Lilah Tov (NaNoWriMo)

one

I REALLY like this story. It's exactly what I needed to write, and hopefully I'll be able to finish by the end of July. Hope y'all like it! Tell me what'cha think. Enjoy:

one

She was swinging her legs back and forth. Her feet just barely grazed the water beneath, but it was okay, because she wasn’t wearing shoes. And as I watched her watch the sun set and dusk paint over the sky, my only thought was, “Why the hell is there a seemingly-hot girl sitting on the Greens’ dock?” I couldn’t see her face because of where I was and how the light was shining, but I could distinguish the outline of her body and her hair, which was being swept away by the light breeze. Her shoulders were cloaked in a sweatshirt, and I had to assume that she was wearing shorts, due to her bare legs. And then there were her shoes. They were right beside her. Just a simple pair of flip-flops. She looked about my age, and since these summers were always boring and hot-girl-less, I decided to go find out whom that girl on the Greens’ dock was.

           So, with about as much swag as a timid peacock, I got up from my lawn chair (and it really was mine—my mom had gotten my name engraved on the back a few summers ago) and walked along my grass lawn until I came to the short stone wall that served as a fence, separating the Greens’ property from ours. Typically, I was a firm believer in front door usage, but there was a girl who looked pretty from a distance, so I hopped the wall with little remorse. Well, actually, it wasn’t so much of a hop as it was a nice climb. I just climbed over the wall, being careful to not scrape my khakis on the moss, and then I was on the Greens’ property—sans the awkward door-bell-ringing delay.

           The girl was still sitting on the dock, and her legs were still swinging and brushing the water. She wasn’t humming or singing or even talking to herself. She was just silent, so I decided to take her lead and kept that going. Well, that was of course until I came to the beginning of the dock and contemplated stepping on it or not. Actually, I was still pretty quiet then, but when I physically stepped onto the dock and stopped mentally ruminating over the act, well, that was when noise happened. I took a single step onto the dock, and then the wood beneath me elected to freaking creak, because why wouldn’t it? But it was probably for the best, because if the wood hadn’t creaked, then my presence wouldn’t be announced to the girl, and she wouldn’t know that there was another person there. And that would’ve been creepy. So I made sound, but she stayed still and didn’t even flinch or twist her head to see what all the commotion was about. 

           Upon realizing that she either didn’t care that I was here or was deaf, I kept walking. I only stopped when I reached the edge of the dock, where she was. My standing figure cast a shadow over the girl, but she still didn’t look up. She just continued to gaze out at the water and the setting sun. And I couldn’t really blame her. It was beautiful. The contrast of sparkling blue to hues of oranges and reds and yellows and even the occasional pink or purple. It was enchanting, and though I had just been lounging on my lawn texting, sometimes I used the same time to sun gaze, too. It was one of those minimal things that happened everyday, but felt special, regardless. 

           So then like the smooth as chunky peanut butter idiot that I was, I ruined the moment and said, “Hi.” That was it. No cheesy, “Isn’t the sunset beautiful?” or even an intruding, “The sunset is pretty, but not as pretty as you.” I didn’t even go with the elongated version of, “Hi. I’m Will.” I just said, “Hi,” and left it at that.

           And you know what she said back? She said, “Hi,” and that was it. She didn’t even look up to see if the person talking to her was attractive or not (which he was, just for the nonexistent record). Just a simple, “Hi,” like I had started with. It was pretty pathetic of me, to be perfectly honest. Normally I could at least introduce myself fluently when I was talking to a girl. But right now I could barely get out a simple freaking greeting.