On A Mission

It Was Her

          Her name was Lana. Lana Sutton. She grew up in Arlington, Texas. She had a caramel complexion with a neither small nor big, brown afro. She had beautiful brown eyes that changed into a light brown, sort of hazel, color in the sunlight. She had a nose that was kind of big. Her lips were big and brown, with the top one being just a little bit bigger than the bottom. She had a beauty mark right in between her, kind of messy, eyebrows. She had a dimple on both of her cheeks, with the right one being bigger than the left. She was about 5'1'' with wide hips that gave her a kind of curvy frame. She wore tall, black-framed glasses, pushed very close to face. She had basic silver braces.

          She was just your ordinary 18 year old. She had just graduated high school. With her amazing grades, she had earned a full ride scholarship to The University of Houston. Her parents were so proud of her. She was proud of herself, too. Only of her grades. Lana didn't have very much confidence or self-esteem. In high school, boys would call her ugly when she walked down the halls. No one really tried to talk to her or get to know her. She didn't really have any friends. She felt alone. She didn't go to any of the dances during those lonely 4 years. Not even homecoming or prom. But, she felt like that was what helped her reach her academic achievements. Instead of going out and partying like the other kids, she would stay home and study for hours and hours on end. Now she had a full-ride scholarship to her dream university. But, her parents felt that it was important for her to experience something fun and exciting or else she would regret not having those fun experiences when she gets older. They always encouraged her to come out of her shell and meet some friends, but she felt that she just didn't vibe with anyone at her school. So, she declared to her parents that, since she was out of high school and was about to go to college, she will try to explore a little bit. She only said that to appease her parents, but deep down inside she also wanted to experience new things, too. She was 18 now. She was old enough to make her own decisions. She was ready to make her own decisions. She felt like she was ready for the world. At least that's what she thought.

          It was the first day of summer vacation. Lana had woken up at 6:00 AM, since she was still used to the school schedule, and couldn't go back to sleep. So, she just got up, took a shower, brushed her teeth, ran a pick through her afro, put on some sweat pants, a tie-die hoodie, and her Nike slides, and left the house to go to the gas station that was down the street from her house. Lana parked her car at one of the pumps and walked into the gas station. She looked around the store to find her favorite bag of chips, some candy, and a drink from the fridges before she walked up to the cashier to pay for her gas and snacks. "20 on pump 4," she said with her raspy voice that was more raspy than usual since she was still tired. She paid the man for her things and started to walk out of the store. She was looking down, trying to put her change in her wallet while walking toward the exit when all of a sudden she saw the glass door opening. She couldn't get out of the way in time, so she was hit in the face, making her glasses fall to the ground. "Oh, my god. Are you alright," said the female's voice who had opened the door. Lana was looking for her glasses on the floor, but everything was a blur. "Yes, I'm okay. Can you just help me look for my glasses?" Soon after saying that, she felt a soft, delicate hand touch hers and hand her the glasses. Lana put her glasses on so she could properly thank whoever helped her. "Thanks-" Lana was struck with a beautiful brown face, with beautiful dark brown eyes, which were filled with worry. "I am so sorry. Are your glasses okay," said the girl with a tone of concern. Lana stammered, "Y-yeah. Yeah, there fine." The girl helped Lana up off of the floor and dusted her off. "Cool. And again, I'm really sorry-" "No, it was my fault. I wasn't paying attention. But, thank you for helping me find my glasses," Lana said with a smile. "No problem," the girl said with an even bigger smile. They stared at each other for a second. Then Lana walked out of the store, pumped her gas, and sat in her car.

          Lana sat there thinking about the girl. She tried taking in all the features of the girl she could in that short amount of time that she had. She remembers her soft hands, beautiful brown skin, her big dark brown eyes, and her curly brown hair that was loosely thrown into ponytail. Lana smiled at the thought of the girl. But was snapped out of that thought and transferred into a new thought. Why was she acting like that in front of the girl? Why was the girl making her nervous? Why was she still thinking about the girl? Lana didn't know the answer to these questions right now. Neither did she know the answer to the question "where am I gonna go today?" since she promised her parents the night before that she was going to spend the day out exploring. Lana started her car while trying to figure out where she was going to spend today. But her thoughts slowly drifted back to the girl and why she was thinking about her so much. Lana plugged her phone into her aux cord, opened Spotify, and started "The Night Song" by Ravyn Lenae. Lana drove out of the gas station parking lot, onto the street to start her exploration.