Just the Highlights

Julie: A Few Years/Just the Highlights (202)

 After seeing Eli that morning I was a little shaken. I never ever yelled at people on the road, even if they were at fault, and the one time I actually decided to stand up for myself I had to yell at Elliot fucking Masters. When I saw him staring back at me from his car I almost peed my pants. Was I supposed to apologize for yelling? Was I supposed to say hello? Ask him to pull over so we could catch up? There weren't rules for this sort of thing!

In the end I didn't do anything. My phone started ringing, Abby was wondering where I was, and I decided that I didn't have time to sit here staring at him like we were high school sophomores again (meaning I was too chicken to do anything). So I started my car again, not bothering to roll up my window, and raced down the street.

Naturally, Abby was very concerned when I met her at the outdoor mall twenty minutes later. She knew I wasn't exactly looking forward to this shopping day (it was one of my few precious days off, I didn't want to spend it shopping), I had had no excuse not to shop since Casey had to work, but she wasn't expecting me to look like I had just seen a ghost. And let's be honest, I kind of had.

It took about half an hour for me to fully explain what had happened. You'd think it wouldn't take that long but I hadn't really ever told her the full details of what had happened during the coat closet debacle so I had to give her lots of background knowledge for the whole "I just cursed out Eli without knowing it was him and drove away" thing to fully sink in. By the time I had finished we had both laughed it out a little and I had cried a little too. Even though it had been five years since I had seen him, the encounter had brought back all my suppressed emotions.

By the time I had finished, Abby had decided that the only remedy for this trauma was for me to shop even more. I didn't really want to but I had the money and no real argument for something else to do (other than maybe eat some ice cream or find a churro). So I found myself going from store to store, basically buying myself a whole new wardrobe.

Finally, around four o'clock, Abby let me rest. She took me out to the center courtyard and we plopped ourselves down on this low brick wall to look at our spoils. For a split second I had a moment of peace but then Abby started arguing with me over this sweater I promised I'd buy but hadn't. It was a friendly argument, but it sort of took everything out of me. Anything I had left flew right out when I looked away from her and to the people who were walking around the courtyard. As I did this, I made eye contact with a beautiful pair of blue eyes. Eyes I would recognize anywhere.

I don't know if he had been watching me for a while or if we had just happened to make eye contact, but either way I was completely bowled over by seeing him. I leaned over and shakily whispered to Abby if that was him over there. Not that she would know how to recognize him on sight, but she would at least be able to tell me if I was imagining things.

Unfortunately, I already knew the answer. After all, I had learned how to recognize the back of his head in high school so recognizing his face was much easier, no matter how long it had been.

Anyway, Abby confirmed my fears and again I had to figure out what the hell I was going to do. But luckily for me, I didn't have to figure it out. He moved away from his friend, not saying anything to him to explain, and started walking in my direction.

He looked so handsome, he was always too handsome for his own good, in his suit that was only just showing signs of wrinkling. The space between us was quite large, but as he walked over he never looked away from me once. I wasn't exactly in any position to look away either. I could have sworn that he looked surprised to see me but I thought that was impossible because I had never seen Eli taken off guard. But maybe he was.

When he reached us I started to get down from the wall but stumbled, unsurprisingly, and he nimbly caught me. I looked up at him, embarrassed at my clumsiness and at our close proximity, but when I met his gaze my knees betrayed me and started to buckle even more. He was the same Eli I had known, just a few years older.