SEVEN
Eric stood at the doorway of blonde girl's office with a hand holding the door and the other nervously clenched inside his side pocket. He stared down at her as they both nursed a familiar silence– awkwardness.
"Uhm..." he heard her hum in the usual small tone. "Can I shut my door ... please?" She mused; but he heard her.
In the moment, Eric snapped out of his fascination and felt uneasy. "I'm sorry," he apologised and let go of the door. He thought he was about leaving but suddenly found himself with a foot in the opening between the door and the hinges. The result of his action gave birth to a faint cracking sound in his left foot.
Blonde girl's expression twisted into a frown –one of worry, rather than of frustration– "Are you alright?- why would you do that?!" And it was the loudest he'd heard her speak. Eric chuckled..
Her jade eyes widened at him; must've thought he was insane. "I ..." Eric struggled with his words due to the pain in his left leg. "... didn't get your name." He managed to utter.
Her eyes widened again. It made him wonder what she thought about but never said. "My name?" She repeated. He nodded.
"I'm ... Beth. That's what everyone calls me," she replied with her eyes momentarily fixed to the ground. "Beth," he repeated with an unspoken excitement in his eyes. He thought it was a beautiful name for a beautiful little lady but ... the lines got stuck in his throat and ended there.
"Well, see you later ... Beth." He muttered as he limped away from the door‐ her eyes followed him steadily as if searching for something. No, not searching; longing ... or was it?
Eric wanted to look again in her jade green eyes but the door slammed shut right in his face.
"Beth." He repeated as he bent down to quickly nurse his hurting leg. "Beth"– that was pretty much all it took to bring him back to fellowship that evening.
●●
"Are you okay? .... Are you okay? ... why would you do that? Are you okay?" Like a record player was stuck in his head, Eric deliberately put blonde girl's voice on repeat inside his head as he sat on the balcony of his bedroom– it was such a blissful sight and since he loved the natural, he was always there ... well, almost always.
From where he sat, he could view the fields and the farmlands at the far stretch of town just before the mountains. Ahh, Eric thought Scothbury was such a good town; such a beautiful town. He loved it there! ... And he also loved to sketch the view from the balcony, seated on a plush cushion with a can of unconcentrated beer while humming to his favourite band 'Just Boys' but today was different.
He didn't have a beer– he hadn't for the past few days and on this day, he couldn't risk it because he needed to be sober to meet blonde girl at youth fellowship later in the day. And the view?- he was oddly immune to the mesmerising beauty of the view today and rather tried to replicate that of the blonde girl he had met earlier.
He took note of the little details– not just her blonde hair or the faint streaks of dark brown he found in it, not just her pearly jade green eyes; the prettiest shade he'd seen in a long time, definitely not just her little palm or the way it disappeared inside of his when they shared a handshake or the way her peach dress was a little lose ... everywhere!
Eric drew her orange little lips and took note of the way they opened to speak words that never came out. He noticed the mess in the office room‐ an avalanche of books scattered here and there; she must have loved to read. He also represented the way she repeatedly pushed locks of hair behind her ears in sleek shades of black lead.
"Eric?" He heard his father's voice echo from inside his bedroom.
"Yes, sir. I'm out here!" He called back. "Is it 4:00pm already?" Eric asked.
"Not exactly but it seems your friend couldn't wait until then." Mr Coleman replied as he walked unto the balcony.
"Friend?" The young man repeated. His father nodded and added; "Yeah, there's a girl here to pick you up. I'm guessing this fellowship thing must have been a blast for you to have made a friend already."
"Girl?!" Eric exclaimed as he walked into his bedroom and pulled a black t-shirt off its hanger.
"Yeah. I told her to come in and sit ... is there any chance she could be the Rodriguez daughter?" His old man pressed on.
Eric felt his heart skip a few beats as he unconsciously put the shirt on. He peered into his full-length mirror and ran his hand through his dark hair a few times before dashing out of the bedroom.
He needed to know if really, it could be true ... or even possible. And he found out!- the evidence was sitting on his living room couch glancing around the house and pushing blonde hair out of her face ... Blonde girl!
