Short Shorts

Coward

A/N  This short was written as a challenge to create a complete story in one sentence, all while properly using a variety of punctuation.  

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Michael’s scalp started to itch when he spotted Eliza next to the fountain at twenty-three past one, knowing, as most secret admirers know, that she met her best friend there every day before class, and that he had just a short moment to catch her before that friend showed up; but instead, he stood frozen, daydreaming about the first time he met her at the library—how he had given her a survey about campus safety but had been so caught up by her pretty blue eyes and sweet-looking mouth that he barely caught any of her opinions except her scepticism about the trustworthiness of the campus security escort service, which exception, when he could verify only that tidbit from all she’d said, caused her to turn and walk away in disgust—and how he hoped for just the right moment to talk to her again (as he could easily do now and could have done every day for the last half of the semester) until yet again his cowardice proves his doom: her friend had just appeared, and Michael scratched his scalp as he watched them walk away, a small part of him hoping for success when he tried again after her late evening class, as he knew she’d be walking home, alone.