When She Loved Me

03

we were at the same farmer's stand. i was looking for seedlings as it was time to start planting in the community garden. she was smelling the lilies, hyacinths, and marigolds. her eyes would light up when she'd find a flower to her liking. she ended up on roses -- i thought that was so cliche.

but the thing about these roses . . . they weren't your typical rose, no. and she wasn't your typical woman. something so tragic about the roses appealed to her in a sense only she could feel. when she stumbled upon them, her countenance was filled with sorrow and anguish. it looked as though she was struggling to hold back tears. maybe her first lover had given her a rose, or she would place one on her mother's grave. i didn't know.

she sauntered through the greenhouse, many people filling the gaps and closing in the empty spaces. there wasn't any room where i could casually find my steps syncing with hers.

i took this as a challenge.

when she went up to the register, i made sure i wasn't two or three people behind her like usual. i didn't want to be a wisp to her anymore. the time where our gazes collided was the only time she had ever noticed me, realized my existence. but by the next morning, i was wiped from her memory.

this time, i wanted to make my existence impressed in the very core of her memory. i stood behind her, holding the seedlings i wanted in my right arm, and in my left arm i held a single lily, the first flower she noticed upon arrival. when she'd turn around, her eyes would notice it, linger upon it for a second. then she would look up and meet my stare again, and my face would register in her mind palace yet again, this time sticking for more than just a fleeting moment.

"will that be all?" the cashier asked monotonously, his greasy hair sticking flat to his forehead. he didn't even look up to see the treasure right in front of him.

"mmhm," she murmured, pulling her wallet out of her dark brown leather satchel. upon pulling out her wallet, her keys and sunglasses fell out and clinked heavily on the washed-out pavement.

i swooped down swiftly and placed my left hand on the keys at the exact same moment she did. she let out a soft, quiet gasp. her eyes met my collarbone and trailed up to my lips, and then finally . . .

those piercing blue-grey eyes met mine.