"Hey, it's you again. Last time we saw each other I had shoved you into a wall."
I looked up as he stood in front of the empty desk next to me.
"Uh, yeah."
I looked back down at the book in my lap and continued reading. I saw him set his backpack down and drag the chair across the floor in order to sit. The screeching noise made me dig my nails into my palm.
"So what you reading?"
I sighed, and closed my book. I turned to look at him and he was staring at me.
"Eleanor & Park."
I shoved the book back into my bag because I knew he wasn't going to stop talking to me. But did I really want him to stop talking? No. But I should have. Maybe if I had just kept reading and didn't turn around to look into his giant blue eyes we wouldn't be here right now. His eyes were beautiful by the way. Any cliché you've ever read about eyes, those were his.
"She never looked nice, she looked like art,"
He quoted.
"And art wasn't supposed to look nice, it was supposed to make you feel something."
I finished. He grined at me and then stuck out his hand.
"Marcus."
I slipped my hand in his, (it was surprisingly soft for a guy) and we shook.
"Ariana."
He scanned my face with his eyes. And I didn't know why. But now that I think about it, maybe he was trying to imagine what I would look like after he made me fall in love and then stepped all over me and abandoned me on the floor.
~~
We didn't talk that much for the rest of the class. He actually paid attention. And here I thought football players didn't care. But I also thought they didn't read. So I guess I was wrong about that.
Then after class he caught up to me in the parking lot.
"Wow you walk fast."
I turned around and closed to door of my car. He stood there, his cheeks kind of flushed, I guess from trying to catch up to me.
"You should've told me, I would have slowed down. But aren't you a football player? Shouldn't you be fast?"
I grinned in a flirty way and he grinned back the same. He had dimples. His smile was lopsided. He also had freckles. But very light freckles. I hadn't noticed them before but now, under the light of the sun I could see them. Under the correct light you can see everything.
"You're funny, see I wanted to ask if you wanted to go get some coffee? Or ice cream, do you like ice cream? We could get pizza instead."
He ran a hand through his hair. It was dark brown. Not black exactly, but just a really dark brown. Almost like the color of coffee. At least, that's what it reminded me of which probably had an impact in my decision.
"Yeah, coffee is fine."
He grinned the same way again. And it was that same grin that I would end up falling in love with. And it was that same grin that would later break my heart. The same grin he would flash at me after he had taken a step back to examine his damage.
And he said,
"Great! We'll go tomorrow after school."
Then he winked, and sprinted away. Just like I should have. I should have walked away. Ran away. But I didn't know. How was I supposed to know? Even under the brightest light I don't think I would've seen what was going to happen. And how could I? I had no insight into the future. And that's what makes love tricky. Its basically like falling into a dark tunnel, without knowing if something is going to catch you. You can't see anything but you choose to fall anyway. And you don't know what is going to happen until it happens.
