Silently Screaming

Chapter Two

'Straighten hair, brush teeth, do makeup...'
Jane stumbled about her bedroom, spritzing on a bit of body spray here and there and trying to find her jacket. It was probably the only nice jacket that she owned. It went with a pair of black pants and a white blouse, Jane's job interview outfit. Basic as hell, but hey, it worked.
After finding and pulling the blazer off the bottom of her closet floor, Jane heard her phone vibrating from the charger. Diving onto her bed, she checked the caller ID to see it was Natalie, a close friend.
"Hello?" Jane answered the phone.
"Hey." Responded a familiar, calming voice.
"Natalie. Hi." Rolling over onto her side, Jane forgot all about her jacket, her interview, her problems. It was always like that with Natalie. That's what drew Jane towards her when they met back in college.
"Hey." Natalie repeated. You could practically hear her smile.
Silence.
"What's up?" Asked Jane after a minute.
"Nothing. You?"
"I'm trying to get ready for an interview." Jane rolled over to her back.
"Ohh, right. Have fun with that."
"You know I will."
More silence.
"I should probably let you go, then." There was that deafening smile again.
"Okay. I'll call you after, alright?"
"You better."
"Talk to you then."
"Bye."
Jane waited a moment. "Bye."
After putting her phone back down, Jane stood back up and looked in the mirror. There, she realized her cheeks were pink and she was grinning a dumb grin. Not again.
Jane often found herself flushed or giddy after talking with Natalie these days. She remembered their first true interaction with each other, how the attraction hit like a brick and only developed more as they developed as friends. Every day she was awed the fact that she was this close with someone who was so sweet and so fun and so very strikingly beautiful.
Originally, they had both been invited up to a lakeside cabin by a group of mutual friends for spring break last year. It was the first or second night, almost everyone was passed out, when a slightly drunk Natalie woke up Jane. She wanted to go swimming, and a rather dazed Jane agreed.
Even though she had been drinking that night, Jane remembered Natalie vividly. Her dark brown curls drooping past her shoulders. Her tanned skin, glowing in the moonlight, dripping with water. And her eyes, the small eyes that stuck out of her perfect face. Some may call them dull green, but to Jane, they were like bright, grassy moons, floating in her head, blocking the rest of the world from seeing inside like an eclipse. Angelic. Bewitching. Charming. Dazzling. Enticing. Fair. Gorgeous. You could go through the entire alphabet with words to describe Natalie and her eyes. Lord knows Jane has.
After a minute or two, she realized she had to get back to the matter at hand. Jane threw on her jacket, straightened herself out, and ran to grab her bag.
Once she knew she had everything, she stopped and glanced at the mirror one more time. Natalie's face swam into her mind again. She knew it could never be; even if Natalie was into girls, she was too perfect for Jane. Almost so perfect to make Jane hate her, but those feelings were always erased pretty quickly. Natalie was just so.... Amazing. In every single way.

While leaving the house to go to the bus stop, Natalie's face remained burned into her retinas. It was like it lived there.
Jane called it a small crush. Others would call it an obsession.