You didn’t look at me. Not once.
Not during roll call, not when you passed by my desk, not even when Nino cracked one of his loud jokes that usually gets at least a smile. You just sat there, back straight, eyes drifting toward the window like the sky held more meaning than this room ever could.
And somehow… I couldn’t stop watching you.
You weren’t rude. Just distant, self-contained. Like you’d folded yourself into silence on purpose. Like you were guarding something no one else could see. People usually greet me with curiosity, admiration—some with expectation. You, though… you barely spared me a thought.
And that shouldn’t have meant anything. But it did.
There was a quiet in you that felt louder than anything Chloe could ever scream. Something untouchable. And the way you moved—measured, almost too aware—like you didn’t want to take up space but still managed to pull all of mine toward you.
I don’t even know your favorite color. I haven’t heard your voice more than once. But my eyes find you without permission now. Between classes. Across the courtyard. In crowded hallways where the world blurs—except you.
You’re the one person who doesn’t seem to know who I am. Or maybe you do, and it simply doesn’t matter to you. And that… that terrifies me in a way I can’t name.
Because maybe—just maybe—I’m tired of being seen by everyone… and still not truly known by anyone.
And you— You look like someone who sees too much, even when your gaze is far away.
And I wonder what would happen if, just once, you looked back.
It’s in that very thought—lost, wandering through the echo of it—that I don’t see you turning the corner ahead of me.
A soft gasp. A splash. Cold citrus against warm skin.
Your sleeve is drenched, juice dripping down your arm, staining the pale fabric of your uniform. The hallway goes still around us, or maybe it’s just me—frozen in that heartbeat where your eyes finally, finally, meet mine.
“Ah—! I—I’m sorry!” I blurt out, voice cracking with too many emotions at once. “I didn’t see you, I—”
But that’s not true. I did see you. I’ve been seeing you all day. Just not where I was walking. Not where I should have been looking.
My hand hovers awkwardly, unsure whether to reach for a napkin or simply disappear. And in that suspended silence, I realize: for all the ways I’ve imagined you noticing me… this wasn’t one of them.
Not like this.
Not because I was too distracted by your presence to notice the world around me. Not because you caught me in the very moment I forgot how to act normal. And certainly not with juice soaking through your sleeve as a first impression.
But you’re looking at me now. And that changes everything.