"For you? I'd hold the skies on my shoulders, if it came down to it."
*****
He didn't think she'd ever look his way. Let alone, stumble into him- and into his life. But all things happen for a reason, and sometimes- when you love someone from afar...
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"YOU LIKE THEM?"
"Hmm?" I look up from the rings on his fingers that I was mindlessly fiddling with, to see him gazing down at me, his head tilted and a stray curl falling over his forehead.
"Sorry, what?" I say again softly, after a moment of staring at him.
He holds up our joined hands as he leans down closer to me. "The rings. You like them?"
"Oh," I flush slightly, looking at the way the metal glints in the light, "I- sure, they're pretty."
His thumb brushes against the back of my palm once, before he slips his fingers out of my grasp, and then holds both his hands up in front of me.
"Which one?"
I give him a confused look, so he says it again.
"Which one d'you think is the prettiest?"
"Oh... um," I step a little closer to squint at them. To be fair, they were all pretty- but I end up pointing at the one that had the keys of a piano engraved on it. "This one, I think. I've never seen one like it."
"I won it," he murmurs, tugging it off his finger and holding it up in front of me. Now that it's off his finger, I can see musical notes engraved on the inside too. He extends it further in my direction, and I take that as a sign that he was letting me hold it- so I gently pluck it out of his fingers.
"Prettiest," I nod in affirmation as I hold it up in the light, and run my finger over it. It's pretty big too, and it only fits around my thumb- so when I hold my hand up to show that to him, there's an oddly pleased look on his face.
"Keep it on," he says after staring at my hand for a few long seconds, "I'll get us both a packet from Ms. Velazquez, yeah?"
"Oh, okay," I say, a little surprised that he was even okay with me wearing it, "and sure, I'll wait here."
He gives me another small nod, as Ms. Velazquez calls on us again. Come to think of it, I hadn't even heard half of the instructions she had given us as soon as we got off the bus, since I zoned out thirty seconds into it.
I heard the first bit, where she told us to stick with our partners, and collect leaf, soil, and tree bark samples.
After that, the squirrels fighting on a nearby tree seemed far more interesting.
That, and a certain someone's rings.
It's remarkable how easily he seems to draw attention. I don't think he intends it, because he seems like the type that prefers to keep to himself, but despite that, many eyes- mine included- follow his tall frame and people automatically move out of his way.
I don't even notice someone approaching me since I'm looking at the back of his head, and the way he towers over everyone; but when she finally speaks, I really wish I had paid attention so I could have avoided it.
