She woke up to the sound of her alarm and the feel of the brisk morning air on her face. Cuddled into her blankets, this was the moment she dreaded each morning, but she had no other choice but to get up – after all, today was a very important day.
Lowering her warm feet down onto the cold wooden floor was always the hardest part, and on any other day she’d go about it as slowly as possible, but not today. Today she quickly wrapped her blanket around her shoulders, firmly planted her feet on the cold floor, and got up to start the kettle. Before she knew it she had finished her coffee, had gotten entirely dressed, and was just putting the finishing touches on her makeup…with 15 minutes to spare. Maybe she had had time to get out of bed slowly.
She looked at her reflection in the mirror. Despite waking up early to prepare, she didn’t look all that special…she glanced at her lipsticks, eyeshadows, jewelry…this would have to do. Of course she knew what shoes to wear – she’d planned her whole outfit days ago. She could wait at home, but what would she do? No, it was best to just leave now, even if she was early to be early.
With that thought, she put on her coat, double-checked the contents of her bag, slipped on her shoes, and stepped out into the fresh morning air.
Winter was particularly cold this year, but today seemed somehow manageable, as if the excitement radiating from her had somewhat thawed the ice. Unfortunately that did make the ground a bit more slippery.
Watching her feet, she stepped slowly and carefully around the corner of her building, only to walk right into a pole. Wait, it wasn’t a pole. Oh crap, it was a person.
“Sorry,” she murmured under her breath, her eyes glancing up at the stranger.
Whatever it was she’d been expecting to see was not what stood in front of her now. Standing in front of her was a girl who must’ve been about the same age, and about the same size, actually, yet she was nowhere near the same category of human. This girl was unlike any she’d ever seen before – at least in real life. Long, shiny brown hair that fell in waves perfectly framed her face. Below her thin, bouncy bangs, her brown eyes sparkled, even in their mild annoyance. Her face seemed to naturally glow, complimented by mascara and lipstick. Her cheeks looked extra rosy from the cold.
She was the definition of perfection, and she was staring right at her.
“That’s okay,” though her eyes, which had yet to break contact with her, showed mild annoyance, her voice rang sweet like honey. Surely that was a skill she’d developed over the years, as most women had to. “It’s hard to watch where you’re going around here with all this ice.”
She wasn’t sure why, but she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Is this how death would take her? At the glance of a pretty girl? If so, she honestly wouldn’t mind.
“Well,” eye contact broken, “I gotta get going. Be careful out here!” As the other girl turned and went on her way, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed in every fiber of her body. Why didn’t she say something? Why did she just stand there like an idiot??
She couldn’t explain why, but she knew she needed this girl in her life. She considered running after her, but she didn’t want to scare her away. Slowly, her feet moved in their initial direction, her head turning back to find the girl had already vanished around a corner.
She kept going.
dream.think.work. 