And the prompts were….
There she was in her usual seat in the corner by the window. Sun shining in through the glass was catching on the dust motes in the air. They sparkled around her like stars. Her waist length blonde hair was catching the light too, causing the silky strands to fall like liquid gold onto the desk in front of her.
It was four o’clock on Monday. His favourite after school study period. True, he saw her in class every day and in the hallways and school cafeteria but here in the library for an hour on Mondays was his chance to watch her unobserved.
“Keep quiet!” boomed the librarian, chastising a noisy study group on the far side of the room.
The blonde girl never looked up at the noise. As always, she had her ear buds in.
“What’s she listening to?” he wondered and not for the first time.
She wasn’t like the other girls in school. Her spirit was free. There was no conformity to the fashion dress code. She blatantly shunned this in favour of her own simple style. Most days she wore black skinny jeans, Converse and band tees. The bands were seldom anyone he’d ever heard of but he’d note the names down in his planner then listen to them later on Spotify. Even her choice in music was non-conformist. He liked that. He was less sure of most of the music her t-shirts introduced him to.
He felt a familiar twitch in his boxers as his gaze fell on her breasts, perfectly outlined thanks to the thin tight cotton.
He’d been watching her all term, ever since she’d arrived in school after the Christmas holidays. There were only three weeks until summer break then two long months would pass before he would see her again on a regular basis. Somehow, he needed to find the confidence and the courage to speak to her. If he couldn’t speak to her without tripping over his words, how was he ever going to ask her out on a date? As far as he knew, she didn’t have a boyfriend. He’d never seen her with anyone else, even when he occasionally caught sight of her at the mall or the cinema.
There were only ten minutes left of the study hour.
On a brave whim, he tore off the bottom corner of the page he was attempting to solve a maths problem on and hurriedly wrote, “What are you listening to?”
Before nerves and shyness got the better of him, he slipped out of his seat on the pretence of fetching a book from the shelf behind the window table. Checking that the ever-watchful librarian wasn’t looking his direction, he slipped the torn piece of paper under one of the girl’s text books, grabbed the first book his hand found on the shelf and scurried back across to his seat.
His heart was pounding.
His palms were sweaty.
His boxers suddenly felt very tight.
He glanced down at the book he’d scooped off the shelf – “A History of 19th Century Romantic Poets”. Now, that was something he’d never be!
He stared down at the faded cover waiting for his heart rate to drop and the adrenaline surge to pass.
Trying to act casual, he lifted his gaze and looked across towards the window.
She wasn’t there! Her books were still scattered across the table along with her coffee cup.
A movement to his right caught his attention.
She was standing at the bookshelf beside his table with her back to him. He stole a surreptitious glance at her butt in her tight jeans. His boxers tightened again. As she turned to return to her seat, he watched as she left a small folded square of paper on the corner of his table.
He unfolded it with trembling hands.
“The Sound of Silence by Disturbed. Fancy a coffee? Starbucks in the mall tomorrow after school.”
Hardly daring to breathe, he looked up and turned to look across at her. She was watching him.
Time seemed to move in slow motion.
She smiled.
He smiled back and nodded.
She smiled again, packed her books into her backpack and left the library.
Coral McCallum 