My Eyes On You

Dark probing eyes

She took a seat next to the window, and cradled her beer.She saw him across the room after several minutes. As he came in, several friends were surrounding him. She lifted her eyes to him, feeling her heart lurch and then speed up,strumming at an unbelievably fast pace. She was unable to pull her gaze from him, yet at the same time, she was terrified. “He‟s going to humiliate me,” Leah said to

Mona.

“No, he won‟t,” Mona said. “Look, he‟s having a good time.bWe‟ve been over this.”Brendan blended in easily with the high school crowd.He was only twelve, but he looked seventeen: tall, broad-shouldered, muscular. He was an athlete. He played for the Harris football team and he was sure to make Varsity in his freshman year at the high. His hair was dark and straight, and he had a habit of flicking it back with his head when it got into his eyes—his dark, probing eyes.

Leah thought that his eyes most closely matched the color of a stormy sky above a restless sea. His features were sharp and looked sculpted, his nose straight and defined,

his jaw prominent and jutting. And his lips—pouty and

sultry for a boy—were all that Leah could do not to stare

at.

Her heart quickened even more as she looked up shyly

in his direction. She felt the coolness of the silver locket against her breast as her chest heaved slightly.

She stared at the plastic cup in her hands and before she

even thought about it, she took a huge gulp.

Strangely, she did not become dizzy. She was

exhilarated. She stroked the cup and turned away from

Brendan when she saw that he was beginning to look back at

her.

He was talking with some people. He was laughing.She felt blood rush to her face when she looked back at him

and saw that, again, he was looking at her.

Embarrassed,she decided to go upstairs. “Where are

you going?” Mona asked.

Leah could barely speak. “I need to get some air.”

She took another swig of her beer. Swarming through her head were doubts and pangs of guilt about lying to her

parents about what she was doing tonight. She felt bad that she had betrayed their trust after they had proved,time and time again, that they were faithful and

trustworthy to her. Scenes from her childhood flooded her

memory: happy memories with her mommy and daddy, going to the park with her brother, going on family vacations.

She shouldn‟t have done this to them, not after all they had done for her. Just as she reached the first step, she felt

a hand on her arm.

“Don‟t go.”

She turned her head.

It was Brendan.

She turned to him and looked into his eyes. His eyes were soft, and kind. She had never seen such a look on another person before, especially not him. She had never

been touched so softly before. She looked down at his hand, which was still on her arm, and then back into his face. Her heart melted.

“Don‟t go,” he repeated.

She smiled slightly.

“Don‟t I know you?” he said.

The music seemed to become softer and the room cooler as Leah opened her mouth to speak. “Of course you know

me,” she said. “We go to school together, remember?”

He removed his hand slowly and then scratched his

head. “Oh, right.”

“It‟s kind of dark in here,” she said. She took her foot off the first step and placed it back down on the

floor.

“You wanna go somewhere?” he asked.

Mona was nodding approval.

Leah nodded, feeling excitement well within her at an intolerable level, and at the same time, feeling calm.

“Sure.”

He led her upstairs. She was sure that her palms were

sweating.

The music seemed to grow louder and more intoxicating

now. There was no fear in her at this point; only a serene calm that allowed her to follow Brendan upstairs one, then

two flights of stairs to where the music was no more than a

far-off beat.

No alarms were going off in her head. She sensed no

danger; she was not aware that something detrimental might

happen to her. Thoughts of her parents left as quickly as

they had come.

Left and right, high school kids five, six years older

than her were drinking and making out and dancing and

smoking.She felt lighter than air as she ascended the steps to the top floor, to a bedroom in the back corner.

“Look, I‟m sorry about all the stuff I‟ve been saying,” he said.

She shook her head lightly. “It‟s no problem.”—even though she knew that it had been.

“I‟ve been watching you for a long time, see, and it‟s not because I think you‟re ugly. I know I say that, but really I think you‟re beautiful.”

“You think I‟m beautiful?”

He closed his eyes for emphasis. “Yes, I do.”

She was no longer sitting on a bed talking with a boy she went to school with; she was flying. Brendan reached over and kissed her neck.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

“Don‟t you feel it too?” he said.

She tried to say no but the words didn‟t come out.

Instead, she took the flat of her hand and pushed him against the chest.

Only, he wouldn‟t stop.

And then the fear gripped her. Even more powerful than the excitement and the love she felt for Brendan. But she was too weak to fight it. Dizziness overcame her. The room was dim, seemed to be a place from one of her dreams.