The next day dawned sunny and chilly. The sky was tinged with pink, and I was in an exceptionally good mood. When I woke up, I thought it would be a normal day working at the store. I’ve never been so wrong in my entire life. I didn’t know I would remember this day for the rest of my life.
“Hey, Rae!” Ryker’s voice calls over the phone. He’s at school, probably at lunch right now, and I’m at the bookstore.
“Sup, Ry?” I ask while throwing books into a bag for a lady.
“Your man’s free,” He laughs into the phone.
“Repeat that please?” I ask, confused, and turn the radio in the store down.
“Knox is broken up with Katie,” He clarifies. My heart beats faster, but then I remember: “They break up all the time and then get back together, Ryker. Knox said Katie does this a lot.”
He clears his throat. “Not this time. He told her he was done breaking up and getting back together. Apparently last night she broke up with him again, and that’s why he couldn’t go back to his house to get his assignment. Then, today in school when she asked to get back together, he told her no.”
I sink down into the seat behind the counter. “Okay,” Is all I say. What else can I say?
“K, I gotta go. Bye,” and the line clicks. I need to teach him phone etiquette.
Back to Knox though, I’m proud of him. He deserves better than her.
It was at about four o’clock that my life changed forever.
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I would remember everything about that afternoon for years. The fact that I was wearing a skirt that was short in the front, but long and flowy in the back. It was light pink. And I was wearing a blue tank top with it. I was also wearing boots and a necklace. It was a chilly day, but not unbearable. At four o’clock there was no one in the store.
It was almost closing time.
I almost missed him.
I was stocking books, about to head home, when the bells over the door tinkled. I turned around, and he was standing in the doorway. His hands were jammed in his pockets, his hair going everywhere from the wind. His hoodie was bunched up around his arms, and he was looking right at me.
And his eyes.
His eyes were the goldest gold I’d ever seen.
“Hey,” I say, my voice soft.
“Hi,” he says, and crosses the store to stand in front of me. “I have to tell you something.”
I watch him carefully. “Okay,” I say. Totally terrified of what’s coming next.
He looks around the room, and finally back at me, before taking a huge breath. “I really like you, Raven Keating.”
And that’s about when the walls I had been building up for 16 years around my heart shattered.
6 words. 6 words is all it took.
I look up at him, bewilderment probably obvious on my face. “Why?”
No one has ever really liked me before. I mean, there was Anthony, but that wasn’t exactly mutual.
His face contorts almost in pain, “I’ll tell you, but you have to tell me if you like me too first. I’ll die if you don’t.”
A grin overtakes my face, and I nod. “Yeah, I do like you. A lot.”
He smiles and sighs. “Thank the Lord.” He sits down in one of the seats around the fire, and I sit next to him.
“Here’s the thing, Raven. I never intended to like you. I saw you in this bookstore, and thought you were the weirdest nerdiest girl in the entire world.” He fiddles with his hands.
I interrupt, sensing he’s stuck. “When did that stop?”
He laughs. “When you opened your mouth. You spoke to me, and you were sarcastic. I think the second conversation we had you told me to get out of your store. You were gutsy, and bold. And I liked it. But I tried to sit on my liking for you. I had a girlfriend, I told myself. You had a boyfriend. And you were so amazing, I knew you’d never like a guy like me. You deserved someone like Anthony.”
“I didn’t want someone like Anthony,” I say softly and he nods.
“I know. Anyway, I tried to stifle my feelings for you. It was going pretty well. Until the night you told me about your eyes.” He looks straight at me.
I freeze.
“What?” I ask, my voice shaking.
“When you told me about your eyes, I freaked. I thought, the girl I like is insane. When I left the store that night, I didn’t believe you right away. I thought you were crazy and not right in the head.” He pauses, and takes a deep breath. “And that’s when I realized it.”
I can’t breathe. “Realized what?”
He reaches over and brushes my cheek with his finger, and my skin burns at his touch. “That’s when I realized that even if you were crazy, I’d still want to be with you. That even if you were insane, you would still be the only girl I’d ever want to be with. You were still the girl I fell for. Your confession didn’t change what I felt for you.”
All my life, my eyes have hurt me, damaged me, and they’ve made my life a disaster.
But this once, this one time, I do believe, they saved me.
It’s sitting in a small bookstore on a Tuesday afternoon in January, that I realize my choice has been made for me.
“The first reads, “Keep your freak eyes. Never have anyone treat you like you’re human.”
Only, he treats me like I’m human. The paper in my dream was wrong.
I found someone who loved me not only in spite of, but for my flaws.
And God, that’s all I’ve ever wanted.
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Well... ta-da! The book is over.
BUT! Don't go pyscho on me, there will be an epilogue. It will hopefully (fingers crossed) be up tomorrow. Thank you all for reading! Drop me a comment or vote please? :)
~Juliana
YOU ARE READING
Irised
Teen Fiction"That's Knox Parker, Rae." "Thank you Captain Obvious. I know who he is," I roll my eyes and buckle up. "What's wrong?" "That's the biggest jerk at school. He's popular and he knows it, he's good looking and he knows it, he's funny and he knows it...
