Young Writers Society

Gnarled Branches looked like ink scrawl on an orange fused sky. Her dark eyes reflected the scene perfectly back at the boy who was watching her. He was a simple friend, nothing more though. He didn’t really know if he wanted to be more than friends, but was sure that the word friend didn’t seem to describe their relationship just right. He had a girlfriend who was quiet, nice, and cute. Everything he would ever want in a girlfriend, but this girl . . . this one in which he looked at was the one in which his feelings he couldn't describe just right.

"Are you okay?" she remarked on his distant appearance.

He brought his full attention back to her and replied in a less than convincing tone, "I'm okay." She looked curious and her mouth opened slightly as if to say something, but it seemed her respect for others had overcome her curiosity. She looked forward without saying a word.

“The sky is so beautiful today, I love it when it’s like this,” she exclaimed as she twirled. Her happy gestures conflicted with her wistful smile that sometimes emerged when she thought no one was looking.

“Sure,” he replied flatly. It was just small talk but it seemed it was hard for him to handle. He didn’t know what to say, and it appeared that she didn’t either. They walked in this awkward silence for several steps before she stopped, mystified by something that the boy didn’t see. “What is it Kay?” he asked her.

She did not reply for withheld tears sparkled in her eyes. “It’s so beautiful, “the girl said indicating the average seen before them. To the boy, it was just an empty parking lot; but to the girl it was an empty plot of pavement surrounded by several autumn painted trees with grass that was the mix of vibrant greens and golden browns, gently dancing in the brisk fall breeze.

“Really?” He asked. He squinted but his view on the landscape didn’t change. It was just the same as what he saw before. “Man Kay, you’re strange.”

Kay shook her head and muttered under her breath, “Never mind then.”

T

he two continued along with their walk in silence yet again. It was a type of comforting silence though; the two seemed to have a silent understanding. Kay looked at her friend through her hair, examining him with her photographer eyes. “Miles?”

The boy turned towards her to answer her, “Yes?”

“You‘re a scientific person aren’t you? Or maybe a mathematic person?” Kay started before continuing, “You just seem to look at the world through your eyes, not your mind. It may sound weird but that could be why you look down on things most of the time, you know?”

Miles stared at her with a dumbfounded expression. It was hard to decode the message in what she was saying. Did she just indirectly tell him he was a downer? Was this supposed to be advice? He finally stock piled the courage to ask her, “What do you mean?”

Kay sighed, closed her eyes, and shook her head. This caused Miles to feel nervous. Kay was unpredictable like the ocean when the moon is almost full. She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and demanded, “Close your eyes!”

“Why? Are you going to-“

“Just shut up and do it!” Kay snapped. Miles let out one long protesting sigh before giving in. “Now,” Kay said in a calmer tone, “think of a mud puddle.”

“Why do I-?”

“Shush! Just listen,” Kay continued, “Now tell me what colors are in that mud puddle. If you dare say brown I’ll punch you in the face.”

The last part of that sentence made Miles stifle a laugh. He remembered the last time Kay tried to punch him in the face, how she reached out her short, bony arm up. . . and how she missed by less than an inch. Even though Miles knew that Kay couldn’t follow up on her threat he closed his eyes anyway and imagined a mud puddle as she said. He observed it closely in his mind. The only color he could see was brown. He focused really hard on the mental image until he started to see more colors.

Red.

Purple.

Even a slight amount of a greenish-yellow.

Miles recited these colors to Kay. He slowly opened one eye to see her staring up at him with so much hope in her eyes it caused him to blush. His gaze was soon drawn to the world around him. It was filled with hidden colors he had never seen before. The vibrant landscape shocked him at first. “Beautiful, right?” Kay commented.

“So this is what it’s like . . .” Miles trailed off.

“’So this is what it’s like . . . ’ what?” Kay encouraged.

Miles nervously scratched his head and averted his eyes. “This is what it’s like to look through your eyes,” he muttered. He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes to see her hiding behind her hair. Great, he had officially creeped her out. He watched her like that for a while before she started continuing forward. They were very close to her house now and Miles knew he had to make amends somehow. “Uh-I-um . . . I’m sorry I didn’t mean to freak you out.”

Kay’s pace seemed to speed up just a little. “It didn’t freak me out it was . . . sweet. I’m jealous of your girlfriend because she gets to hear such sweet compliment all the time,” Kay said in what she to make a light tone but came out heavy with emotion. Kay flashed Miles a smile that seemed to be more of a grimace.

“What’s wrong? You know you can talk to me about anything,” Miles soothed.

Kay answered a bit too quickly, “Nothing’s wrong.”

“Please?” Miles pleaded while catching up with Kay with two big strides. They were less than five houses away from Kay’s house now so he needed to find out what was wrong quick or he would worry about her all night.

“Just leave it be. Go worry about someone else, will you?” Kay’s flat tone shocked Miles.

He grabbed on to Kay’s shoulders and spun her around. She shifted away from his touch as if she was disgusted by it. “What’s going on?” he demanded. He searched her face which was half covered by her overgrown bangs, covering her eyes.

Kay started to physically shake. Blush lit her face red as she exclaimed in a barley comprehendible way, “Go-back-to-your-girlfriend! Stop-leading-me-on!” She almost sprinted to her house then.

Miles stood in shock. He didn’t know what to do.

His chest felt heavy with two emotions he knew slightly.

One emotion that he shouldn’t feel for anyone but his girlfriend.

The other emotion he shouldn’t feel after a quarrel with just his friend.

He felt like he was in love and the heartbroken. It took him several seconds before he put two and two together.

He was in love with Kay.

And he was now certain she felt the same way about him.