Kaleidoscope

Motif 4 : Freckled

October 10

The sun had shown up finally and the weather was formidable though the skies were still painted with grey. I had gotten up a bit early to spend some time on the grounds with my football. The grounds were deserted, not a surprise actually, since there was still two whole months of holidays left before the next semester started. Even the teaching community on the campus was dwindling down and I was one of the few staying back from going home. My home was here, in New York, but I felt I'd rather stay behind as I had no longing to go back home and face my parents, given the fact that I hadn't actually made their lives any easier, even though they constantly worried about me and told me that they cared.

I was practicing some of the moves, hoping to work on them and improve before the rest of the team came back and the official practice sessions began. Football was the only other thing that I interested myself in apart from academia. Even though I was just a tall, lanky kid with big hands and feet, I was coached from a small age and I played decently well. It was also a nice change that helped me cope with my stress. I was running with the ball dribbling at my feet lazily, to the other side of the ground, and with a swift kick, I easily managed to get it into the unguarded goalpost.

A loud cheer and clapping made me jerk with surprise and I quickly turned my head in the direction of the sound, only to be washed with a sense of unfamiliar anxiety. The familiar red-haired goddess, that I was praying for not too long ago, was walking towards me, with the same sling-bag over her shoulders, and a wide grin that made her look even more beautiful than the first time I saw her. Up close I could see her unruly hair, her two front teeth that were infinitesimally larger than the other ones and the prominent curve of her nose. An array of freckles had showered her cheeks but at that time, I had never seen anyone more beautiful.

"Well, it was about time and I thought that I'd make the first move" she said, her grin dissolving into a disarming quirk of the lips.

"Smile!."

She framed the index fingers and thumbs of both of her hands into a sort of rectangle that I assumed was supposed to hold an imaginary camera, knocked her head to one side and made a small sound.

Click.

I was utterly taken by surprise and I immediately felt my hands start to sweat and the slow rise of my heartbeat. I think she sensed it too, I must have looked like a fool, with my mouth wide open and eyes bulging out, but she said nothing, she just chuckled.

"I saw you the other day in the library didn't I?", she questioned, getting straight to the point.

"Yes?" I replied, unsure, as I didn't want her to think that I was creeping on or stalking her. But she just shook her head still with a smile on her face.

"I know I did. I wouldn't forget you now would I?".

"I'm sorry. You know who I am?" I asked her, the anxiousness slowly turning to panic. I didn't want her to know who I was. I definitely did not want to get myself into something that I would end up regretting.

"Everyone knows who you are here. It's kind of hard to miss you when you have all the professors raving about your genius" she answered, with a tinge of ridicule, as though what I was saying was incredulous news to her.

I could not come up with a response, so I didn't respond. We both just stood there awkwardly, atleast I thought so. Me trying to come up with something to say while she stared at me, with her head knocked to the side, as if daring me to say something in reply.

"Sorry for the other day", I finally spoke up, "I wasn't trying to be a creep, I was just randomly looking inside when I spotted you and then you looked up at me and, yeah", I lamely finished. I was a hundred percent sure that my cheeks were beet-red by now, I could feel the blood rushing to them and burning them and this was an alien sensation. I put my head down and pretended to kick at the little grains of sand beneath my feet, hoping that she would disappear as quickly as she did arrive.

But all I saw was a hand reach out and try to gain my attention. I looked up and saw her smiling that gorgeous smile of hers, where her chin protruded out a bit and her long red hair fell a bit over her head partly covering her vibrant green eyes. She had her eyes locked onto mine and now her hand was spread out as an invitation.

"I'm Eleanor. Nice to meet you", she said and I slightly brushed my hand on my shirt, trying to rub off the sweat on it, a futile attempt and stupid thing to do if I were to look back at it, considering my shirt was probably sweat stained too.

"Alexander, nice to meet you too", I said joining my hand snugly with hers giving her a light smile. But what I didn't expect was to feel a jolt of lightning pass through my hand up till my shoulder. It felt like I had been zapped with electricity and she had been the source of it. I quickly looked from our joined hands to her and she shared a similar expression of bewilderment, her eyes growing bigger just by a fraction.

I coughed and quickly took my hand and placed it by my side, though I still felt the reminiscent sparks. But she took her time, slowly her eyes left mine and attached themselves to her hand that was still in the air and she kept staring at them, whilst her lips had curved into a small smile. I followed her and looked at her hand too, unsure of what else to do. After the passing of what seemed like a few seconds, she looked at me again and retracted her hand back to her.

"Would you like to go get coffee with me?, she questioned gently, her voice had lost its confidence and had attained a newfound softness. This suited her too. Her chin dropped a little lower making more strands of her hair fall on her eyes. I even thought I imagined a mild blush that had spread over her cheeks, making her freckles stand out and she even looked a bit anxious.

I was surprised at this, at her, at our predicament and before I could stop myself, I ended up saying,

"Sure, why not?".

She smiled at me again, this time showing off her large teeth and before I knew it, she had clutched her hand around the piece of fabric below my shoulder and was dragging me off towards the sidelines where I had put my bag down. I couldn't help enjoying the warmth that her hand provided even through the layer of my shirt and I followed behind her, trying not to accidentally bump my long feet against her short ones.

I didn't know what I was thinking by agreeing, maybe I wasn't thinking at all. But I managed to stall the gnawing sensation to the back of my head. It was just coffee right?. Surely I had had coffee with people before. This was going to be no different. Right?.

When I got up this morning, I never would have dreamt that my day would turn out to be like this, a bit more freckled.