SHE MET HIM when she was seven-and-a-half—
And, yes, the half does count even though she still barely made to four feet, and her shoe size is a mere eight in children's, but she's still seven-and-a-half.
Elora was standing with her small hand—paw, really, at this point—stuck into the groove of her hip, jutting her chin up in all her vicious, seven-and-a-half year old glory, with the feral, crooked teeth smile. She cradled her jewel-blue bike, without the training wheels thank you very much, with her other hand and her head bobbed slightly as she tried to push her helmet out of the wisps of hair tangling in her eyelashes.
He was kind of lanky, and his ebony hair stuck out in tufts spiralling around his head as he regarded her in what could be barely-concealed curiosity. His eyes narrowed as he took her in—a lavender pastel frock with the matching light-up Skechers and everything. And she returned the gesture, eyeing his dirt-smudged hands before seeing it—the thing that would make their rocky glaring match into something that resembled a mutually beneficial acquaintanceship.
He had a skateboard. With the fire decals and everything. She liked it.
"I'm Elora," she stated in her raspy voice that only ended up lightening to a soft tone when she reached the cusp of nine and ten.
"Jasper," he returned. And he smiles. It's more of a half-smile that has way more lip than teeth. But it's ethereal, shining the apples of his cheeks with bulbs of light and leaving crow's feet on the corners of his eyes, where his scattering of freckles met his dark eyes.
Her little seven-and-a-half self sung with the crescendo of adoration filling up whatever crevices were in her heart then. It had the beat of her heart running the verses; and the pulse under her jaw preparing for the bridge.
It felt like the lines at the end of the last stanza in Oh! Darling as Paul McCartney sings 'I'll never let you down'—and his voice goes a bit high, and his words slur together, and his little woo at the end reaches a climax of extraordinary proportions.
Back then, his words, his three little words, belted the chorus with his squeaky little voice exhaling in a mumbled jumble of, "We should play."
And when she replied in a soft, hesitant okay—
She fell in love.
It took her all of about ten seconds.
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a u t h o r ' s n o t e: hi, mates. i'm grace—and i kind of like to dabble in this whole writing thing. this is probably really short lil pre-scene to the story (literally only 400 words) but, it's the start of something?? idek, but, yeah—
YOU ARE READING
only fools rush in
Short StoryIt took Elora all of about ten seconds to fall in love with Jasper. And it took him about ten years to do the same.
