Sunsets and pretty smiles

So close.

The feelings hit me like a bus. As hard as I tried convincing myself he was awful, too old, too gross, it would never work, I hated relationships, every single excuse to protect my fragile heart from those prying blue eyes.

Why had he hit so hard? He was just a boy... A couple months older than I was but in those hues of blue and green I saw a lot of hardships and pain.

Sadly, as you might expect, the 17 year old fell for him. I mean, this book would be really really short if I didn't, "and then I saw him and turned around and ran out of the supply room screaming. The end."

I wish.

If I'm honest with myself, that would have been way less awkward and painful than what happened next.

It was pretty uneventful from them on. I realized immediately he was slow. Slow with carts, slow at putting items back, slow with following me. You would have thought the man had on ankle weights. My Grandma could walk faster than him and she's got jacked up feet. We talked when we weren't working, he made me laugh, we had some good times. It took awhile but he finally got the hang of cleaning and following instructions.

One night when I was closing with him, I was vacuuming the lobby. I was outside, finishing wiping down the windows when I noticed the reflection of headlights on the glass. I originally thought nothing of it, people can drive. That wasn't illegal. But with my history of men, I turned around and watched the man in the car for a second. He stared right back at me. Tingles erupted down my back and my fight or flight kicked in. Why was I so terrified? He was just a random guy. I sighed and pushed my boiling fear down in my stomach and tried to calm my racing heart. I heard the crunch of footsteps on fallen leaves and my stomach dropped. My hands turned ice cold. I turned slowly to face the man starkly stepping towards me. I calmly stood quickly and went into the building. Who's to say I didn't need to clean the other side of the glass or run to my manager or call the cops? As soon as my foot crossed the threshold I heard the sound of running and a slam of a car door. I whirled to see the car taking off and peeling around the curb away from me. My fight or flight kicked in and I immediately called my manager.

"A what guy?" came the crackly reply,

"A crazy guy, I don't know he peeled away from the parking lot before I got a good look at him." I had felt unsafe around men since my first relationship but this was different. The electric icy fear that pumped through my blood begged for escape. I knew in my head that I was OK, that the man was long gone, but the race of my heartbeat and sweaty palms told me to get the heck away from here.

I would, however, not abandon my half vacuumed carpet and streaky windows.

"Can you have someone down here? Thomas or someone?" I knew as soon as I said it I was in trouble. Why had I said his name, what does that smoking idiot mean to me?

"Yeah, no problem I'll go see what he's doing.."

Probably something stupid.

An eternity of time passed before I saw the slow moving automated cart pull into the lobby. I was annoyed it took him so long, especially since I was so panicked over the phone but I guessed the worry didn't translate.

"Where's the guy?"

He was pretty blunt and tried to make light of the situation as I pretended my shaky hands and rapid heartbeat were from exhaustion.

I thought maybe it didn't matter or he didn't care but he watched me out of the corner of his eye while I cleaned.

"Are you almost done??" His bored tone only further frustrated me. I turned to tell him for the 8th time that no, I was not done yet, when his entire body language shifted. His whole body went irract and he stared out the doors. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I felt the weight shift from my heels to my toes, fully ready to sprint at a moment's notice.

"Is that his car." It was not a question. It was a demand.