𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐲 | 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐫

𝐭𝐰𝐨

January 2, 1941.

The first day I ever saw him.

━━━IT WAS THE FIRST DAY BACK
at work since Christmas, and all around were scrambling nurses with syringes and saline, and men, lined up, awaiting their turn to get their hearing checked and their strength examined. Their shoes clicked against the linoleum floors of the hospital, as muffled love songs played over the intercom.

I was dressed head-to-toe in white; peep-toe heels and a red-cross nurse's hat. My long, blonde hair fell into curls at the bottom. My lips were red, my blue eyes doleful.

I was at station 1-- eye exams. They're terribly boring, if you want to know the truth. Barbara got to give typhoid vaccines, while I told awaiting pilots to 'read the bottom line'. Definitely not the most exciting, but today, nothing really was.

I twisted my golden bracelet around my wrist, admiring the way it sparkled under the fluorescent light. It was simple, but lovely. I smiled as I saw the name 'Rosie' engraved on the front. My grin soon faded as a melancholy sigh escaped my lips. The reason for my sadness was unknown to me at the time. Maybe I was overtired, or I had overdone it with the champagne on New Years. Or maybe it was just one of those days.

"Thank you," I tell the man handing me his medical chart. He was tall. His smile was nice.
"Now, cover your left eye and read the bottom line for me."
He did so, oddly fast, but I was too inattentive to care. And once he was finished, he flashed me another smile. He was proud of that smile he had. He was cocky, I'm sure. But cocky isn't such a terrible thing to be. People say it as an insult but it's admirable, in some cases.
Not his case, though.

I was tired, irritated; dreading the next six hours of a long workday. It was cold and drafty in the hospital, and the only place I wanted to be was home.
"Next," The impatience in my voice grew as I held my hand out for the next man to give me his medical chart. When he didn't, I looked up slowly, and my weary eyes turned lively in an instant. They dazzled the moment they met with his. 'If I Didn't Care' by The Ink Spots played softly over the loudspeakers. The song filled my ears as every other sound in the room became muted.

It felt as though the world had stopped spinning.
His gaze was taking. We both must've been pondering there for well over a few seconds, just getting lost in each other's eyes, but it felt as though time had stopped. It felt like I could look at him for an eternity and still, this feeling wouldn't go away. I forgot all my cares as my mind became consumed with only him. I didn't know what to feel. It was shock, a state of awe. It was love. I knew it then, and I know it now. It was love.

I broke eye contact, laughing a bit out of pure nervousness.
He laughed too, and I studied the rest of him with ease; tall, brown hair, smooth skin. He was beautiful.

"Hi.." I almost whispered. That was the only thing I could think to say.
He smiled at me, bowing his head, his hands clasped behind his back. "Hi." He pondered.

He handed me his chart, and I guess it's true what they say about losing your head when you're in love. I was getting all nervous, and I had forgotten why I was even there in the first place. It made me feel better that the gleam in his eyes told me he was feeling the same way. Completely absentminded. Everything was a blur.

Before I knew it, he finished his eye exam. I don't remember what I said, or how I said it. All I remember was him. I had gathered my thoughts by then, and he vanished before me.
I then realized I didn't know his name, and he didn't know mine. I was in love with him, I knew it that very second we locked eyes, and now he was only a stranger.