anika & angus

it happens

anika and angus lived in the same apartment complex full of nosy kids, drunken bachelors and forgotten women. anika was a golden child with large oversized glasses upon her brown face. all she knew about life was what she read in books; mostly fairy tales, unbelievable truths and hopefully situations full of love and suspense. angus on the other hand was a boy with too much real world experience for such a young boy of only seventeen. his parents were quite the two, one was drowning in paperwork, duties and spiked shots at the local bar trying to search his mind for a new happier life, but was yet to find one. the other was suffocating in the harshness of everyday life.

how angus and anika met was quite ordinary, they met at the bus stop down the street from their complex, her arms were full of large books that her grandmother from seattle had personally sent to her, her glasses almost took up half of her face, angus thought they made her eyes appear bigger than what they would originally look like. angus had stolen a pack of cigarettes from his friends house and intended on smoking them during his free period.

anika recognized the boy from apartment 604, she knew they shared a class together, where angus would be asleep. their eyes met for a second, and she anxiously glanced away.

anika always sat alone on the bus, so did angus. they had their share of friends, but in the mornings they preferred to stay to themselves. as the bus passed through the city, she opened one of her many books and began to read, a pair of black ear plugs were shoved into her ears, angus' eyes never left the piece of paper in his hands.

throughout the day they'd pass each other in the halls. sometimes their eyes would meet, other times their shoulders would slightly collide or their hands. during lunch angus noticed a few girls teasing anika about her glasses, later he saw a boy had taken her notebook and was teasing her so she couldn't grasp it, angus thought the book looked like a diary, she'd always clench it close to her chest as if she was afraid someone would take it and her deepest secrets would be revealed.

"give that back to her." angus demanded, he had casually been watching the teasing for about twenty seconds, "excuse me, punk?"

"i think you heard me." angus lee was a tall guy, kind of board, so retrieving a small book from a boy about his exact size wasn't very hard all it took was a good punch in the arm.

"here you go, anika." he gently placed the journal into her palms, "thank you, so much." she smiles, her smile made his stomach flip, it was beautiful. "no problem, don't pay that goon any attention." and that was that. they went their separate ways again, but today anika wondered why he had stopped to help her.