She Was Like Magic ✓

Chapter Part 23: Red

Ari

"This assignment requires a little more of you" Dunkirk swept his gaze over all of us slowly and deliberately, a slight smile playing on his lips as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

He leaned back on his desk as he stood in front of it "You have to write about a personal circumstance and how it shaped you. One that has deeply affected you and became one of the roots of who you are. This will be hard for some of you as you have to tap into your emotions. Something we forget to do in the rush of life, especially college which blurs by you with exams and late-night studying. But it is important nonetheless to do this from time to time. To truly understand why we feel the way we do" he stared off into the distance as he tapped his closed fist over his heart, a forlorn smile on his face.

I wondered about the stories his brown eyes had witnessed, the things he had to face and the words captured by the passage of time in his wrinkles. The drops of wisdom that had coloured his hair white. I wondered of all his heart had to face. Did he get the ending he wanted? Was he happy despite sad experiences or did he have someone to help him get through it all? He was the kind of man that you knew had droplets of gold to give in his stories as advice and lessons.

My eyes wandered to her, and as my blue eyes found her green ones, she was already staring at me and she smiled more as soon as my eyes met hers. I couldn't help but smile back at her. Now that we had made love, there was a different kind of intimacy in our relationship. She was so open in her expressions and her words with me, and every movement, every gesture of affection seemed to be in slow-motion and filled with this purity.

As Dunkirk dismissed us, I made my way to her and we walked out of the class. I had my arm slung over her shoulders as we walked together and whispered to each other.

"Hey Ari!"

I stopped and so did Sierra.

"Aaron, what's up?" we both hugged and clapped each other on our backs.

He leaned back "Yeah good, good. Just fucking exhausted. No one said college would fry my brain"

"Tell me about it. It can be brutal" I nodded at him.

"Yeah, that's why we are having a party tonight. Do you wanna come?"

I looked to Sierra.

"Is this your girl? You are more than welcome to bring her too. The more, the merrier" he smiled at me and Sierra.

"How did you..."

"Its the way you look at her. You can tell straight away even though everyone knows you weren't the committing type" he nodded to Sierra and smiled and she returned the smile clearly pleased with what Aaron had said.

I looked down to the floor and smiled to myself. I looked at Sierra and then Aaron as I pulled Sierra into my side "What can I say? Find the right person and you'll know you will do anything for them. Change it all just for them" My hand around her waist tightened and she clasped my hand with her one, giving it a squeeze.

"I can see that" he tipped his chin at Sierra and I "I look forward to seeing you two tonight and asking more about how this happened"

"We shall see you there and tell you the full story if you aren't too busy running around Stuart" I laughed.

"Fuck no, last time I just got there in time as he was about to puke in my mom's antique china vase that had like flakes of gold on it. So I'm going to be hiding all the drinks from him. I wanna have a good time, not babysit" he laughed "I gotta go but see you tonight!" he started walking away.