Hello," he said first, taking me by surprise. On other occasions, if you wanted to speak to him, you'd have to start the conversation. Not this time.

"Uh, hi," I replied, clearly showing my slight confusion.

"Remember me?" he questioned cheekily as he raised an eyebrow. He was mocking me.

I playfully rolled my eyes and giggled, "Romeo."

His gaze returned to the clouds, but I didn't look at the clouds. My eyes were fixed on him instead. He had been blessed with long eyelashes that he didn't deserve and high cheekbones that made him look model-like. I was forced to snap out of my trance when he pointed my attention to the clouds.

"That one looks like angel wings," he whispered. As he said this, I noticed the angel wings tattooed on his wrist.

I squinted at the clouds and attempted to see what he saw, "I don't see it."

Romeo looked at me and licked his lips. Wow, imagine kissing those lips. They were full without being overwhelmingly huge, and were a soft pink – perhaps to match their texture.

"Right there," he mumbled, "you just gotta focus enough to see it. Let your imagination mess up your eyesight for a second." I squinted and tilted my head but I just couldn't see what he did. Following a frustrated huff from me, Romeo looked intensely into my eyes. My cheeks burned as I held eye contact with him, and I ran a hand through my hair once he looked away.

"You have a blue fleck in your right iris that resembles a petal." That was from Romeo. He stole another quick glance of me before he took a sip of his water. Of course I noticed the blue in my green eyes, but I never thought much of it. When Romeo said this, I felt some sort of pride in my unique eyes. His mind was artistic.

He looked back at the clouds as if he was closing the conversation. I pressed my lips together, not quite knowing what to say as I stood up. Romeo looked at me again with a subtle smile. "See you tomorrow, petal," said he.

***

After school I stood at the bus stop with Oliver, who I hadn't seen since the day he challenged me to speak to Romeo. He wiggled his bushy eyebrows as he said, "You must really like him if you're spending your lunchtimes with him."

I rolled my eyes, "It was only one time."

I did like Romeo. It certainly seemed like he was warming up to me, even if it was just a little bit. He wasn't so cold or rude this time around, and he actually smiled at me. I didn't know why people thought he was so creepy or weird, when in reality he was quite nice. But I don't know him that well yet.

"Why isn't he coming over to say hi?" Olly asked, brushing his chin with his fingers. My eyes searched the bus stop that was thronged with people for a tall boy with dark hair, and I finally found him standing with his arms crossed.

"I don't think he's noticed us," I said ironically as Romeo made eye contact with me. He almost immediately looked away. "He's shy..."

Oliver saw straight through my bullcrap and rolled his eyes. "That's my bus. I'll see you tomorrow. Oh, and tell Martin I said hi, he owes me money."

He winked and disappeared onto the bus. Once I waved him off, I walked over to Romeo, who barely attempted to acknowledge my presence. Sometimes he was nice, and sometimes he'd treat me like I didn't exist. Couldn't he just decide whether he was nice or not?

"Hi, Romeo," I said with a frown. At this point I didn't even want to speak to him anymore.

"What?" he groaned. I was taken aback by his snappiness.

"What's wrong with you?" I watched as the boy brushed a hand over his face and softened. He moved so he was standing closer to me as we both looked out to the road. His hand brushed mine and made my skin tingle. We hadn't touched like this before.

"Sorry," he said lowly. A blue car pulled over at the bus stop and I assumed it was for Romeo. "Gotta go."

And he left me there, confused.