Evanescent

4

"Orion." he was breathless, his chest heaving up and down as if every word was a struggle.

"What?" her voice was small, as her eyebrow raised in pure confusion at the boy who seemed to radiate insanity. She wanted to shake his arm off of her, to walk away without a glance back and let the people who were staring in mortification find something else to look at, but she couldn't. She was frozen, in a trance, as she stood encompassed in him.

"My name," Orion looked at her like she was the one who was crazy as he slowly brushed off the fatigue like it was nothing. "You asked for my name earlier."

Her eyes widened as it slowly dawned on her that he was answering her question, the one that had unintentionally drawn a divide between them.

"Oh right." she brushed it off as if it was nothing, letting him believe that he hadn't left her with the most confusing sense of loss when he let her walk off the train alone.

"I'm sorry that I zoned out back there, you just reminded me of someone I used to know when you asked that." She watched as his eyes peered into hers, the way he leaned in slightly almost like he was expecting something from her. Thinking over what to continue with she tried to shake off the feeling that he was waiting for something that she couldn't provide.

"Oh well I have been told I have a pretty generic face," She let the lie fall through clenched teeth as his shoulders fell in disappointment, the hopeful glint in his eyes dead. She couldn't help but feel guilty as the vulnerable aura surrounding him pushed her closer to his hunched form.

"So, what's yours?" She was brought out of her dismay at the situation as his voice ricocheted across her mind.

"Mine?" She attempted to play dumb, cautious to open herself up and hurt him even more.

"Your name, unless you would rather I just keep calling you 'that girl on the train'." Orion let out a simplistic laugh as he seemingly recovered from his previous distraught state. She had noticed how he could pull himself together so quickly that it was so easy to forget the upset expression on his face had been there at all.

"Oh, yeah," she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, prolonging the awkwardness of the moment, "Um, it's Audelia."

The truthfulness returned to his eyes as her name left her lips, the glimmer of desire warming her to the core.

"That's a beautiful name," Orion said, no bitterness seeping into his words.

"Oh well Orion is a beautiful name too," His eyebrows quickly shot up after she spoke, the redness on her face spreading as she realized her mistake in the most mortifying way possible," I-I mean handsome, yes handsome." She brought her eyes down to where her hands played with her shirt, letting the embarrassment consume her. She assumed he would simply walk away, leaving her and her awkward sentences in his dust. When the sound of his laughter filled the empty silence she kept herself from gasping in shock, something had to be wrong with this guy if he was still here.

"Well thank you very much." he seemed to be amused by the way Audelia held herself, the innocence she had clung to on display for all to see. He let go of her wrist, the action triggering her to remember his hand had been there in the first place. Something about his presence felt so right that she didn't mind the shared contact.

"I'm so sorry about that, I guess I haven't had much experience with this." She sighed her apology, giving her sincerest smile and letting him know that she didn't mean to be so bad at socializing.

"This?" he didn't seem confused and she couldn't help but inquire his true intentions as he leaned in beckoning for her answer.

"You know, talking to people." She winced at how strange she sounded and how nervous she was compared to his laid back appearance.

"Well don't be nervous," Her eyes widened as he seemingly read her thoughts, his words comforting yet alarming at the same time.

"I-I just don't know how to handle this I mean I barely know you but it's like I do. I know that sounds stupid but I jus-" Her incoherent ramble was cut short as his deep voice interrupted her, yet she couldn't bring herself to mind as she fell into the depths of his voice.

"Don't freak out okay, I know how you feel, I know you're scared." She tried to understand how their conversation could have taken this intense turn, the relaxed atmosphere morphing into something so much deeper. She felt her curiosity bubble over as his calloused hand wrapped around her small one and gave her a reassuring smile, almost as if to convince Audelia that her last piece of sanity wasn't floating away with every breath she watched him take.